Torcs
A torc is a neck ornament made of metal that would sit at the base of the wearer’s neck. They were popular across Europe throughout the Bronze and Iron Ages, from around 2000BC–100AD. The styles of torcs changed, but the principle remained the same. The name ‘torc’ originates from the Latin word torquere, meaning ‘to twist’. They were often made by twisting metal, as in this example. Most torcs only have a small gap in the ring, so they would have been difficult to put on and take off. It’s been suggested that they were only worn for special occasions, or put on without the intention of taking them off again, like a modern wedding ring.
Peculiarly, the terminal Steve found looked familiar. Very quickly the researchers discovered that it was the missing part of a torc that had been found in 1965 just 400 metres away. The original piece was in the British Museum, claimed by the Crown as Treasure Trove from the farmer who had dug it up when he was harrowing a field. The farmer had been given a reward of £3,300, an enormous sum in a time when fish and chips cost 6p and the average annual wage was £950.
“The name ‘torc’ originates from the Latin word torquere, meaning ‘to twist’”
After forty years, the Sedgeford Torc was finally reunited with its terminal, and its beauty was once again revealed. It’s made of 25 metres of twisted gold and silver wire. Each wire, just 2mm thick, has been twisted with another, and then the pairs of wires twisted in threes to make eight six-stranded ropes. These ropes have again been twisted on themselves to create the intricate neck section. The hooped terminals have been cast in moulds with a distinctive ‘trumpet swirl’ pattern and raised beads. This kind of decoration style is known as La Tène art.
La Tène art is the technical term for what’s popularly known as early ‘Celtic’ art. Plant motifs, animal patterns and swirling geometric designs popular across northern Europe were developed in Britain from around 450BC, and after 300BC British and Irish craftspeople developed their own distinctive styles. They were so accomplished that modern smiths struggle to copy their designs.
“La Tène art is the technical term for what’s popularly known as early ‘Celtic’ art. Plant motifs, animal patterns and swirling geometric designs popular across northern Europe were developed in Britain from around 450BC”
See also:
Blair Drummond Hoard
Sedgeford Coin Hoard
Tanworth Comb
Saltfleetby Spindle Whorl
Weaving magic in Viking clothes
Date: 1000–1050AD, Viking
Where, when and how found: Saltfleetby St Clement, Lincolnshire; 2010; metal detecting
Finder: Denise Moncaster
Where is it now? Returned to finder
Visit: Jorvik Viking Centre, York
www.jorvik-viking-centre.co.uk
This little spindle whorl from Saltfleetby St Clement, in Lincolnshire, looks at first like a common archaeological find used for what was once an everyday activity – spinning.
The process of hand-spinning a sheep’s fleece into yarn involves a few key steps. First, the wool is washed, dried and combed out. The end of the bundle of wool is then teased out into a strand and attached to a spindle, formed of a wooden pen-shaped ‘spindle shaft’, weighted with a small stone or lead bead with a hole in the middle, known as a ‘spindle whorl’. Different sizes of spindle whorl are used to make different weight threads – the smaller the whorl, the finer the thread.
The spinner sets the spindle off in a circling motion, allowing it to sink towards the floor. As the spindle rotates, it pulls out and twists the fibres against each other into a neat, strong and even thread.
The smallest whorls are no bigger than beads, the largest, up to around 100g, would have been used to make thick, coarse yarn for outer garments, or for twisting more than one thread together to make a ‘ply’ yarn.
Although wooden, spindle shafts and actual fabrics rarely survive in archaeological contexts. The whorls, made of stone, chunky metal or other materials, are relatively common finds.
But this whorl is special. It’s uniquely inscribed on the sides and flat face with Norse runes, the writing of the Vikings.
The Vikings in Lincolnshire
The first definite record of raiding parties from Scandinavia is the attack on the monastery of Lindisfarne in 793AD. The English chroniclers refer to the raiders as Danes, or Northmen, sometimes ‘the host’, but in fact different groups came from Denmark, Norway and Sweden. The common acceptance of the term ‘Viking’ really only began during the 1700s, along with the romantic idea of brave warrior men coming from across the sea to seek treasure and wage brutal but heroic battle.
In the 800s AD, Viking groups began to settle in north and east areas of the British Isles. When they settled Christian lands, Vikings often started to worship the Christian god alongside their traditional Norse gods. As part of the trade and peace treaty that King Alfred the Great brokered in 878AD with the Vikings, Viking leader Guthrum had to agree to convert to Christianity. Alfred acted as his godfather, and in exchange Alfred recognised Guthrum as the Christian ruler of East Anglia.
These evangelical urges were only partly to do with converting pagans to the Christian faith. The other, and perhaps more pressing, need to convert the Vikings was because Church teaching at the time stated that Christians should not trade with non-Christians. In some circumstances, Viking leaders would have the sign of the cross made over them, a practice known as being ‘primsigned’, which was considered an interim step towards baptism. In other cases Viking leaders and their people willingly and thoroughly adopted Christianity. Archaeologically, conversion to Christianity is most distinctively marked by graves without traditional Viking grave goods.
