ANGLO-SCANDINAVIAN ANTIQUITIES
(fn. 1)
Buildings, Carved Stones, and Miscellaneous Objects
Few antiquities have survived from the York of
the 5th or early 6th centuries. From the Mount,
however, comes a perfect bowl of fluted bluish-green
glass with a thread ornament. This belongs to a
recognized continental group of the migration period
—late 5th or perhaps early 6th century—and was
probably imported from the Rhine-Meuse region.
An almost exact replica of it has in fact come to light
in Germany and its presence in York may very
possibly indicate oversea trade in luxury goods at
an early period. The same period is represented by
a bronze bowl found in the castle yard. It has
escutcheons of swan-like form and resembles bowls
found at Bishop Wilton (E.R.) and at Hawnby
(N.R.). They were all designed for suspension but
served some unknown ceremonial purpose and belong to a type found as tomb-furniture. (fn. 2) Perhaps
owing to the burning of the minster in 741, no
examples of 7th- or early 8th-century Anglian sculpture are known to derive from York (fn. 3) —a disappointing fact in view of the recorded activities of Wilfrid's
artists.
A building which may have been an outstanding
architectural and artistic achievement of Alcuin's
York in the 8th century has given rise to much controversy. The problems immediately arising are those
which surround the reconstruction of the minster
after the fire, (fn. 4) a process only imprecisely described
in Alcuin's poetic masterpiece. The writer first
speaks of the magnificent furnishing of the altars by
Archbishop Æthelberht, who acceded in 767, a
quarter of a century after the fire. (fn. 5) His detailed
description of the altars and their decoration is immediately followed by the words:
Ast nova basilicae mirae structura diebus
Praesulis hujus erat jam caepta, peracta, sacrata.
Haec nimis alta domus solidis suffulta columnis,
Suppositae quae stant curvatis arcubus, intus
Emicat egregiis laquearibus atque fenestris,
Pulchraque porticibus (fn. 6) fulget circumdata multis,
Plurima diversis retinens solaria (fn. 7) tectis,
Quae triginta tenet variis ornatibus aras.
Hoc duo discipuli templum doctore jubente
Aedificaverunt Eanbaldus et Alcuinus, ambo
Concordes operi devota mente studentes.
Hoc tamen ipse pater socio cum praesule templum,
Ante die decima quam clauderet ultima vitae
Lumina praesentis, sophiae sacraverat almae. (fn. 8)
The passage is difficult to interpret. Was the Alma
Sophia, as most recent writers have supposed, a rebuilding of the damaged St. Peter's? If, however,
it was a separate building, where was it situated?
And why, after this single reference, does a church
of Alma Sophia never receive further attention? The
problem cannot be discussed here in its full complexity. (fn. 9) It seems extremely unlikely that the building was a church for the canons of Christ Church—
later Holy Trinity Priory. (fn. 10) The view that the new
church was a rebuilding of St. Peter's has much
more in its favour. St. Peter's is once again mentioned
by Alcuin himself in 793 and by Symeon of Durham
(embodying early Northumbrian annals) sub anno
796. The furnishing of altars might first have taken
place in the patched-up old church, and then an
architectural reconstruction might have followed. On
this basis Alma Sophia might be dismissed as a temporary change of dedication; but dedications were
then taken very seriously and this seems unlikely. It
might be easier, though still dubious, to dismiss
Alcuin's phrase as mere poetic licence rather than
take it at its face value as the record of a formal
dedication.
It has been suggested, however, that Æthelberht
built a new structure. John Browne, the 19th-century historian of the minster's architecture, was one
of the first to attack the theory that the building was
Holy Trinity Priory. (fn. 11) He took Alma Sophia to be a
rebuilding of the minster and in 1863 suggested as its
foundation the extensive concrete platform which he
had then recently found in the crypt of the minster.
A recent examination of this platform suggests, however, that its width is more appropriate to the Norman
rebuilding and the site of the new building—if, indeed, there was one—is still very uncertain. (fn. 12) Of the
suggestions that have been put forward for its
position, the one which involves the least difficulty
is that which supposes Alma Sophia to have stood
in the close vicinity of St. Peter's somewhere on the
site of the present minster. It may be surmised with
some probability that its foundations lie under, and
perhaps a little to the west of, the present nave.
The intellectual vitality of Alcuin's York thus
appears to have been matched by an outstanding
architectural achievement and one which the surviving stones of the period can but remotely suggest.
