»Burnt «, Alemannic Graves and the origins of Anglo-Saxon Archaeology

HOWARD WILLIAMS

Introduction – Histories of Anglo-Saxon Archaeology ments, shedding light not only on the communications between German and English archaeologists during the Studies of the history of Anglo-Saxon archaeology have birth of the discipline but also demonstrating the com- long-recognised the infl uence and interaction between plex intersections between archaeology and the politics archaeology, philology, history and ethnology in the of nationhood and race in the early Victorian era. By development of racial interpretations of early medieval considering the ways in which mid-nineteenth century graves in Victorian Britain (Hills 2003; Lucy 2002). archaeologists presented and wrote about Continental However, these studies have tended to be somewhat discoveries it is possible to appreciate how racial in- insular in perspective, with only passing reference to terpretations were woven into their accounts and com- contemporary developments in Continental and Scan- mentaries. dinavian mortuary archaeology (Effros 2003). Conse- Given Michael Gebühr’s interests in the history of quently, the origins of Anglo-Saxon archaeology have archaeology and mortuary archaeology, and given the tended to back-project the somewhat limited twentieth ongoing debates over migration and ethnicity in the century dialogue between German and British archaeo- fi rst millennium AD, this paper serves to put some of logy onto the period when the study of early medieval the recent debates in perspective. It is also hoped that graves was in its infancy (see Härke 2000). This has this contribution may provide a belated »thank you« to given the impression that Anglo-Saxon archaeology’s Michael and his students for their hospitality and en- origins were conceived primarily in relation to British thusiasm when I visited Hamburg and Schleswig at a socio-political and intellectual traditions, overlooking very early stage of my own explorations into the world the strong impact of Continental and Scandinavian ar- of early medieval mortuary archaeology. chaeological discoveries and ideas upon the racial in- terpretations of English archaeologists. To pursue this argument, the paper aims to summa- Background: Victorian Anglo-Saxon Archaeology rise two early and infl uential reports on German early medieval grave-fi nds by English scholars. These are Let us begin by introducing the background to the nine- John Mitchell Kemble’s account of cinerary urns from teenth century investigation of early medieval graves Perlberg, Stade, Lower Saxony and William Michael and cemeteries. Early Victorian Britain saw a gene- Wylie’s commentary on the excavations of inhumation ration of enthusiastic antiquaries, archaeologists and graves at Oberfl acht, Württemberg. Both were published historians studying a rapidly increasing corpus of early in volume 36 of Archaeologia for 1855 and were among medieval graves. Among the more prolifi c writers on numerous reports on Continental discoveries that perva- this subject were John Yonge Akerman (1855), Charles ded British journals during the 1850s. The translation, Roach Smith (1848; 1852b), Thomas Wright (1847; publication and assessment of the Stade and Oberfl acht 1852; 1855) and John Kemble (1863) while many more graves – together with other reports on Merovingian scholars contributed reports on discoveries and exca- and Continental cemeteries including those by Ludwig vations to the publications of the era’s local and natio- and Wilhelm Lindenschmit for Selzen and Jean Benoit nal archaeological, antiquarian and historical societies. Desiré Cochet for Normandy – allowed the early me- Although it is easy to criticise the quality of Victorian dieval artefacts and burial rites uncovered in southern cemetery excavations with the benefi t of hindsight, the and eastern to be dated and interpreted in com- data from nineteenth century discoveries remains inva- parison with those from the Continent. In this way, the luable both as a series of publications of early medieval Continental reports affi rmed to an English audience grave-fi nds and as surviving museum collections. Some that the Anglo- were a branch of the Teutonic (admittedly a minority) of the reports were produced to race and, in turn, provided material testimony for Ger- an extremely high-quality in terms of detailed descripti- manic migrations into Britain. Hence, the reports by on and illustrations of both artefacts and (occasionally) Kemble and Wylie are both valuable historical docu- of the burial contexts in which they were found. Hence, 230 Howard Williams despite their limitations, the modern study of early me- John Kemble on Saxon cinerary urns from Stade dieval burial archaeology in Britain continues to owe a huge debt and remains reliant on the discoveries of John Mitchell Kemble was born in 1807, was a gra- these nineteenth-century pioneers. duate of Trinity College Cambridge and died in 1857 Yet, Anglo-Saxon archaeology has inherited more after a long career as an early medieval scholar. He was than data from Victorian archaeologists. Modern scho- principally an historian and philologist until the closing larship has also been infl uenced by the intellectual per- years of his life when he turned towards archaeology to spectives of nineteenth century scholars. The racial, explore further his fascination with the early Germans. cultural and