Ship Burial Novel

Hwæt! Ic swefna cyst secgan wylle hwæt me gemætte to midre nihte. syðÞan reordberend reste wunedon.     Hark! At midnight the fairest of dreams attended me, when voices were still and all asleep, and I shall tell of it. It seemed I saw a tree lifted high, wrapped round with light, bright ray of [...]

King Rædwald was at Sutton Hoo this weekend with a small war-band. In addition to the King himself, it was this scop’s privilege to converse with one of his closest thanes, who was wearing an interesting helmet of Swedish design. The craftsmanship of the clothing and war-gear was breathtaking. The pen is mightier than the [...]

Well I had to use it eventually didn’t I? I have resisted the urge for over a year; but here is the Sutton Hoo helmet as painstakingly pieced together by archaeology. A replica as it probably looked in the year 620 can be seen sitting on the King’s lordly head, here. Search ‘Sutton Hoo’ on [...]

Photograph courtesy of King Raedwald of the East Angles. It’s nice to know that this blog has the royal seal of approval. As any scop worth his salt knows it is important to keep a king happy otherwise he could most easily find himself outcast, fated to wander among the courts, begging here or there [...]

Click on the gold buckle for a link to the British Museum website. A nice readable book telling all about the treasure found in the Mound 1 ship is the one by Angela Care Evans called simply ‘The Sutton Hoo Ship Burial’. Available through the British Museum Press. It has excellent photos. There is a [...]

  It is inevitable I suppose when a superstar poet (if there is such a thing) decides to translate a classic that it is hailed as a major success. The translation is now a decade old and on its anniversary I have re-read it. I remember being excited that a poet of Heaney’s stature should have come up with [...]

Nipped along Sunday to the National Trust visitor centre at Sutton Hoo and who should be there but King Raedwald himself! Actually he was not quite that stocky but the photo has squashed him. As you can see he was sporting a rather fetching three quarter length warrior jacket in tan leather and a nice replica [...]