Medieval Section of the Yorkshire Archaeological and Historical Society

Medieval Yorkshire (New Series) Volume Available

Jo Heron has informed me that the first volume of Medieval Yorkshire (New Series) has been sent out. Despite our best efforts over the last year we still can’t always be sure who has paid and who hasn’t so if you have not received your copy by 4th March and you think you’re entitled to one please contact me, or our Honorary Treasurer, Jo Heron, either by email or through Claremont. If you are not a member and you’d like to buy a copy we intend to sell the small surplus stock but only after we’ve made sure paid-up members have their copies. At just £16 for annual membership I hope you’ll agree it’s not a bad deal.

Another way to obtain a copy of this publication is to follow this direct link to Medieval Yorkshire 2014 in the shop, where it is available for just £5.50.

To be entitled to a copy your subscription needs to be up-to-date, and by that I mean ideally paid in early January. The reason for stressing this is because we ask the office at Claremont for a list of addresses of members to send out a mailing and if your subscription hasn’t been received by Claremont before we do the mailing it is likely that your details won’t be on the list and you may not receive a copy of the publication. If you pay subscription later in the year we may no longer have copies to send out to you because we have a limited print run so we’re not left with excess back-catalogue stock.

Subscriptions aside, the more observant among you will have noticed that this is a new-look journal, more compact at A5 format size and less likely to sag in the middle on your bookshelves at home. It is also a New Series publication so as to leave the way clear for any follow-on volumes of the old journal. The new series volume 1 includes original research and contributions in the field of Yorkshire Medieval history and archaeology, and has summaries of many of the lectures and other meetings that have been held over the last 18 months. For this we are deeply endebted to David Asquith who fearlessly took on the challenge of editing and bringing the journal to press, ably assisted, I hasten to add, by Sue Alexander, who took responsibility for the lay-out and technical matters.

Eighteen months ago some questioned whether the Medieval Section had a future but this publication is the third leg of a recovery strategy that also includes an annual lecture series and this Blog. We currently have a total of something like 50,000 ‘hits’ annually.It is gratifying to know that something like a third of the visits are made by people outside the United Kingdom. Naturally we’d be delighted to hear from readers abroad if you have comments or suggestions. If section members who read this would like to explore other options such as visits to places of Medieval interest, exploring museums with Medieval collections or taking part in fieldwork then do please let me know. We thrive as a society only in so far as our members are engaged in our activities and making suggestions.

Bryan Sitch
Honorary Secretary
Medieval Section

25th February 2015

Tolkien, the Early Middle Ages and Leeds

Tom Holland in The Times (3/1/2015) made a topical link with the theft of treasure story in Beowulf and J.R.R.Tolkien’s The Hobbit. The great inventor of dungeons and dragons and patron saint of nerds and geeks the world over enjoyed a respectable academic reputation writing about Beowulf, though whether he would have approved of the final part – no, make that any part – of Peter Jackson’s interminable cinematic interpretation of The Hobbit is another question.

In 1920 Tolkien was appointed to the post of Reader in English Language at the University of Leeds. In 1925 he was appointed to the Rawlinson and Bosworth Professorship of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford. Tolkien’s time in Leeds is the subject of an article in the Guardian by Leeds-based journalist Martin Hickes. Tolkien didn’t write The Hobbit whilst he was living in Headingley. Maybe this takes the Medieval Section into a new area of Yorkshire-focused Medieval studies, in which the county and its Medieval history serve as inspiration for works of fiction.

Northumbrian Sceats

The speaker at this month’s Medieval Section lecture will be Tony Abramson. Tony has studied early Anglo-Saxon coinage since the early 1990s. He has written a number of books on the topic, the most recent of which reclassified the silver proto-pennies or ‘sceats’ issued from the 670s to the 750s south of the Humber and well in to the ninth-century in kingdom of Northumbria. There are more than 630 varieties of these tiny coins, rich in the iconography of the Conversion Period. Tony initiated the biennial symposia in early medieval coinage and is editor of the resultant publications.

