Book of Mulling
The momentous Staffordshire find is stirring up much excitement worldwide.
It is fascinating to read how there have been no feminine articles or domestic items recovered, and that previously dicovered Anglo Saxon hoards,such as the renowned Sutton Hoo ship burial for instance,include large amounts of cultural material meant to be worn or used by women. Staffordshire's, so far, appears to be exclusively related to masculine trophies and war gear, making it a particularly telling discovery in its own right, and sending historians' and archaeologists',(who are expecting to glean fountains of information from the mysterious objects), heads spinning. Precious knowledge will be forthcoming, they say, about a murderous, trans-formative time of which very little is known for certain.
To see the exquisite line of the small,engraved handwriting with its "misspelled" letters is very moving somehow, more so even than the delicately wrought cloisonne pieces,and perhaps even more a sign of the elite status of its wearer (in an era when there was probably not much writing being worn, much less read, by the common person), and the folded cross, (although who will ever know why, or for whatever reason it was folded?), seems to evoke such violence.
It is fascinating to read how there have been no feminine articles or domestic items recovered, and that previously dicovered Anglo Saxon hoards,such as the renowned Sutton Hoo ship burial for instance,include large amounts of cultural material meant to be worn or used by women. Staffordshire's, so far, appears to be exclusively related to masculine trophies and war gear, making it a particularly telling discovery in its own right, and sending historians' and archaeologists',(who are expecting to glean fountains of information from the mysterious objects), heads spinning. Precious knowledge will be forthcoming, they say, about a murderous, trans-formative time of which very little is known for certain.
To see the exquisite line of the small,engraved handwriting with its "misspelled" letters is very moving somehow, more so even than the delicately wrought cloisonne pieces,and perhaps even more a sign of the elite status of its wearer (in an era when there was probably not much writing being worn, much less read, by the common person), and the folded cross, (although who will ever know why, or for whatever reason it was folded?), seems to evoke such violence.
Anyway the whole thing has got me looking up every Anglo Saxon manuscript image I can find on Wikipedia.