The period between the early 8th century and the
coming of the Danes has left in York several
characteristic, though scarcely any first-rate, examples of Anglian sculpture. (fn. 13) From St. Leonard's
Place come two carved stones; one, the end of a crossshaft, retains the inscription ad memorium sanctorum; (fn. 14)
the other, also part of a late Anglian cross-shaft,
has good vine-scroll ornament, on one side intertwined with two animal-figures, probably an early
example of the hart-and-hind motif. (fn. 15) The tower
of St. Mary's, Bishophill, Junior, incorporates two
Anglian carved stones, (fn. 16) while a third was taken from
the south wall of the chancel in 1913 and placed in
the church. This last is a striking, if debased, late
Anglian shaft fragment. (fn. 17) Also from this church
came part of a cross-shaft showing on one side a
dragon with interlacing of late Anglian type, on the
other two human figures, ostensibly those of sophisticated 9th-century Anglian gentlemen. (fn. 18) A fragment of a once-beautiful cross-head was found on the
city wall on the site of the archway now leading to
the old railway station. (fn. 19) Another cross-head, probably but not certainly local, is of Ripon or Tadcaster stone and seems 8th-century in type. (fn. 20) The
other two Anglian stones, found in the excavations
preparatory to the building of Parliament Street,
are both grave-covers of sandstone marked with
plain crosses. (fn. 21)
Sculptured stones deriving from the period between
the Danish and the Norman Conquests are naturally
more plentiful at York than those of the Anglian
period. The scarcity of stone in their own country
nevertheless made the incoming Danes mere learners in the sphere of architecture and monumental
sculpture. Though they were not long in acquiring a
certain rude charm of their own, they never achieved
the delicate spirituality of the best Anglian crosses,
which had depended not solely on native ingenuity
but on a contact with the Mediterranean fountainhead. (fn. 22)
The earliest stones are all in the Yorkshire Museum.
First in time is part of a hog-back, (fn. 23) a form of recumbent monument developed by Danish originality, though in this case with scrolls inspired by
Anglian models. It was found in the wall of St.
Mary's, Bishophill, Junior. A flat grave-slab from
St. Denys's churchyard (fn. 24) shows curious bifurcated
plaits and the dragon-motif which dominates Scandinavian sculpture. More spectacular is the coped
stone found near the south wall of St. Denys's and
showing a confused tangle of bears and dragons, possibly also an elephant, carved in flat relief. (fn. 25) These
two belong to the age of the viking kings, but stones
attributable to the 10th and early 11th centuries are
much more numerous. Part of a cross-shaft was
found in Parliament Street at some distance from
the site of any known church. (fn. 26) A stone rudely
carved with two dragons, apparently a vertical
feature from some church building, comes from
Clifford Street. (fn. 27) Part of a 10th-century wheel-head
cross said to come from St. Mary's, Castlegate, (fn. 28)
may possibly indicate a church on that site even
earlier than that represented by its dedication-stone
(see below). The fragment, probably of a cross-shaft,
in the porch of Holy Trinity, Micklegate, has been
conjecturally dated c. 1000. (fn. 29) Of more pronouncedly
11th-century style are three stones: (a) an unusual
cross-head with an ingeniously carved beast, perhaps
the lion of St. Mark; (fn. 30) (b) a somewhat roughly designed finial cross found in the north wall of the nave
of St. Crux; (fn. 31) (c) a cross-slab grave-cover built into
the porch of St. Mary's, Bishophill, Senior. (fn. 32)
The mutilated and headless, yet still beautiful,
Virgin and Child in the crypt of the minster does not
belong to this series and has indeed no very close
parallels in either pre-Conquest or post-Conquest
English sculpture. It bears strikingly close resemblance to certain figures of the Byzantine school of
the 10th and 11th centuries, a school which extended
into Italy and possibly even into Germany. (fn. 33) Whether
the work is regarded as an importation or as representing the influence or actual presence of foreign
craftsmen, its appearance at York involves interesting
possibilities. The figures are in relief and possess a
truly Romanesque grandeur; the complex draperies,
markedly metallic in character, yet executed with an
easy command of the material, have led observers
unaware of its Byzantine affinities to link it with
French Romanesque work of the 12th century. The
preponderant weight of evidence is nevertheless for
the earlier date and there is reason to suppose that
work of this technical excellence and iconographic
character might then have been produced in England. (fn. 34)
The dedication stone of St. Mary's, Castlegate—
if this is indeed what it is (fn. 35) —is not easy to date with
precision. It says, in a mixture of English and Latin,
that the church (mynster) was built by [? Ev]rard,
Grim and Æse, but where the date of consecration
was carved the stone has been broken away. (fn. 36) 'Evrard' seems a not unreasonable conjecture—the
name is common in York in the 12th century. (fn. 37) Although two Grims occur about 1050 in a list of the
'festermen' for a certain Ælfric, preserved in the
York Gospels, (fn. 38) the name must have been very common in York from 867 onwards; indeed, it continued
so in the 12th century. (fn. 39) There seems every reason
to suppose that long after the Conquest native
builders were displaying conservatism and foreign
builders sensitivity to local influences. (fn. 40) The St.