Tony qualified as a chartered accountant after graduating in economics from the University of Lancaster in 1970. He spent the last 25 years of his career launching technology start-up companies but has recently retired to take a PhD in numismatics at the Department of Archaeology, University of York.

His illustrated talk will trace the evolution of the coinage of Northumbria from the élite gold of the seventh-century, through the mercantile silver sceats of the eighth, to Northumbria’s unique brass widow’s mite or ‘styca’ issued in huge numbers before the fall of York to the Vikings in 866/7.

Building Bolton Abbey Lecture on 22nd March

The second annual St Cuthbert Lecture, ‘Building Bolton’, will take place in Bolton Abbey Priory church on Sunday 22nd March at 3pm. This year’s lecturer is Professor Richard Morris. An invitation has been extended to members of the Medieval Section to attend this lecture.

As both an archaeologist and historian, Richard has an unrivalled knowledge of the Yorkshire Dales and the historical secrets that lie hidden within its landscape and ancient churches.

Richard writes: ‘In my Lecture I set out to answer four linked questions: Who built Bolton Priory? Why does it stand where it does? In the eyes of its benefactors what was it for? Why were parts of it altered?’ During the talk Richard will set Bolton in the context of other medieval religious houses in and around the Yorkshire Dales, and examine the contemporary ideas that brought them into being.

Thanks are due to John Cruse who kindly relayed the invitation.

Syon Priory Herbal

A colleague has kindly drawn my attention to the very recent publication of the late Medieval Herbal from Syon Abbey (edited by John Adams and Stuart Forbes). A thick handsome volume, from a Yorkshire perspective it includes a short ‘case study in love’ (pp.61-63) about the relationship between James Grenehalgh of Sheen Priory and Joanna Sewell of Syon who had met before the latter’s novitiate. Grenehalgh gave Sewell a number of books that he had copied out by hand ornamented with their entwined initials. This came to the notice of Grenehalgh’s superiors who removed him to Coventry in 1507 or 1508 and thence to Kingston-upon-Hull Charterhouse. He died about 1530. Joanna Sewell died in 1532.

The Heineken Effect

A member of the public has sent a photograph of a Medieval horse harness pendant that he found whilst metal-detecting recently. The finder found the account of David Harpin’s lecture about Richard of Cornwall last autumn on the Medieval Section blog. Although the cross is of a slightly different design it is very similar to the one that David showed us with the coat-of-arms of the De Montfort family, with its link to the heraldry of the South of France and the suppression of the Albigensian heresy. The enquirer has requested information about his discovery. Over to you David. It all goes to show that the Medieval Section Blog reaches places and people other means of communication find it hard to reach.

De Montfort cross pattee on a horse pendant. — De Montfort cross pattee on a horse pendant that David Harpin showed the Medieval Section recently.

Something to look forward to on Valentine's Day

I am delighted to be able to share the news that Booths the printers have informed David Asquith, our Acting Honorary Editor, that they are dispatching the new-look section journal Medieval Yorkshire today. The box is being sent to Claremont and ought to be available for collection in the next week. Better still, why not come along to the lecture by Tony Abramson of Yorkshire Numismatics Society on Northumbrian sceats at 2pm on Saturday 14th February and you can collect your copy (if you are paid up member) and enjoy the presentation.

Bryan Sitch
Hon. Secretary

The West Yorkshire Hoard

The Medieval Section is endebted to Kat Baxter, Curator of Archaeology and Numismatics at Leeds Museums and Galleries, for speaking to us in November and for providing photographs of some of the very handsome Medieval treasure objects from the West Yorkshire hoard. Kat began her talk by giving an overview of Leeds Museums and Galleries and by telling us about the development of Treasure legislation. The success of the Treasure law can be seen in the fact that before 1997 26 finds per year were found to be treasure but in 2011 970 cases were reported as treasure – 95% of them found by metal-detectorists.