religious labels assigned to early medieval In a series of publications he considered the discover- graves have endured, infl uencing the manner of their ies of over eighty cinerary urns from Perlberg, Stade, presentation and interpretation within subsequent ge- Lower Saxony and curated by the Museum of the His- nerations of researchers. Nineteenth century archaeolo- torical Society in Hanover, as incontrovertible material gists drew heavily upon an existing Anglo-Saxon racial proof of the cultural and racial connections between the paradigm pervading historical and philological research Continental Saxons and the Anglo-Saxons. For Kemble that emphasised the Germanic roots of England’s people, this material evidence served to strengthen the histori- language and customs. This encouraged the ascription of cal reality of the migrations of into explicitly racial and tribal labels to the mortuary archae- England during the mid-fi rst millennium AD. Indeed, ology. By digging up ›Saxons‹, ›Anglo-Saxons‹ or ›Teu- he regarded archaeological evidence as more reliable tons‹, nineteenth century archaeologists were able to de- than the available written sources (see Williams 2006). monstrate a material stratum to contemporary and related Kemble’s archaeological interpretations were built debates about race, nationality, class and religion within upon precise empirical observations but were also gui- the context of British nationalism and imperialism. ded by a determined theoretical approach derived from The infl uence of racial theories on interpretations his personal, academic and political background. In all of early medieval graves was not exclusive to English senses, Kemble was a strong Germanophile, born of a society in the nineteenth century. For example, Bon- German-speaking mother of Swiss nationality, married nie Effros has recently reviewed the nationalist agen- to the daughter of a German University Professor and da of the Lindenschmit brothers who employed early a close friend of the Grimm brothers. These infl uences medieval artefacts, human remains and their mortuary were refl ected in his politics; as a young man he was a context to defi ne the distinctive racial, linguistic and radical liberal who despised the despotism of cultural character of the early Germans in contrast to and Russia and favoured the liberal democracies of other ancient peoples (Effros 2003, 55–60). This tradi- England and the German states. As an historian and tion of assigning early medieval furnished graves to the philologist he strongly emphasised the Teutonic roots Anglo-Saxons was conducted by a group of scholars of the English and in the last eight years of his life, fi rst with far-fl ung interests and through sustained interac- in England and subsequently during residence in the tions with both Continental discoveries and scholars kingdom of Hanover, Kemble turned to archaeology to who drew upon these Continental studies to emphasise provide more direct and material testimony for the ear- their shared Germanic heritage. For instance, Charles ly connections between the Germans and the English. Roach Smith travelled extensively on the Continent, In an article entitled »On Mortuary Urns Found at published notes on Roman and early medieval discove- Stade-on-the-, and Other Parts of Northern Ger- ries and encouraged Continental archaeologists like the many« published in Archaeologia volume 36 for 1855, Abbé Cochet to publish reports of their fi ndings in the Kemble developed an explicit thesis through a compa- pages of British archaeological societies (Smith 1852a; rison of cinerary urns from Stade and those from Eng- 1852c; Kidd 1978). Meanwhile, Smith’s friend Thomas land. In particular, he noted close similarities between Wright made frequent reference to the publication of the the Stade graves and those from Eye in Suffolk reported Selzen cemetery (Lindenschmit and Lindenschmit 1848) by John Yonge Akerman in his richly illustrated mono- by means of comparison with Anglo-Saxon artefacts in graph Remains of Pagan Saxondom (Akerman 1855), his infl uential book The Celt, the Roman and the Sa- those from Little Wilbraham in Cambridgeshire, pub- xon (Wright 1852). It is clear that German and French lished by Richard Neville in his Saxon Obsequies (Ne- grave-fi nds were widely read in antiquarian and archae- ville 1852) and reports contained within Charles Roach ological circles in the 1850s, yet the contemporaries Smith’s Collectanea Antiqua (Smith 1848). and friends John Kemble and William Wylie, more than The urns in question were presented to the Museum any others, pioneered the reporting and interpreting of of the Historical Society of Hanover by the clergyman Continental early medieval grave-fi nds for an English of Stade (Kemble 1855a; fi g. 1). Kemble noted that the audience. Turning to the writings of Kemble and Wylie, urns were not to contain holy water or sacrifi cial meals, we can regard how their interpretations of Continental but were instead used as cinerary urns: »fi lled with the discoveries were permeated by racial theories aimed at ashes of the dead themselves« (ibid. 271). They also making specifi c statements about the shared Teutonic contained artefacts or as Kemble put it: »what orna- affi nities and origins of the English and the Germans. ments and implements the piety of the survivors de- »Burnt Germans«, Alemannic Graves and the origins of Anglo-Saxon Archaeology 231

