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.


Saturday, 21 June 2025

Archaeology reveals cultural interfaces in first millennium Germany


Three recent reports about archaeological discoveries in what is now Germany and the Netherlands have indicated three quite separate examples of cultural overlap or interchange in what were, at the time, border regions. All very liminal if that is how you wish to address these themes.

The earliest is an article from LBV and is about a grave discovered near Paderborn in Westphalia and which can be seen at The Tomb of a Germanic Mercenary Who Served in the Roman Legions and an Unusual Well with Glass and Organic Remains, Found in Germany


The second example is from Live Science and is about a child’s grave from about 670-680. The boy was only about eighteen months old  when he died, but his grave suggests he was from a wealthy and well-connected family. The article can be seen at Blue-eyed 'Ice Prince' toddler was buried with a sword and a piglet 1,350 years ago in Bavaria


A chance find of a well-preserved late tenth century sword in a river in the Netherlands, which at the time would be as much German as anything else, and is reported upon in an article in Arkeonews at Symbol of Eternal Loyalty Found on Rare Medieval Sword in the Netherlands - Arkeonews

 

All three discoveries show how the Germanic tribes were assimilating Roman, and later, Christian culture in frontier regions.


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