DYEING SUTTON HOO NORDIC BLONDE: AN INTERPRETATION OF SWEDISH INFLUENCES ON THE EAST ANGLIAN GRAVESITE Casandra Vasu A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS August 2008 Committee: Andrew Hershberger, Advisor Charles E. Kanwischer © 2008 Casandra Vasu All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT Andrew Hershberger, Advisor Nearly seventy years have passed since the series of tumuli surrounding Edith Pretty’s estate at Sutton Hoo in Eastern Suffolk, England were first excavated, and the site, particularly the magnificent ship-burial and its associated pieces located in Mound 1, remains enigmatic to archaeologists and historians. Dated to approximately the early seventh century, the Sutton Hoo entombment retains its importance by illuminating a period of English history that straddles both myth and historical documentation. The burial also exists in a multicultural context, an era when Scandinavian influences factored heavily upon society in the British Isles, predominantly in the areas of art, religion and literature. Literary works such as the Old English epic of Beowulf, a tale of a Geatish hero and his Danish and Swedish counterparts, offer insight into the cultural background of the custom of ship-burial and the various accoutrements of Norse warrior society. Beowulf may hold an even more specific affinity with Sutton Hoo, in that a character from the tale, Weohstan, is considered to be an ancestor of the man commemorated in the ship- burial in Mound 1. Weohstan, whose allegiance lay with the Geats, was nonetheless a member of the Wægmunding clan, distant relations to the Swedish Scylfing dynasty. This royal family also possessed its own series of burial sites, Gamla Uppsala, Husby, Vendel and Valsgärde, which demonstrate a resemblance with Sutton Hoo in both the method of entombment and the objects uncovered within it. In point of fact, the pieces unearthed at both Sutton Hoo and the Swedish gravesites, namely the helmets and shields, possess a likeness so remarkable that many archaeologists believe the objects were cast from the iv same die. This paper will further examine these aforementioned literary and archaeological aspects and interpret the Swedish element that pervades the Sutton Hoo burial site. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my advisor Andrew Hershberger for his encouragement and unrelenting patience. I would also like to thank Charles Kanwischer for taking the time to read my work. Lastly, to my husband, Josef, for that absolutely perfect day in Sweden this past summer, which inspired me to finally finish this paper. Thank you so much for your unwavering love and support. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................ 1 THE EVIDENCE OF LITERATURE.............................................................. 13 The Venerable Bede and King Rædwald.............................................. 13 Beowulf................................................................................................. 20 Dating the Poem........................................................................ 21 Beowulf’s Origins..................................................................... 26 THE EVIDENCE OF ARCHAEOLOGY ........................................................ 33 Boat Graves in Sweden......................................................................... 33 Uppland Burial Sites: Gamla Uppsala, Vendel and Valsgärde............. 34 The Excavations and the Objects.............................................. 36 Sutton Hoo............................................................................................ 44 The Objects............................................................................... 45 The Helmet…………………………………………… 47 The Shield, Shield-Boss and Sword-Ring……………. 56 CONCLUSION………………………………………………………………. 62 REFERENCES……………………………………………………………….. 74 APPENDIX. FIGURES………………………………………………………. 78 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1 Aerial view of the Sutton Hoo burial site ...................................................... 78 2 Charles Phillips, Basil Brown and Edith Pretty............................................. 78 3 A ship-rivet from the Sutton Hoo excavation................................................ 79 4 Stuart Piggott and W.F. Grimes..................................................................... 79 5 The Sutton Hoo ship during excavation......................................................... 80 6 An artist’s rendition of the potentate buried in Mound 1............................... 80 7 The first page of the Beowulf manuscript...................................................... 81 8 Map of the Uppland province and its significant burial sites ........................ 82 9 Gamla Uppsala............................................................................................... 83 10 The grave field at Valsgärde.......................................................................... 83 11 Vendel church................................................................................................ 84 12 The grave field adjacent to Vendel Church ................................................... 84 13 Ottarshögen.................................................................................................... 85 14 Helmet, Vendel I............................................................................................ 85 15 Helmet, Valsgärde 7....................................................................................... 86 16 Late Roman cavalry helmet. 4th century. Deurne, Holland .......................... 86 17 Torslunda plates............................................................................................. 87 18 Drawing of helmet, Vendel XIV.................................................................... 88 19 Detail drawing of helmet, Vendel XIV.......................................................... 88 20 Drawing of helmet, Vendel I ......................................................................... 89 21 Detail drawing of helmet, Vendel I................................................................ 89 viii 22 Detail drawing of helmet, Vendel I................................................................ 89 23 The Sutton Hoo helmet as reconstructed in 1971 .......................................... 90 24 Drawing of the four designs from the Sutton Hoo helmet............................. 91 25 The Sutton Hoo helmet, detail of the left cheek-piece................................... 92 26 Drawing of dancing warriors from Sutton Hoo helmet ................................. 93 27 Helmet fragment from Gamla Uppsala.......................................................... 93 28 Drawing of dancing warriors from helmet, Valsgärde 7 ............................... 93 29 Drawing of rider and fallen warrior from the Sutton Hoo helmet ................. 94 30 Drawing of rider and fallen warrior from the Valsgärde 7 helmet ................ 94 31 Drawing of the man-between-bears scene from the Valsgärde 7 helmet ...... 95 32 Die D of the Torslunda plates ........................................................................ 95 33 Drawing of the man-between-wolves from the Sutton Hoo purse-lid........... 95 34 The Sutton Hoo purse-lid............................................................................... 96 35 A modern replica of the Sutton Hoo helmet .................................................. 97 36 The Norse god Freyr and his boar Gullinborsti ............................................. 98 37 A boar-crested helmet from Northamptonshire ............................................. 98 38 A modern replica of the Sutton Hoo shield ................................................... 99 39 Drawing of the back of the Sutton Hoo shield............................................... 100 40 Grip extensions on a Valsgärde 7 shield........................................................ 100 41 Modern replica of the bird from the front of the Sutton Hoo shield.............. 101 42 Vendel period brooch from Skälby, Hammarby............................................ 101 43 The Sutton shield-boss................................................................................... 102 44 The shield-boss from Vendel XII .................................................................. 102 ix 45 The gilt-bronze ring from the Sutton Hoo shield........................................... 103 46 The gilt-bronze ring from the Valsgärde 7 drinking horn.............................. 103 47 Drawing of the drinking horn from Valsgärde 7 ........................................... 103 1 INTRODUCTION On 11 May 1939, Mrs. Edith Pretty, the widow of a large estate at Sutton Hoo in eastern Suffolk, England, made an astounding discovery on the grounds south of the main house. She had been keenly interested for some time in the several earthen mounds that encircled her residence (fig. 1), “lying up against the spinney known as Top Hat Wood”1 but it was not until after the death of her husband in 1938 and her ensuing obsession with the afterlife, did she attempt any excavation of the sites. Unaccustomed to the proper manner of revealing what lay beneath the soil and quite willing to continue with the precedence put forth by landowners since the Reformation (where they would upturn land with any instrument available), Mrs. Pretty employed the services of