Fig. 1: Urns from Stade illustrating Kemble‘s account of their signifi cance (Kemble 1955a, 282 pl. 22). voted to the service of the departed« (ibid. 271). The- Kemble also observed the similarities between se included artefacts that were pyre-goods including the English urns from Eye and Little Wilbraham and buckles, brooches, fi bulae, girdle-plates, buttons and the Stade vessels in terms of their incised, plastic and a variety of coloured glass beads. Kemble then recog- stamped decoration as well as the overall »rude« nature nised that a selection of the artefacts were grave-goods of the pots (ibid. 271–274). He further considered the that »were no doubt placed upon the bones, after these similarities in the artefacts, particularly the triangular had already been collected into the urns« (ibid. 271). ›bone or ivory‹ combs and the metal tweezers, earpicks 232 Howard Williams

Fig. 2: A grave from Oberfl acht illustrating Wylie‘s commentary (Wylie 1955a, 160 pl. 12).

and shears (ibid. 275–278). Kemble summed up his »The urns of the ›Old Saxon‹ and those of the ›Anglo- view of the signifi cance of these fi nds by arguing that Saxon‹ are in truth identical, as there was every rea- they represented clear evidence for Germanic migrations son to suppose they would be. Keltic they are not, or and the pagan ancestors of the English: they would not be found in Lüneburg; Slavonic they are not, or they would not be found in Warwickshire: »Burnt Germans«, Alemannic Graves and the origins of Anglo-Saxon Archaeology 233

one only race remains – they are Saxon in the one Stade discoveries. A friend of Kemble, Wylie shared his place as well as the other. The bones are those of men reading of the signifi cance of the Continental evidence whose tongue we speak, whose blood fl ows in our but was able to develop his interpretation in distinctive veins« (ibid. 280). new directions. While Kemble’s report has been dis- In an article entitled »Burial and Cremation« pub lished cussed previously in other publications, Wylie’s work in the Archaeological Journal for the same year, Kemb- has received much less attention warranting a longer le developed this racial interpretation by drawing upon discussion in this paper. varied written sources regarded as illuminating the cha- William Michael Wylie Esq. MA FSA was born in racter of Germanic society from ’ , the London, graduated from Merton College, Oxford in Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf and the Scandinavian sa- 1834, was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries gas. Kemble equally considered a wide range of archae- of London in June 1851 and died in 1887 (Anon. 1887). ological discoveries from throughout England and the He is most famous for his account of early medieval Continent to defi ne a simple contrast between two types graves uncovered near Fairford in Gloucestershire of Germanic burial custom, inhumation (the »Unburnt published as a monograph in 1852 entitled Fairford Germans of the Age of Iron«) and cremation (the »Burnt Graves (Wylie 1852; see also Williams forthcoming). Germans of the Age of Iron«). Kemble explained this Subsequently, Wylie was a regular contributor to the So- distinction in terms of religion alone. Kemble observed ciety of Antiquaries of London’s Proceedings and their that the Continental graves showing closest similarities journal Archaeologia. In his obituary, Wylie was com- to the English urns were restricted to those uncovered mended as a gentleman of widespread interests whose at Stade (Kemble 1855b) although other similarities »linguistic powers were never at fault« (Anon. 1887, could be found with burials from nearby sites »occu- 369). Through his researches, correspondences and ex- pied by the fore-fathers of the Anglo-Sa xons« (ibid. tensive travels, he accumulated a wide knowledge of 315). In England, Anglo-Saxon cremation urns were the latest archaeological discoveries across Europe. His rarer than those cinerary urns of earlier ages, »making early reports were recognised in his obituary for their their resemblance all the more instructive« (Kemble »vast amount of scholarship and industrious applica- 1855a, 279). However, urns of »precisely similar form« tion« (ibid.). to Continental grave-fi nds (Kemble 1855b, 315) were Wylie had many interests but his research frequently found over a wide geographical area across England focused on the Teutonic origins of the English. This topic (ibid. 318) and described as being »of a very marked is found embedded in Fairford Graves as well as a study and peculiar character« (ibid. 315). entitled »The Burning and Burial of the Dead« published Hence, for Kemble, cremation was the older, pagan in Archaeologia for 1857 in which he concurs strongly and more ›pure‹ Teutonic burial rite, practised by Ger- with Kemble’s pan-Germanist reading of the early me- mans without sustained exposure to the Roman world. dieval burial evidence (Wylie 1858). Wylie produced a In contrast, inhumation was a Christian rite, whether the series of commentaries on Continental discoveries inclu- dead were accompanied with grave goods or not. In this ding Frankish burials in Normandy (Wylie 1853a; 1853b; light, the »Burnt Germans of the Age of Iron« were the 1857), Carolingian brooches from Saxony (Wylie 1873) primitive and unsullied progenitors of the modern Ger- and gold ornaments from the grave of a »Lombard lady mans in all their forms, whether they lived in Germany of rank interred after the general Teutonic fashion« from or in England. Cremation was here regarded as more Ascoli in central (Wylie 1867). than a means of disposing of the dead, it was a custom As with his account in Fairford Graves discussed that defi ned religious and racial characteristics (ibid. elsewhere by this author (Williams forthcoming) the 329). Through his writings, Kemble brought a unique article »The Graves of the Alemanni at Oberfl acht in authority as a well-travelled excavator in Germany to Suabia« (Wylie 1855a) promoted a perception that ear- an English audience willing to accept the connections ly medieval graves were testimony to the shared racial between north Germany and Anglo-Saxon England as affi liations of the Anglo-Saxons, and Alemanni material evidence for the Anglo-Saxon migrations and (fi g. 2). The article consisted of an English translation a shared racial origin. While Continental parallels were by Wylie of a report on the remarkably well-preser- not necessary for English archaeologists to assign an ved graves uncovered by Captain von Dürrich and Dr. »Anglo-Saxon« label to their discoveries, Kemble pro- Wolfgang Menzel in 1846. Wylie had met von Dürrich vided strong support and a broader racial context for in and emphasised to his readers that these such attributions. ›satisfactory‹ and ›scientifi c‹ excavations had yet been reported to British antiquarian circles (ibid. 131). He provided his readership with a detailed assessment of William Wylie on the Alemannic Graves from Oberfl acht the signifi cance beginning by contrasting the current recognition of Germanic graves by both British and William Wylie’s account of excavations at Oberfl acht in Continental archaeologists to previous generations of Suabia was published in the same year and volume of antiquaries who threw: »… a Roman halo round relics Archaeologia (Wylie 1855a) as Kemble’s report on the it was too impossible to ascribe to the Celts« (ibid. 234 Howard Williams