Viking fashion
Experts have noted that the shape and style of the Saltfleetby Whorl would be quite unusual if it was found on a Viking site in Norway, which confirms that the Vikings living in Britain had developed their own regional styles, both for their clothes, and also for their tools and trinkets.
Vikings didn’t write descriptions of what, to them, were everyday things – what they wore, how cloth was made, and other daily functions were understood by everyone and didn’t need to be recorded. Most of our written sources from this period are either Anglo-Saxon records of battles, famines, kings and queens, or the epic story poems of the Icelandic and Orcadian sagas.
But from the archaeological evidence, as well as tiny details in written sources and illustrations, we can build a picture of what people wore, and the importance of clothes and personal adornment in Viking culture.
Fabric for clothes was made from linen or wool woven on an upright loom. It’s also possible that exotic fabrics like silk reached Viking communities through trade and war spoils, and the sagas mention wedding gifts of cloth with gold woven into them. Embroidery and braid around cuffs, collars and hems would have been popular, and jewellery including strings of beads, brooches and hair clips were worn just as they are today.
“Viking clothes were designed and made to last for years, and it’s likely their clothes were finished to a higher quality than most of our clothes are today”
Men wore tunics with belts, and trousers that were either loose or tight along the leg. Some wore cloth bandages wrapped around their calves over their trousers, protecting their legs and keeping their trousers clean. Women wore long shift dresses with sleeves, with outer, more elaborate over-dresses. Both men and women wore thick woollen cloaks, wool socks and leather shoes. Vikings didn’t know knitting techniques, instead they used nålbinding, ‘needle-binding’, using a single thick needle to create a knotted textile that could be shaped into hats, mittens and socks.
Modern experiments show that to make enough yarn to produce a typical set of clothes for an adult man and woman in the 11th century, you’d need about 6kg of raw wool (one sheep gives 1–2kg), spun into 40,000m of yarn, then woven into cloth and finally sewed into garments. It would require weeks of work, and all clothes would have been ca
refully cared for and repaired until they wore out. Some undershirts have been discovered made from odd patchworks of cloth, and it’s quite likely that people were cutting out the less worn sections of old clothes and patching them together to make a new item, rather than throwing the whole thing away.
The archaeological evidence we do have for Viking textiles reveals fine-quality cloth and intricate and precise sewing – Viking clothes were designed and made to last for years, and it’s likely their clothes were finished to a higher quality than most of our clothes are today.
The inscribed whorl
Runes were the written letters of the Scandinavian cultures. By the 11th century, a new form of their alphabet, known as the futhork, or ‘Medieval Runes’, was evolving with 27 characters and dots between strings of letters.
The inscription on the Saltfleetby Spindle Whorl runs around the vertical wall and the flat face of the whorl. The form of the lettering has been dated to 1000–1100AD, but only half of it is easy to decipher.
Along the wall, it says:
.oþen.ok.einmtalr.ok.þalfa.þeir.
which was translated by Professor John Hines at Cardiff University as
Óðinn and Heimdallr and Thjalfi, they. . .
Odin and Heimdallr are important Viking gods that were worshipped before Viking communities converted to Christianity. Thjalfi is a name associated with a servant boy of the god Thor, but in the form on the whorl, this might be a female name, or a poetic word referencing the sea.
Along the face of the whorl, it says:
ielba.þeruolflt.ok.kiriuesf.
which is translated as . . . help thee, Úlfljótr and [xxx]
Úlfljótr is probably a man’s name, but experts are uncertain about the meaning of ‘kiriuesf’.
So the summary meaning is ‘The gods Odin and Heimdallr and Thjalfi will help you, Úlfljótr and [xxx]’.
By the 11th century Vikings were Christian and had built a number of churches in the region dedicated to St Clement, a patron saint linked to seafaring communities. This spindle whorl proves that the Old Gods were still called upon, and woven into everyday life.
Weaving magic
We often make the dangerous error of thinking that housework isn’t as important as the work that goes on ‘out there’ in the public domain. In fact our modern term for an unmarried woman is still spinster. But the Vikings believed that work that was done in the home, traditionally women’s work, wasn’t just important practically, it was also important spiritually.
Old Norse literature often connects spinning and weaving with fate and magical activity. There was a folk belief that goddesses would examine women’s spindles at Midwinter, the shortest day of the year, and if the women clearly worked hard, the goddesses would bless the household with good fortune and a good harvest; if the women were not industrious, disaster would befall the house in the coming year. The fate of the whole household rested on women’s work.
Children’s fate and health were also wound up with spinning. A tradition amongst pregnant Swedish Viking women was to spin three linen threads and dye one black, one red and one white. The White would be used to tie off the umbilical cord at the birth, the Red would be tied around the baby’s wrist to ward off the evil eye, and the Black, a sign of death and misfortune, would be burned in the fire.