Mary's dedication might well represent, say, a rebuilding after the disasters of 1069. That most impressive architectural survival of 11th-century York,
the tower of St. Mary's, Bishophill, Junior, is probably of pre-Conquest date and shows close affinities
with the so-called 'Lincolnshire group'. The tower
arch, opening into the nave and recessed with two
square orders, (fn. 41) has been classed by an eminent
authority with the finest examples of its type, those
at Barnack (Northants.) and at St. Benet's, Cambridge. (fn. 42) A stone in the wall of Holy Trinity,
Micklegate, which shows a Scandinavian dragonesque motif with more than a suggestion of Norman
workmanship may be dated round about the Conquest. (fn. 43)
Miscellaneous objects reflecting the daily life of
Anglo-Scandinavian times have frequently come to
light in York. (fn. 44) In 1884 a remarkable miscellaneous
hoard was found near Castlegate. Bone combs (fn. 45) in
various stages of manufacture indicated the proximity of workshops, an impression strengthened by the
presence of amber, both unworked and wrought
into rings, ear-rings, and beads. Other objects
included pottery with finely interlaced handles, a
loom weight, wooden spoons (one with interlaced
patterns and runes), spindle-whorls, knives, prickers,
whetstones, wooden hammer-heads, and ornamented
deer-horns. (fn. 46) Both here and in Goodramgate have
occurred glass roundlets thought to have been intended for smoothing linen. (fn. 47) Various draughtscounters from both Clifford Street and Coppergate
and several bone skates probably also dating from this
period are extant as reminders of the well-known
viking love of games. A chessman (see plate facing
p. 333), possibly of this date, was found in Nessgate. (fn. 48) Contemporary metal objects from York and
its immediate vicinity include silver and pewter
brooches, (fn. 49) and two swords with the characteristic
semicircular pommel and straight guard. (fn. 50) A particularly fine bronze scabbard-chape is so similar to
another found in Jemtland, Sweden, that it has been
thought to come from the same mould. (fn. 51) A rough
coffin hewn from a tree-trunk, containing a male
skeleton and a wooden paddle, was found on the site
of Salem Chapel in St. Saviourgate. (fn. 52) Similar coffins
were reported from Parliament Street (fn. 53) and another
paddle from Coppergate near the scabbard-chape
and other viking objects, though the association of
these last objects one with another is disputed. (fn. 54) On
the Coppergate site the most unusual finds were
leather boots, gaiters, and fragments of leather
sheaths. The sheaths have floral scrolls similar to
patterns found in Scandinavia; they lack the usual
animal-designs. (fn. 55) Bone was also a favourite material
in the workshops of York. A trial-piece, probably of
10th-century date, came to light near the castle in
1938. (fn. 56) Two curious whale-bone implements, one
found probably in Ousegate and the other in Hudson
(now Railway) Street, are carved with patterns
characteristic of the period, though their purpose
remains far from clear. (fn. 57) Perhaps the most attractive
of all discoveries of the viking age is the golden
dragon pin encountered during an excavation near
St. Mary's Abbey (see plate facing p. 333). Though
it lay so near the site of Siward's palace, its style
places it well before his time: almost certainly before
950 and conceivably before 900. (fn. 58)
The earliest post-Roman coin to be found in York
is a gold thrymsa of the 7th century; it was possibly
struck in the city. (fn. 60) The silver sceat found at the
same time and hitherto described as of the 7th
century is now thought to be of later origin. (fn. 61) The
earliest known coins certainly produced by the York
mint are silver sceats of the period c. 750-90. The
coins previously attributed to Ecgfrith (fn. 62) are to be
regarded with the greatest suspicion—those found
at Heworth may even be 19th-century fabrications,
and none of his coins in fact occurs in the 9thcentury hoards from Bolton Percy (W.R.) and
elsewhere. The rare coins hitherto attributed to
Ealdfrith (fn. 63) are now believed to belong to the very
end of the 8th century. (fn. 64)
Annotation 705
The coins of the late 8th and the 9th centuries have
survived more abundantly, however, and reflect not
only the productivity of the York mint during the
period but the rise of internal trade. The two largest
Yorkshire coin-hoards, those of Bolton Percy and
St. Leonard's Place, York, alone account for some
16,000 coins; both were apparently deposited at
least a decade before the Danish invasion of 867.