129). Wylie regarded his generation as sailing unchar- and Anglo-Saxon mortuary evidence, Wylie proceeded ted waters: to weave this emphasis through his commentary on the graves, incorporating a literal translation of Menzel’s »…our more zealous antiquaries are ever seeking to description of 40 graves (ibid. 133–139). Wylie clearly increase our still scanty stock of information on this regarded the Oberfl acht inhumation rites as evidence all-important subject, by such comparison with the re- of pagan Teutonic beliefs and practices. This stood in mains of the cognate races of continental Europe as contrast to Wylie’s articles on Frankish graves where the isolated efforts of individuals may effect. The zea- his dealings with the Abbé Cochet led him to entertain lous writings of the Abbé Cochet, and Dr. Riggot, in that furnished graves could contain the remains of early France and of Herr Lindenschmit, in Germany, have rendered infi nite service, by setting vividly before us, Christians (Wylie 1855b). This blanket pagan ascription in detail, their discoveries of the remains respectively also stood in contrast to Kemble’s view that cremation of the Salic and the « (ibid. 129). was universally pagan and inhumation Christian. Yet Wylie was probably motivated in his view not only by Wylie then introduces the fact that the Oberfl acht dis- the interpretations of the excavators but also by his pa- coveries served to augment this picture, shedding light gan ascription of the furnished graves at Fairford. on their common Teutonic qualities: Through the detailed treatment of the archaeolo- gical evidence from Oberfl acht we can recognise how »…we may trace the same salient peculiarities which Wylie’s racial and religious interpretations permeated portray the habits and customs of the conquerors of the account in Archaeologia. Wylie observed that the and Britain. It is indeed very probable that the Oberfl acht cemetery was situated on a hillock near a same family assimilation will ever be found to exist spring, refl ecting a common Teutonic propensity when in all Teutonic remains assignable to the Heathen pe- locating cemeteries. He noted similar locations of An- riod« (ibid. 130). glo-Saxon cemeteries (Wylie 1855a, 130) and then pro- Wylie overtly connected his study of the past with con- ceeded to consider the burial rites, noting the lack of temporary views on race and European politics. The re- cremation, the consistent orientation with heads to the port was presented to the Society of Antiquaries in the west, the presence of men, women and children, and spring of 1855, at which time the Crimean war was in the excellent preservation of grave structures and gra- full swing (Evans 1983, 334–336). The Anglo-French ve goods. He defi ned the two forms of structure: log- alliance was competing in a bloody confl ict that chau- coffi ns and wooden couches with gabled roofs (ibid. vinistic British public opinion considered was intended 131–132). to curtail the expansionist plans of a despotic Russian Wylie regarded the fact that the burial rites uncovered tsar. In this view, all of Europe might have become resonated with local folk-customs to support his assump- embroiled in warfare but for British intervention. This tion about their Teutonic character. Following Menzel, prompted Wylie to situate the contemporary confl ict in Wylie observed that the use of log-coffi ns refl ected the fact terms of ancient racial enmities: that coffi ns continue to be called todten-baum (›tree of the dead‹) by local people. The provision of grave goods was »At this moment, when the fearful struggle for maste- compared to the local folk-custom of burying the dead in ry between the rival races of Teuton and Sclave seems clothes with favourite objects from the deceased’s house- about to convulse the world, such retrospective inquiry hold belongings. Wylie was here following Menzel and as may recall the primeval kindred ties and brother- Grimm in perceiving the German peasant as the custodian hood of Frank, German, and Saxon, may not be altoge- of »lingering heathen observances« (ibid. 139–140). ther useless or uninteresting« (Wylie 1855a, 130). The appeal of the graves for Wylie clearly lay in the Having made explicit his agenda, Wylie described the preservation of wooden articles, illustrating the »domes- »general Teutonic character« of the Oberfl acht graves, tic requirements« of the Alemanni. He argued that they arguing that they showed close affi liations with Rhe- were a window onto similar discoveries that would have nish, Belgian and French graves »which we distinguish been found in the graves of »cognate nations« were it by the term Frankish« (ibid. 139). He concurred with not for poor preservation (ibid. 140–141). These artef- Menzel in ascribing them to the Alemanni who he re- acts also showed to Wylie that grave goods were not cognised as a confederation of tribes rather than a co- simply articles of high value, but domestic items and herent racial group in their own right, a view he also personal belongings of the deceased and his or her fa- extended to the Saxons and the Franks (ibid.). Concer- mily. Wylie was also interested in the craft skills indica- ning their date, Wylie regarded the graves as »late Ca- ted by the fi nds, approving of the »skilful application« rolingian«, citing the work of the Lindenschmits and of the wooden vessels (ibid. 145). This provided Wylie in contrast to comments by . He cited the with confi rmation that Frankish and Anglo-Saxon gra- poor preservation of the bronze and the styles of the ves contained a direct window onto the early medie- artefacts as supporting evidence (ibid. 140). val past and the »habits and customs« of the ancient Having set out his explicit racial agenda for inter- Germans rather than simply objects made especially for preting the Oberfl acht cemetery in relation to Frankish burial (Wylie 1852). »Burnt Germans«, Alemannic Graves and the origins of Anglo-Saxon Archaeology 235

