| Cast Saucer Brooches Several hundred pairs of cast saucer brooches have been found in England so far. Women normally wore them one at each shoulder as a dress fastener. More so than any other object in England, the cast saucer brooch has been looked upon not only as an exclusively Saxon decoration but proof of Saxon settlement as well. But, 40% to 50% of these brooches have designs that are Scandinavian in origin. The other half are derived from Roman geometric designs. Tania M. Dickinson, in her Early Saxon Saucer Brooches: A Preliminary Overview, concludes that these saucer brooches expressed allegiance to common Roman and Nordic (Scandinavian)traditions. It is easy to see why the Germanic settlers initially adopted Roman designs. All the Germanic tribes were influenced in one way or another by Rome. But many of them soon developed their own distinctly Scandinavian design known as Salin's Style I. Why then does Academia insist on calling these brooches "Saxon"? So far as I know, no one has ever claimed that the Saxons expressed allegiance to Nordic traditions. To underscore the Nordic influence, many of these so-called Saxon brooches were buried with great square-headed brooches and other Scandinavian objects. The cast saucer brooch at bottom left is an example of the earliest worn by the Germanic settlers and has geometric designs derived from the Romans. It expressed allegiance to Roman traditions. After these settlers had time to develop their own styles they created such cast saucer brooches as the one shown at bottom right. This one has a Scandinavian design called the "Vimose style" which originated in the Anglian homelands, not in 'Old Saxony'. Expressing allegiance to Nordic traditions, it was buried in England hundreds of years before the Viking Age. So, did the people that wore these ornaments really call themselves 'Saxons'? Or, wearing brooches that expressed allegiance to Nordic traditions, were they actually Angles, Jutes, or Danes that have been mislabeled as Saxons? Previous Page......Next Page |
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