A History of Domestic Manners and Sentiments in England During the Middle Ages — John Shaqi
A History of Domestic Manners and Sentiments in England During the Middle AgesWright, Thomas
History
A History of Domestic Manners and Sentiments in England During the Middle Ages
Wright, Thomas
England -- Social life and customs -- 1066-1485
One of these is given in the group No. 6, which represents
three types of the later Anglo-Saxon pottery, selected from a large
number copied by Strutt from Anglo-Saxon manuscripts. The figure to
the left, in this group, is a later Saxon form of the pitcher; perhaps
the singular form of the handle may have originated in an error of the
draughtsman.
[Illustration: _No. 5. Germano-Saxon Pottery and Glass._]
[Illustration: _No. 6. Anglo-Saxon Pottery._]
[Illustration: _No. 7. Anglo-Saxon Bowls._]
[Illustration: _No. 8. Anglo-Saxon Buckets._]
Among the numerous articles of all kinds found in the early Anglo-Saxon
graves, are bowls of metal (generally bronze or copper), often very
thickly gilt, and of elegant forms; they are, perhaps, borrowed from
the Romans. Three examples are given in the cut No. 7, all found in
Kent. They were probably intended for the service of the table. Another
class of utensils found rather commonly in the Anglo-Saxon barrows
are buckets. The first of those represented in our cut, No. 8, was
found in a Saxon barrow near Marlborough, in Wiltshire; the other
was found on the Chatham lines. As far as my own experience goes, I
believe these buckets are usually found with male skeletons, and from
this circumstance, and the fact of their being usually ornamented,
I am inclined to think they served some purposes connected with the
festivities of the hall; probably they were used to carry the ale or
mead. The Anglo-Saxon translation of the Book of Judges (ch. vii.
ver. 20), rendered _hydrias confregissent_ by _to-bræcon tha bucas_,
“they broke the buckets.” A common name for this implement, which
was properly _buc_, was _æscen_, which signified literally a vessel
made of ash, the favourite wood of the Anglo-Saxons. Our cut, No. 9,
represents a bucket of wood with very delicately-formed bronze hoops
and handle, found in a barrow in Bourne Park, near Canterbury. The wood
was entirely decayed; but the hoops and handle are in the collection
of lord Londesborough. Such buckets have, also, been found under
similar circumstances on the Continent. The close resemblance between
the weapons and other instruments found in the English barrows and in
those at Selzen, may be illustrated by a comparison of the two axes
represented in the cut, No. 10. The upper one was found at Selzen;
the lower one is in the Museum of Mr. Rolfe, and was obtained from a
barrow in the Isle of Thanet. The same similarity is observed between
the knives, which is the more remarkable, as the later Anglo-Saxon
knives were quite of a different form. The example, cut No. 11, taken
from a grave at Selzen, is the only instance I know of a knife of this
early period of Saxon history with the handle preserved; it has been
beautifully enamelled. This may be taken as the type of the primitive
Anglo-Saxon knife.
[Illustration: _No. 9. Anglo-Saxon Bucket._]
[Illustration: _No. 10. Anglo-Saxon Axes._]
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