Unlike other early archaeologists considering An- Drawing upon wide-ranging literary, philological and glo-Saxon and Frankish graves, Wylie paid particular ethnographic evidence for the uses of logs, boats and attention to the weapons rather than the brooches (Ef- sledges as coffi ns among different cultures, he regar- fros 2004). This is evident in his discussion in Fair- ded the Oberfl acht evidence as one permutation of a ford Graves (Wylie 1852, 21) and this is repeated when broader disposition in ancient Indo-European burial he observed details of the weaponry at Oberfl acht. He cus toms (ibid. 142–143). highlighted the stark differences in the weapons from Wylie developed his discussion of the Oberfl acht those found in Frankish and Anglo-Saxon graves, sup- graves by regarding the serpentine decoration of the porting the view that distinctive weapon-combinations coffi ns: could indicate the particular martial practices of speci- fi c tribes within the Teutonic family: »The serpent forms sculptured on the coffi n lids would alone suffi ce to convince us of the Heathen- »Of the lance, above all others the Teuton weapon, we Teutonic character of these graves, even if all further fi nd but three examples here, while the , else- evidence were wanting« (ibid. 143). where usually so rare, occurs no less than six times in not more than twenty-fi ve graves, which may be assig- Wylie entertained an interpretation that the serpents ned to males of every degree« (Wylie 1855a, 144). represented dragons as guardians of treasures (in this context the ›treasure‹ being guarded was the deceased’s Similarly he observed a contrast with Frankish graves: body). However, he suggested an even »deeper and more mystic symbolism« (ibid. 143). Noting that ser- »No specula present themselves, and the absence of pents were sacred to and appeared on Scandina- the francisca, and the scramasax would at once certify vian rune-stones, he considered the possibility that they these are not the graves of Franks« (ibid. 144–145). were appropriate to the mortuary context as emblems of the soul, life, health and immortality. Regardless of Furthermore he remarked that the discovery of bows their precise interpretation, Wylie was keen to assert was a novelty from Teutonic graves and their deposi- that they demonstrated a common regard for serpents, tion at Oberfl acht related to the specifi c circumstances held in »reverance and awe« among all the Germa- of the Alemanni’s culture and environment amidst the nic tribes (ibid. 143–144). Wylie sought confi rmation : through correspondences with Jacob Grimm whom he claims agreed with his interpretations. »Dwellers in deep forests, as this tribe were, the bow Some artefacts were also seen as evidence of Teuto- must have been an important weapon of the chase« nic customs and social institutions but more specifi cal- (ibid. 145). ly of pagan beliefs. Beads were regarded as a common element of costume among »all the Northern nations« Despite these distinctive assemblages, Wylie remained (ibid. 148). Moreover, the designs on the beads spoke of dedicated to emphasising the overall Teutonic character the »taste natural to their sex«, referring to the »Teuton of the weapons by noting comparisons with Frankish ladies« they adorned. Hence the choice of »unseemly and Anglo-Saxon grave fi nds. For example, the woo- pieces of pierced amber« indicated their amuletic value den scabbards reminded him of Ludwig Lindenschmit’s rather than their role as ornaments (Wylie 1855a, 148). fi nds from Selzen. The disposition of lances with the Wylie once again employed Beowulf and the writings point by the head of the skeleton mirrored the deposi- of early medieval saints to support his interpretations tion of weapons in Anglo-Saxon graves like those from (ibid. 148–149). Fairford. Wylie recognised that the use of lime for cons- At Oberfl acht, the use of fi re had pagan religious tructing shields coincided with the descriptions of the symbolism according to Wylie. The candle sticks and poem Beowulf and that the bows from Oberfl acht were fl ints were interpreted with reference to warnings similar to later medieval English long-bows (ibid. 144). against the pagan use of light and fi re in early coun- Wylie connected the grave-structure and grave- cils and capitularies. Wylie argued that lights may have goods to pagan religious beliefs shared by the Teutonic been lit within the graves in a comparable manner to race. Wylie is categorical about the fact that the graves the discovery of lamps from Roman graves (ibid. 146). were »unmistakenly of the Heathen period«, noting Flints are similarly interpreted by Wylie as a »symbo- that the fi gure of a cross upon dress accessories was an lic representation of the power of light over darkness« »ornamental device« to which »we can attach no im- linked to the worship of Thor and Odin and hence an portance« or that the brooch was initially »in Christian »essential superstition of Northern heathenism«. Wylie hands«. He noted similar occurrences in Kentish graves drew upon Grimm’s work to suggest that the rite pre- (ibid. 148). served a sanctity connected with fi re that »had its ori- Equally, although Wylie believed that the Anglo- gins in a far distant Eastern land«, presumably refer- Saxons did not use log-coffi ns, he mentioned that traces ring to the wide spread Victorian belief in a common of them have been found from other Frankish graves. ancient Asiatic homeland for the (ibid. 149). 236 Howard Williams

