Lot Essay
For the Borre style, cf. The Vikings in England, Copenhagen and York, 1981, p. 34, no. B39; and J. Graham-Campbell and D. Kidd, The Vikings, The British Museum, London, 1980, p. 158, pl. 90 for the gilt bronze mounts from Borre which display the characteristic motifs of the so-called Borre style, namely the 'ring-chain', an interlacing pattern composed of a double ribbon which often terminates in a triangular-shaped animal-mask with pointed snout and large ears as on the above pommel. The mounts were found in a richly furnished barrow-burial at Borre in Vestfold, south Norway.
According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the Viking Age in England began dramatically in 793 A.D. when a Viking attack on Northumbria led to the destruction of the church on Lindisfarne, with further raids following along the coastline. Annual raids culminated in 866 A.D. when the city of York was overrun and a puppet-ruler was installed. In subsequent years, the Vikings established themselves in Northumbria, Mercia and East Anglia. Throughout the 870s A.D. the Danes repeatedly attacked Wessex, the strongest Anglo-Saxon kingdom in southern England, which was ruled over by King Alfred. It was not until the Treaty of Wedmore in 878 A.D. that England was formally partitioned between a Danelaw in the north-east and Anglo-Saxon Wessex in the south-west. The Anglo-Saxon kings were only able to regain the whole of Danelaw and York in 954 A.D., but Viking raids started again from 980 A.D. This time Danegeld, in the form of regular large money payments, was extracted from the English from 991 A.D. onwards. Viking rule only finally died out in 1042 A.D. with the accession of Edward the Confessor to the throne.
According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the Viking Age in England began dramatically in 793 A.D. when a Viking attack on Northumbria led to the destruction of the church on Lindisfarne, with further raids following along the coastline. Annual raids culminated in 866 A.D. when the city of York was overrun and a puppet-ruler was installed. In subsequent years, the Vikings established themselves in Northumbria, Mercia and East Anglia. Throughout the 870s A.D. the Danes repeatedly attacked Wessex, the strongest Anglo-Saxon kingdom in southern England, which was ruled over by King Alfred. It was not until the Treaty of Wedmore in 878 A.D. that England was formally partitioned between a Danelaw in the north-east and Anglo-Saxon Wessex in the south-west. The Anglo-Saxon kings were only able to regain the whole of Danelaw and York in 954 A.D., but Viking raids started again from 980 A.D. This time Danegeld, in the form of regular large money payments, was extracted from the English from 991 A.D. onwards. Viking rule only finally died out in 1042 A.D. with the accession of Edward the Confessor to the throne.