Once I was a clever boy learning the arts of Oxford... is a quotation from the verses written by Bishop Richard Fleming (c.1385-1431) for his tomb in Lincoln Cathedral. Fleming, the founder of Lincoln College in Oxford, is the subject of my research for a D. Phil., and, like me, a son of the West Riding. I have remarked in the past that I have a deeply meaningful on-going relationship with a dead fifteenth century bishop... it was Fleming who, in effect, enabled me to come to Oxford and to learn its arts, and for that I am immensely grateful.


Sunday 22 May 2022

Sutton Hoo and the Staffordshire Hoard


The BBC News website has an article about an exhibition at Sutton Hoo that brings together material both from that spectacular boat burial and from the Staffordshire hoard, which is believed to be loot from Mercian raids into East Anglia.

 
There are also articles from The National Trust, which owns the site at Sutton Hoo, at ‘Golden age’ of Anglo-Saxon craftsmanship is celebrated as objects from two of the most important archaeological discoveries go on display together by and from Suffolk News, which has some very good illustrations of some of the objects on display at Exhibition of 'most important archaeological discoveries ever made' opens to public

The discoveries of such major deposits of precious treasure has illuminated our understanding of Anglo-Saxon art and craftsmanship, opened up our awareness of cultural contacts far beyond the realms of the Heptarchy, including Byzantine Christianity, and also shown the wealth of rulers, and the status such objects both conferred and witnessed to. Gold was important as a means of exchange, but also of celebrating success, and, certainly at Sutton Hoo, was something that could be sacrificed or set aside for ritual purposes. The so-called ‘Dark Ages’ were literally a golden age in reality as well as in the metaphor of their literary and missionary achievements.


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