Once again Wylie cited comparisons in Anglo-Saxon discoveries at Fairford in Gloucestershire reported at graves (ibid. 150). Similarly, he noted the deposition of length in the volume Fairford Graves, and Wylie was iron-working slag in grave 19 with reference to his own clearly encouraging his readership to see them as ver- discoveries at Fairford, suggesting that »there was the sions of the same phenomenon. same amuletic belief in the products of the furnace that there seems to have been in those of the smithy« (Wylie 1852, 24–25; 150). Conclusion The animal and vegetable remains from the fune- rary vessels were seen by Wylie as evidence of mor- It is clear then that hand-in-hand with the Victorian ex- tuary sacrifi ces that the clergy found hard to eradicate. cavation, description and illustration of Anglo-Saxon He argued that Teutons and Romans shared a belief that graves, integral ingredients of an emerging Anglo- offerings were a way of propitiating the spirits of the Saxonism in British archaeology during the 1850s were dead (ibid. 150). Concerning horse sacrifi ce, Wylie re- commentaries upon early medieval grave-fi nds from the ferenced Tacitus’ Germania and regarded it as a univer- Continent. These were either reports in English jour- sal practice of Teutonic belief that »the warrior rode his nals written by European archaeologists themselves, or steed to Valhalla, hence in their graves the remains of as in the case of Kemble and Wylie, English antiquaries horses are found« (ibid. 146). Wylie suspected that the pre- writing with fi rst-hand experience of the discoveries in sence of a wooden saddle and horse trappings in grave 31 close correspondence with their fi nders. denoted that horse sacrifi ce was also a social rite – only This paper has sought to illustrate how the commen- afforded as a »mark of distinction« to the chieftain of taries by Kemble and Wylie were more than descriptive; the tribe (ibid. 147). Meanwhile, the pre sence of a lyre they also incorporated explicit racial interpretations of in the grave suggests the »milder taste of this young the archaeological evidence. In part, these can be seen as warrior« (ibid. 147). In combination, they provided »an passive adaptations of the virulent racial archaeologies early record of knighthood and minstrelsy« (ibid. 147). current in pre-unifi cation Germany in which artefacts, Here Wylie clearly portraying the Oberfl acht graves as graves and bones were deployed to assert a common evidence of a social hierarchy and a proto-feudal way racial Germanic identity (see Effros 2003). Kemble and of life, and hence as ancestral to later medieval institu- Wylie were certainly intent upon seeing the artefacts, tions. The discovery of spinning equipment in female- burial rites and cemeteries as indicators of a common gendered graves was similarly linked to the legal and ancestry defi ned in terms of customs, pagan religion, social status of Alemannic women (ibid. 147), while the language and blood that they saw materialised in the ubiquity of bronze tweezers and combs is commented similarities between the burial customs of the Anglo- upon by Wylie as indicating the »great personal cleanli- Saxons, Old Saxons, Franks and Alemanni. Yet, both ness as among the virtues of the people« (ibid. 148). Kemble and Wylie’s accounts were written for English Wylie paid particular attention to the widespread audiences and were intended to have other resonances. symbolic association between the provision of shoes It might be argued that their emphasis on race had little and the voyage to the afterlife found in Scandinavian to do with a German desire for national unifi cation but sources in order to suggest that the shoes at Oberfl acht on the contemporary perception of the English as shar- were worn for this purpose. However, Wylie recognised ing in a pan-national Germanic racial identity rooted in that shoes were also symbols of affection by mourners the early . The relevance of such a racial and he remained sceptical concerning interpretations reading of the early medieval data can be understood as of symbolic wooden shoes and hands alleged by the of signifi cance in relation to a series of contemporary so- excavators to have been found in the Oberfl acht graves cio-political environments including the perceived racial (ibid. 154–155). superiority of the English over the Celtic peoples of the Wylie concluded his report by emphasising once British Isles, the contemporary confl ict with (Slavic) more the reason for his detailed and extensive report on Russia in the Crimea, and in relation to English colo- the Oberfl acht discoveries: nial and imperial aspirations of supremacy throughout »It is only by attentive examination of these archae- the globe at the time when the British Empire was ap- ological discoveries in continental Europe that we proaching the height of its power. can hope to thoroughly study the history of the great In this regard, the Stade and Oberfl acht discoveries migration of the Teutonic nations; and so closer