Eadberht (737-58) is adequately represented by a
silver sceat coinage which continued until about
790; some sceats were also issued in the joint names
of Eadberht and Archbishop Egbert. Silver was never
plentiful in the north and a copper coin, usually but
incorrectly called a styca, predominates from about
830 until, at the latest, 855. (fn. 65) Moneyers' names appear on the reverse of most types, so yielding useful
information on personal nomenclature. Eanred may
have employed about 35 moneyers, Æthelred II
(841-50) over 40. (fn. 66) Their work shows little standardization; each king has an assortment of styles and
spellings. The legends are not infrequently retrograde
or otherwise blundered. Almost the only impressive
early York coin is a unique gold solidus of Archbishop Wigmund (837-54), copied from a coin of
Louis the Pious. (fn. 67) With this quasi-Frankish exception, it may scarcely be claimed that the York mints
were worthy contemporaries of Alcuin.
York coins of the late 9th century have also survived abundantly. The great hoard discovered at
Cuerdale near Preston (Lancs.) was apparently deposited soon after 900 and includes over 3,000 pennies bearing the names of two (?) Christian kings,
Cnut and Siefred. (fn. 68) These two names may relate to
the same person; the coins are of closely similar type
and both use on their reverses phrases from the
liturgy: Mirabilia fecit and Dominus Deus Rex. Some
are even struck with the legend of Cnut on one side
and that of Siefred on the other. (fn. 69) All the 'Siefred'
coins showing a minting place were struck at York.
The 'Cnut' coins come both from York and from
Quentovic, the ancient port in northern France. (fn. 70)
The two coinages overlap but the 'Cnut' coins seem
in general to be later than the 'Siefred'; the coinages lasted from about 895 until, at the latest, 905. (fn. 71)
Siefred is probably identical with Sigeferth piraticus de Northymbriorum recorded in Æthelweard's
chronicle (fn. 72) as ravaging the coasts in 895.
The increasing commercial prosperity of the city
indicated by these coinages must have advanced
steadily throughout the unsettled reigns of the
Danish and Norse kings. It is reflected not only in
the sagas but in the continuity of the Norse coinage
in the midst of political instability. (fn. 73) And it was
during the troubled years of the early 10th century
that a 'memorial coinage' of St. Peter made its
appearance. (fn. 74) The viking world to which York now
belonged was one of trade. At Kildale in the North
Riding one of the viking burials is significantly
accompanied not only by a sword but by a set of
scales, (fn. 75) and these joint symbols recur both in Dublin
and in Norway. The vast scope of this trading world
is illustrated by the Goldsborough coin-hoard,
which includes items struck by 9th- and early 10thcentury rulers in Tashkent, Samarkand, and other
oriental cities. (fn. 76) Doubtless the York vikings met
in the Baltic their compatriots who had traversed
Russia. In York itself they replaced the Anglian
copper stycas by a silver coinage often based on
Frankish types to the extent of bearing the Carolus
monogram. (fn. 77) Nor, of course, did trade cease with
the downfall of the Norse kingdom; both Athelstan
and Edmund issued coins from the York mint and
the coinages of the Wessex kings soon became current
amongst the northern traders. (fn. 78)
The Survival of Scandinavian Names
Viking York has been commemorated even more
strikingly than by its coins. The great majority of the
medieval street-names—many of which have survived today—are of Scandinavian origin. (fn. 79) Only a
few of them may be tentatively ascribed to particular
phases of Scandinavian influence. 'Divlinstones', a
lane that probably led from North Street to the river
comes from O.W.Scand. Dyflinn (Dublin), and
must have been coined by vikings from Ireland.