Drawings of the West Yorkshire hoard — The West Yorkshire hoard (drawings copyright of Leeds Museums and Galleries and Archaeological Services WYAS – drawings by Jon Prudhoe)

The story of the West Yorkshire hoard began when the Finds Liaison Officer for West Yorkshire sent Kat some photographs in 2008 asking if she might be interested in the objects. At this point five objects had been discovered. A rescue excavation was organised to see if there were any other pieces from the hoard still in the ground. A further two items were recovered by the metal-detectorist on a return visit to the site. The objects included a very fine 10th century gold and garnet ring, a 9th century niello ring, two filigree rings, a fragment of a 7th century cloisonne brooch, a piece of gold ingot or hack gold, and a lead spindle whorl.

The 10th century gold and garnet ring is particularly fine and has not suffered any wear. It has an enlarged stepped bezel and is decorated with granulations of gold beads. The garnet looks too small for its dog tooth setting – either this garnet is a replacement or it has sunk as its mount has degraded.The gold content of the ring is very high. The back of the ring has a twisted hoop of gold wire with decorative terminals. It is so fine it may have belonged to a bishop. It certainly belonged to someone of high status.

Drawing of niello ring — Drawing of gold and niello ring (drawing copyright Leeds Museums and Galleries and Archaeological Services WYAS drawing by Jon Prudhoe)

The 9th century niello ring is a different kind of ring. It may have been worn over the gloves. It has four large oval panels decorated with leaf or zoomorphic motifs picked out in niello (a black mixture of copper, silver, and lead sulphides used as an inlay). It has suffered a lot of wear.

Smaller gold filigree ring (drawing copyright Leeds Museums and Galleries and Archaeological Services WYAS drawing by Jon Prudhow)

The filigree ring is smaller and thinner and of lower gold content. It is decorated with filigree and granulation. It is not symmetrical and though a beautiful piece of jewellery it is not of the same quality as the piece described earlier.

Gold cloisonne brooch fragment (copyright Leeds Museums and Galleries – photographer Norman Taylor).

The cloisonne brooch or pendant fragment is the earliest item in the hoard and dates from the 7th century. It has cells for inlays such as garnets but these have been hacked on one side and torn or bent out of shape. It would have been a stunning high class object when complete.

Large filigree ring (copyright Leeds Museums and Galleries – photographer Norman Taylor)

The second set of objects from the hoard consist of a another high quality ring with a high gold content with granular decoration. The ring appears to have a hollow bezzle and although it rattles when shaken nothing shows up on x-rays. the ring may have been an ecclesiastical ring owned by someone of high status. Like the earlier ring it shows no wear and appears to be brand new.

The last object is a lead spindle whorl and at present it is not clear why this was included in the hoard of gold objects. Two of the rings are of the highest quality known from Anglo-Saxon England. However, the rings cover a considerable period of time (the brooch has been dated to the 7th century, the rings are later, perhaps between the 9th and 11th centuries). It has been suggested they may have been part of a thief’s stash and that the hoard was consumed little by little, the individual pieces hacked up and semi-precious stones chiselled out. It is interesting that another fine ring was found between Aberford and Sherburn in 1870. It is clear that in the 10th century there were some affluent individuals living in the vicinity of Leeds. It may be that some of the rings have ecclesiastical associations. It is unusual not to find any coins with the hoard. The hoard is important because it is the only Anglo-Saxon hoard found of this quality in the area. As such it is an important addition to local history. Certainly it raises more questions than it answers; why do the rings range so much in date, and why were they buried in a field?

The hoard took three years to go through the Treasure process and after being valued at just under £172,000 four months were allowed to raise the money needed to reimburse the finder, as is usual in cases of Treasure. The National Heritage Memorial Fund and the Art Fund made generous grants. The Headley Trust usually only makes a contribution if a Victoria and Albert Museum grant has been made but the latter had already been exhausted and the Headley Trust kindly made a grant award regardless. Further sums of money were given by Leeds Museums and Galleries, Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society, the Friends of Leeds Museums and Galleries, and the Goldsmiths’ Company. The remaining money was raised by a public appeal and the hoard was secured for Leeds. The objects went straight on display in the Leeds City Museum, and a brand new display about the hoard, partly funded by the Art Fund, will be going up this Spring.

2015 – A Golden Year for the Middle Ages?