cor- were both important to English antiquaries in different respondence with foreign societies would most cer- ways. The Stade fi nds were signjifi cant not only because tainly be attended with mutual advantage« (ibid. 157). of their date and geographical association with the re- Wylie was therefore not arguing that the Alemanni were gions from which the Saxons were believed to have de- the ancestors of the Anglo-Saxons, but that both were parted to settle in England, but also because of their as- branches of the Teutonic race and this was clearly re- sociation with the rite of cremation, regarded by Kemble vealed through the burial rites uncovered at Oberfl acht. as an unequivocal symbol of the earliest pagan Teutonic The informed English historian, archaeologist or anti- beliefs and practices. For Oberfl acht, the connection quary would have read Wylie’s report in relation to his to the Anglo-Saxons was not a direct one of migration »Burnt Germans«, Alemannic Graves and the origins of Anglo-Saxon Archaeology 237 and ancestry. But for Wylie the amazing preservation Kidd 1978 of the graves from the Alemannic ceme tery shed a light D. Kidd, Charles Roach Smith & the Abbé Cochet. on customs and practices that were likely to have been In: Actes du colloque international d’archéologie / more widespread and shared by all Teutonic peoples in Centenaire de l’Abbé Cochet, 1. L’Abbé Cochet et the . The point of this paper is not to l’archéologie au 19. siècle (Rouen 1978) 63–77. deny the validity or assess the accuracy of the work of Lindenschmit and Lindenschmit 1848 Kemble and Wylie. What is argued is that the description L. Lindenschmit and W. Lindenschmit, Das Germa- and commentary of archaeological reports on Continen- nische Todtenlager bei Selzen in der Provinz Rhein- tal early medieval graves by English scholars were en- hessen ( 1848). meshed with a racial paradigm that had a longer-lasting Lucy 2002 effect on how early medieval graves have been studied S. Lucy, From Pots to People: Two Hundred Years and interpreted in Britain than is usually acknowledged. of Anglo-Saxon Archaeology. In: C. Hough and K. A. Lowe (eds.), ›Lastworda Betst‹. Essays in memory of Christine E. Fell, with her Unpublished Acknowledgements Writings (Donnington 2002) 114–144. Neville 1852 Thanks to the following for commenting upon earlier R. C. Neville, Saxon Obsequies (London 1852). drafts of the paper: Stefan Burmeister, Bonnie Effros, Smith 1848 Heinrich Härke and Elizabeth Williams. C. R. Smith, Warwickshire Antiquities. Collectanea Antiqua 1, 1848, 35–45. – 1852a References C. R. Smith, Notes on Some of the Antiquities of Treves, Mayence, and other places on the Moselle Akerman 1855 and . Collectanea Antiqua 2, 1852, 65–112. J. Y. Akerman, Remains of Pagan Saxondom (Lon- – 1852b don 1855). C. R. Smith, Anglo-Saxon Remains found in Kent, Anon. 1887 Suffolk, and Leicestershire. Collectanea Antiqua 2, Anonymous, Anniversary. Proc. Soc. Ant. London 1852, 155–170. 2nd Ser. 11, 1887, 369–370. – 1852c Effros 2003 C. R. Smith, Anglo-Saxon and Frankish Remains. B. Effros, Merovingian Mortuary Archaeology Collectanea Antiqua 2, 1852, 203–248. (Berkeley 2003). Williams 2006 – 2004 H. Williams, Heathen Graves and Victorian Anglo-Sa- B. Effros, Dressing conservatively: women’s xonism: Assessing the Archaeology of John Mitchell brooches as markers of ethnic identity? In: L. Bru- Kemble. In: S. Semple (ed.), Anglo-Saxon Studies in baker and J. M. H. Smith (eds.), Gender in the Early Archaeology and History 13 (Oxford 2006) 1–18. Medieval World (Cambridge 2004) 165–184. – forthcoming Evans 1983 H. Williams, The Writing of Victorian Anglo-Saxon E. Evans, The Forging of the Modern State (London Archaeology: The Case of William Wylie’s ›Fair- 1983). ford Graves‹. Härke 2000 Wright 1847 H. Härke, Social Analysis of Mortuary Evidence in T. M. Wright, On Recent Discoveries of Anglo-Saxon German Protohistoric Archaeology. Journal Anthr. Antiquities. Journal British Arch. Assoc. 2, 1847, 50–59. Arch. 19, 2000, 369–384. – 1852 Hills 2003 T. M. Wright, The Celt, the Roman, and the Saxon. C. Hills, The Origins of the English (London 2003). A history of the early inhabitants of Britain down to Kemble 1855a the Anglo-Saxon conversion to Christianity (Lon- J. M. Kemble, On Mortuary Urns found at Stade-on- don 1852). the-Elbe, and other parts of North Germany, now in – 1855 the Museum of the Historical Society of Hannover. T. M. Wright, On Anglo-Saxon Antiquities with par- Archaeologia 36, 1855, 270–283. ticular reference to the Faussett Collection. Transact. – 1855b Hist. Soc. Lancashire and Cheshire 7, 1855, 1–39. J. M. Kemble, Burial and Cremation. Arch. Journal Wylie 1852 12, 1855, 309–337. W. M. Wylie, Fairford Graves (Oxford 1852). – 1863 – 1853a J. M. Kemble, Horæ Ferales; or, Studies in the W. M. Wylie, Account of Teutonic Remains, appa- Archæology of the Northern Nations. Ed. by R. G. rently Saxon, found near Dieppe. Archaeologia 35, Latham and A. W. Franks (London 1863). 1853, 100–113. 238 Howard Williams