King's Court appears in the 13th century as 'Kuningesgard', a name we might reasonably connect with
the Konungs-gardr of Egil's saga referring to the
residence of Eric Bloodaxe in York. Both this name
and its parallel Coney Street (12th century, 'Cuningestret') are indeed probably Danish and could
antedate the Norse kings. (fn. 80) The 12th-century
'Brettegate' (later Jubbergate) is thought to derive
from O.Scand. Bretar (Britons) and hence, though
a later origin is possible, it may refer to the Cumbrian
Britons who accompanied the Irish vikings. (fn. 81) Since
the names of many eminent citizens of later 11thand 12th-century York are known, place-names
based on unrecorded personal names are likely to
belong to an earlier period. Goodramgate (12th
century: 'Gutherungata') is a survival of this type;
similarly in medieval times we find 'Golmanlythe'
and 'Galmanhowe' attached respectively to a gate
in Bootham and the high ground near St. Mary's
Abbey. One of the oldest York street-names may be
Hartergate (12th century 'Hertergate'; 16th century 'Hatterlane'; now Friargate), which derives
from either hjartar ('hart's street') or from the personal name Hojrtr, and in any case contains a genitive form which became obsolete in England at a
very early date. The word gate, so common for
'road' or 'street' throughout the Danelaw, is of course
the normal Scand. gata. More specifically Norwegian is geil, used extensively in medieval York for
lanes, alleys, and narrow passages. Even as late as
the 12th century geil seems a current term, for it was
then probably applied to 'Fotlousgeyle' (i.e. 'Footless Lane')—the place where the Master of St.
Leonard's Hospital kept the crippled poor from
about 1100 onwards. (fn. 82)
Geil may, however, have retained its currency in popular speech without compelling us to believe in the existence of a very large
Norwegian population or further Norwegian immigration after the Norman Conquest.
The Scandinavian place-names of York cannot be
ascribed more precisely than generally to the late
9th, 10th, and 11th centuries. The Conquest itself
may not instantly have diminished intercourse with
Scandinavia, yet since the suburban names 'Munecagate', 'Walbegate', and 'Fiscergate' (Monkgate,
Walmgate, Fishergate) appear already in a document
of about 1080, (fn. 83) most names in central York were
presumably also established by that date. Some
typical surviving names of Scandinavian origin
are Stonegate (12th century, 'Steingate' from
O.W.Scand. steinn gata, stone-paved street), Skeldergate (shield-makers' street from O.Scand. skjaldari),
Coppergate (joiners' street, O.Scand. koppari),
Blossom Street (13th century 'Ploxwangate' from
O.Scand. plógr sveinn, ploughswain) and perhaps
Blake Street (probably O.Scand. bleikr, white). The
medieval 'Ketmangergate' comes from O.Scand.
kjotmangari, fleshmonger. Bootham provides an example of the difficulties of interpreting the placename evidence. The termination -um found in all its
early medieval occurrences has led the whole word to
be tentatively connected with O.W.Scand. búdum,
the dative plural of búd. It has been suggested (fn. 84) that
it derives from some such expression as farmanna
búdum—'merchants' booths'—and thus has its origin after 1089 when St. Mary's Abbey was founded
and the abbey's weekly market developed there.
But a more ancient market may well have developed
in this suburb, as markets certainly did in the eastern
suburbs. Moreover búd is a term of wide application
and may refer to almost any kind of dwelling or
building and has no necessary connexion with merchants' booths. Similar caution has to be observed
in other cases, but in general it is clear that York's
place- and street-names are more pronouncedly
Scandinavian than those of any other major town in
Britain.
The names of the York moneyers, as recorded on
the coinage of the 10th and 11th centuries, yield
further evidence of the Scandinavian character of
York. (fn. 85) Under Edgar (957-75) 2 Scandinavian
names appear amongst a total of 9; under Æthelred
(978-1016) over 30 Scandinavian names are found
against only a dozen or so English; under Cnut
(1016-35) the Scandinavian outnumber the English
by about 29 to 15; under the Confessor (104266) by about 23 to 9 and under Harold all 10, with
one or two possible exceptions, are Scandinavian.
Thus between 979 and 1066 nearly two-thirds of the
York moneyers had Scandinavian names. Many of
them occur in a slightly Anglicized form: 'Osgod'
for O.Scand. Ásgautr; 'Fargrim' for Fargrimr;
'Thurgrim' for Thorgrimr; 'Toka' for Tóki; 'Scula'
for Skúli; and so forth. A few, though quite certainly Scandinavian forms (Sneborn, Swartcol,
Winterfugel) do not appear to have been recorded
in Scandinavia itself.