The Cruciform Brooch and Anglo-Saxon England

Download or read book The Cruciform Brooch and Anglo-Saxon England written by Toby F. Martin and published by Boydell & Brewer Ltd. This book was released on 2015 with total page 405 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cruciform brooches were large and decorative items of jewellery, frequently used to pin together women's garments in pre-Christian northwest Europe. Characterised by the strange bestial visages that project from the feet of these dress and cloak fasteners, cruciform brooches were especially common in eastern England during the 5th and 6th centuries AD. This book provides a multifaceted, holistic and contextual analysis of more than 2,000 Anglo-Saxon cruciform brooches. It offers a critical examination of identity in Early Medieval society, suggesting that the idea of being Anglian in post-Roman Britain was not a primordial, tribal identity transplanted from northern Germany, but was at least partly forged through the repeated, prevalent use of dress and material culture.