– 1853b – 1858 W. M. Wylie, Some Account of the Merovingian W. M. Wylie, The Burning and Burial of the Dead. Cemetery at Envermeu; also of certain Weapons of Archaeologia 37 1858, 455–478. the Franks. Archaeologia 35, 1853, 223–231. – 1867 – 1855a W. M. Wylie, Some Gold Ornaments. Proc. Soc. W. M. Wylie, The Graves of the Alemanni at Ober- Ant. London 2nd Ser. 3, 1867, 514–515. fl acht in Suabia. Archaeologia 36, 1855, 129–159. – 1873 – 1855b W. M. Wylie, A Gold or Brooch in Hanover. W. M. Wylie, Observations on certain Sepulchral Proc. Soc. Ant. London 2nd Ser. 6, 1873, 456–457. Usages of Early Times. Archaeologia 35, 1855, 298–304. Dr. Howard Williams – 1857 Department of Archaeology W. M. Wylie, Notes on the Interment of a Young University of Exeter Frankish Warrior, discovered at Envermeu. Archae- Exeter EX4 4QE ologia 37, 1857, 102–112. Großbritannien XXVIII, 376 Seiten mit 187 Abbildungen und 30 Tabellen

Bibliografische Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek

Burmeister, Stefan; Derks, Heidrun; von Richthofen, Jasper (Hrsg.): ZWEIUNDVIERZIG ; Festschrift für Michael Gebühr zum 65. Geburtstag / hrsg. von Stefan Burmeister ... . Rahden/Westf.: Leidorf, 2007 (Internationale Archäologie : Studia honoraria ; Bd. 25) ISBN 978-3-89646-425-5

Gedruckt auf alterungsbeständigem Papier

Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie. Detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über http://dnb.d-nb.de abrufbar.

Alle Rechte vorbehalten © 2007

Verlag Marie Leidorf GmbH Geschäftsführer: Dr. Bert Wiegel Stellerloh 65 . D-32369 Rahden/Westf. Tel.: +49/(0)5771/ 9510-74 Fax: +49/(0)5771/ 9510-75 E-Mail: [email protected] Internet: http://www.vml.de

ISBN 978-3-89646-425-5 ISSN 1433-4194

Kein Teil des Buches darf in irgendeiner Form (Druck, Fotokopie, CD-ROM, DVD, Internet oder einem anderen Verfahren) ohne schriftliche Genehmigung des Verlages Marie Leidorf GmbH reproduziert werden oder unter Verwendung elektronischer Systeme verarbeitet, vervielfältigt oder verbreitet werden.

Umschlagentwurf: Claus Dobiat, Kirchhain Titelvignette: Stefan Burmeister, Hamburg Redaktion: Stefan Burmeister, Hamburg Satz, Layout, Scans und Bildbearbeitung: Stefan Burmeister, Hamburg Druck und Produktion: DSC-Heinz J. Bevermann KG, Fleethweg 1, D-49196 Bad Laer