Other spindle whorls, cut from rock crystal, have been discovered in Viking graves, which would flash as they spun, and others from amber or jet, which were considered to be made from the fertility goddess Freyja’s tears. Just like the Saltfleetby Spindle Whorl, these were ways to imbue every thread with protective magic. There were also magical incantations that could be used to weave either good or ill into the cloth being made on a loom – mothers and sisters were said to be able to weave protective shirts for their menfolk going into battle, and other stories describe women weaving poisoned shirts to cause misfortune and death to enemies.
Churchmen were so concerned about women practising magic during spinning and weaving that they specifically outlawed it. Around the year 1010, Bishop Burchard of Worms described a common belief in the community that threads become so intertwined during weaving that unless spells are cast at the same time, a loved one’s fate might end up entangled and they’d die. The bishop determined that if you consented to this practice, or were present when it happened, you needed to do thirty days’ penance on bread and water to atone for the sin.
We still have special and potent textiles now – from religious clothes and woven prayer mats, to wedding veils, military uniforms and the more prosaic ‘lucky socks’.
See also:
Vale of York Viking Hoard
Llanbedrgoch Viking Treasure
Navenby Witch Bottle
A magical belief from the 1800s
Date: 1820–1880, Post Medieval
Where, when and how found: Navenby, Lincolnshire; found 1999, reported 2003; discovered during building work
Finders: Jo and Michael Butler
Where is it now? Museum of Lincolnshire Life, Lincoln
www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/visiting/museums
Jo and Michael Butler were having some building work done at their home in Navenby, Lincolnshire, when they discovered a small green glass bottle nestled in the foundations. It looked old-fashioned, and had some bits and pieces inside it, but it wasn’t obviously anything more than an odd little bottle. Jo put it under the stairs and there it sat.
Four years later, Lincolnshire County Council held an archaeology evening and the Butlers decided to show their bottle to the local Finds Liaison Officer, Adam Daubney. He immediately knew exactly what it was – a witch bottle.
Made from an old inkwell bottle with a strap of leather, bent pins, iron hooks, human hair and possibly urine inside, the bottle had been sealed into the floor of the building for at least 180 years. Witch bottles like this one were intended to bounce bad spells or evil intentions away from the victim and the home, and back on to the person who was sending them. Even if you didn’t know who the spell-caster was, the bottle would protect you. If a person in the village became sick or died shortly after you created your witch bottle, you would know that they were the witch and had been targeted by their own spell.
Belief in witchcraft and magic was particularly common in Britain up until quite modern times. In a time before modern scientific explanations, people thought that illness, disability or accidents could be caused by evil forces – perhaps as a result of a sin they’d committed or because a curse had been set against them. These beliefs were woven into a world view that combined Christian religion, spells, curses and charms, as well as a whole cast of strange and powerful semi-human and spirit creatures. Witches were thought to control these powerful and potentially dangerous forces.
Who were witches?
Many ‘witches’ were lone, older women who practised folk healing and midwifery and were relied on by the community to create herbal remedies, love potions and protective charms. It would have seemed like they had power over sickness and health, and even life and death. Until around the late 1500s, this ‘white magic’ was considered an unproblematic, normal part of life and belief.
But then Christian Church and secular leaders began to demonise these folk magic practitioners as being in league with the devil, and in many places ‘witches’ were tortured and murdered.
Some people, known as ‘cunning-folk’, did continue practising white magic without persecution. They were seen to be useful and on the side of ‘good’, and helped to protect people against ‘bad’ witches. But dabbling in magic was risky, potentially exposing you to accusations of harmful witchcraft.
“Experts estimate that more than 12,000 people have been executed as witches in Europe since the medieval period”
‘Ordeals’ to discover whether someone was a witch included dropping them, bound, into water to see if they floated, dunking them in rivers tied to a ‘ducking stool’ to see if they drowned, or weighing them against the Bible to see which was heavier
. This was in addition to the usual practices of torturing someone until they confessed, and encouraging ‘witnesses’ to testify against suspected witches.
Some of the most famous witchcraft trials in Britain are the North Berwick trials of 1590 and the Pendle witch trials of 1612. Experts estimate that more than 12,000 people have been executed as witches in Europe since the medieval period. People around the world are still executed for crimes of witchcraft today, and others have been murdered or mutilated for body parts to be used in witchcraft rituals.
The tide change in Britain came when the Witchcraft Act of 1735 was passed by British Parliament, making it a crime to accuse someone of witchcraft, rather than the previous century’s crime of being a witch. Embracing the scientific rationalism of the modern age, leaders wanted to eradicate what they saw as the ignorance and superstition of uneducated people.
Clearly, many people held on to beliefs that harm could be caused by magical means, and by magical people, and that’s why, in the mid-1800s, someone in Navenby made their witch bottle.
Counter-magical devices
One theory for the ‘recipe’ of ingredients in the Navenby bottle is that the urine and bent pins would cause the witch to feel like they were passing pins when they went to the toilet – a heartily unpleasant experience at the best of times, and excruciating in an era before modern painkillers and antibiotics.
Britain's Secret Treasures Page 3