In many respects it seems to me that the coming year is likely to be a golden year for Medieval studies because of the important anniversaries that fall in 2015. John Walsh in The Independent on 1st January helpfully pointed out that this summer it will be one thousand years since the Viking invasion of England led by Canute, son of Sweyn Forkbeard. Jorvik Viking Festival will take place on 14th-22nd February and will feature battle re-enactments, guided walks and other activities.

On 15th June it will be 800 years since the Magna Carta was agreed at Runnymede in Surrey. The British Library, Lincoln Castle and Salisbury Cathedral have copies of Magna Carta and are putting on exhibitions. Perhaps the Medieval Section could organise a day trip to Lincoln to see the exhibition? If you’d be interested in going to see the exhibition do please get in touch and I’ll try to organize a visit.

There will be a £2 coin commemorating Magna Carta on its obverse this year, and a set of stamps. However, if you look at the £2 coin (above) the designer has made a schoolboy error in depicting King John about to sign Magna Carta using a quill, whereas in fact, it would have been imprinted with the king’s seal. Nor would the king have troubled himself with the act of sealing. That was the job of a particular member of Chancery known as a spigurnel. This and many other fascinating details concerning Magna Carta can be found in the new book by Dan Jones, Magna Carta the Making and Legacy of the Great Charter (Head of Zeus, 2014).

Dan Jones' new book on Magna Carta — Dan Jones’ new book on Magna Carta

If Lincoln is beyond the pale for a Yorkshire Medieval Section, Yorkshire Medieval Festival takes place in York 1st-31st August with archery, birds of prey, jousting knights and of course the beautiful historic city as a setting. York Early Music festival takes place 3rd-11th July and features a new medieval soundscape for the 1928 silent classic La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc.

A third anniversary is that of the battle of Agincourt which was fought on 25th October 1415: 600 years ago.

These are all compelling reasons to celebrate our Medieval history, archaeology and heritage sites in 2015, and I note that Jeremy Black writing in The Times (3/1/2015) suggests that the celebration of anniversaries is in itself something of a Medieval practice: Henry III celebrated Edward the Confessor and Henry VIII the victories of Edward III and Henry V.

And as if there weren’t enough I read in the Daily Telegraph (2/1/2015) a report about the discovery of a hoard of 5,251 Anglo-Saxon silver coins in a lead container in a field near Aylesbury, Bucks., by metal-detector user Paul Coleman. There are coins of Ethelred the Unready (978-1016) and Canute (1016-1035). I saw some footage of what was described on the evening news as the excavation of the hoard. Actually it looked more like reaching into the bran tub at a children’s party.

No doubt the much-discussed reburial of the remains of Richard III will be attended by a reevaluation of the controversial king’s reputation. Whether his final resting place will be Leicester or York is impossible to say at the present time. As the speaker at our Christmas lecture on this subject just over a year ago, Bob Woosnam-Savage, said the chances of finding the last Plantagenet king’s remains fist attempt must have appeared impossibly low but the archaeology has surprised everyone and Richard now joins the list of famous historical personalities who have been rescued from the oblivion of a forgotten grave, to the extent of having the very flesh put back on their bones though the technique of facial reconstruction, a technique I’m proud to say was pioneered at University of Manchester.

Another reason to be cheerful, if any were needed, is the imminent publication of the Medieval Section’s journal Medieval Yorkshire, which is being compiled and edited by our Hon.Joint Editor, David Asquith, and Sue Alexander. This is the first time for a number of years that the section has been in a position to publish a journal. Seeing this in print will be the realisation of the third leg of a strategy to re-energise the section after it came close to being closed two years ago (the other two being the creation of this blog and the resumption of the section’s monthly lectures).

Blog Appeal: Settle, Giggleswick, Stainforth, Malham

I’ve received an enquiry from someone who lives near Armitstead and who has read a copy of Medieval Yorkshire vol.34. He is interested in finding out about any research on the area around Settle, Giggleswick, Stainforth and Malham. The enquirer wants to know who to contact if he has questions. The gentleman asks whether Paley Green have been a settlement or a single farmstead. Would all the mentioned have had links with the monasteries? Can one of our members help?

Bryan Sitch
Hon. Secretary