Английская Википедия:Gevninge helmet fragment

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The Gevninge helmet fragment is the dexter eyepiece of a helmet from the Viking Age or end of the Nordic Iron Age. It was found in 2000 during the excavation of a Viking farmstead in Gevninge, near Lejre, Denmark. The fragment is moulded from bronze and gilded, and consists of a stylised eyebrow with eyelashes above an oval opening. There are three holes at the top and bottom of the fragment to affix the eyepiece to a helmet. The fragment is significant as rare evidence of contemporaneous helmets, and also for its discovery in Gevninge, an outpost that is possibly connected to the Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf. It has been in the collection of the Lejre Museum since its discovery, and has been exhibited internationally as part of a travelling exhibition on Vikings.

The fragment is an ornate piece, but nothing else remains of the helmet; it might be the single remnant of a disintegrated helmet, or it might have been lost or discarded. It is one of two Scandinavian eyepieces discovered alone, giving rise to the suggestion that it was intentionally deposited in an invocation of the one-eyed god Odin. It would have been part of a decorated "crested helmet", the type of headgear that was common to England and Scandinavia from the sixth through eleventh centuries AD. These are particularly known from the examples found at Vendel, Valsgärde, and Sutton Hoo; the Tjele helmet fragment is the only other Danish example known.

Gevninge is Шаблон:Convert upriver from Lejre, a one-time centre of power believed to be the setting for Heorot, the fabled mead hall to which the poetical hero Beowulf journeys in search of the monster Grendel. The settlement's location suggests that it functioned as an outpost through which anyone would have to pass when sailing to the capital, and in which trusted and loyal guardians would serve. This mirrors Beowulf's experience on his way to Heorot, for upon disembarking he is met with a mounted lookout whose job it is "to watch the waves for raiders, and danger to the Danish shore." Upon answering his challenge, Beowulf is escorted down the road to Heorot, much as an Iron Age visitor to Lejre might have been led along the road from Gevninge. The Gevninge helmet fragment, a military piece from a riverside outpost, therefore sheds light on the relationship between historical fact and legend.

Description

The Gevninge eyepiece is Шаблон:Convert wide and Шаблон:Convert tall, moulded from bronze and gilded.Шаблон:Sfn An oval eye opening is overlain by a sculpted eyebrow with grooves representing individual hairs;Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn grooves around the perimeter of the oval might represent eyelashes.Шаблон:Sfn The top and bottom of the fragment each have three holes, presumably used to attach it to the helmet where it would have formed the dexter eyepiece.Шаблон:Sfn The top three holes might have attached it to the helmet cap, the bottom three to some form of face protection such as a face mask or camail.Шаблон:Sfn

Typology

Colour photograph of the Sutton Hoo helmet
The decorated Anglo-Saxon Sutton Hoo helmet

Шаблон:Seealso The Gevninge helmet fragment was discovered by itself, with no other nearby artefacts to give it context.Шаблон:Sfn The settlement at Gevninge dates to between 500 and 1000,Шаблон:Sfn while helmets with similar decorative characteristics suggest dating the eyepiece to the sixth or seventh century,Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn perhaps from 550 to 700;Шаблон:Sfn another helmet eyebrow discovered in Uppåkra, Sweden, has the same suggested date.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn The Gevninge fragment fits into the corpus of Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian "crested helmets",Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn each characterized by a rounded cap and usually a prominent nose-to-nape crest.Шаблон:Sfn The Tjele helmet fragment is the only such helmet found in Denmark,Шаблон:Sfn while the richly ornamented helmets found at Sutton Hoo, Vendel, and Valsgärde may provide the closest approximation to what the Gevninge helmet would have looked like when whole.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn

Function

Helmets like that which the Gevninge fragment once adorned served both as utilitarian equipment and as displays of status.Шаблон:Sfn Examples from Northern Europe during the Nordic Iron Age and Viking Age are rare.Шаблон:Sfn This may partly suggest a failure to survive a millennium undergroundШаблон:Sfn or perhaps a failure to be recognised after excavation: the plainer Anglo-Saxon and Roman helmets from Shorwell and Burgh Castle were initially misidentified as pots.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn The extreme scarcity nevertheless suggests that they were never deposited in great numbers, and that they signified the importance of those wearing them.Шаблон:Sfn In the Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf, a story about kings and nobles that partly takes place in Denmark, helmets are mentioned often, and in ways that indicate their significance.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn The dying words of Beowulf, whose own pyre is stacked with helmets,Шаблон:Sfn are used to bestow a gold collar, byrnie, and gilded helmet to his follower Wiglaf.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn

If protection was all that was asked of a helmet, a simple iron cap would suffice.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Yet a soldier guarding Gevninge, a riverside outpost on the way to the major city of Lejre, would have to be trustworthy, and perhaps also connected to the king by family or loyalty.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn He would also occupy an important position in the military hierarchy.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Adornments like the Gevninge fragment would have identified the rank of such a person,Шаблон:Sfn as well as adding decoration to a helmet.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn

Discovery

The fragment was discovered in 2000 with the use of a metal detector during a minor excavation in Gevninge, a Viking Age settlement and modern-day village in Denmark to the west of Roskilde.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn The excavation was in response to the planned construction of houses on an undeveloped hectare of land in the middle of the village, but it unexpectedly revealed a farmstead with several buildings.Шаблон:Sfn

The eyepiece may have been made at nearby Lejre, the seat of the Scylding kings during the Iron and Viking ages.Шаблон:Sfn It was discovered in the topsoil and might have been lost or discarded, or the entire helmet might have become buried and then been destroyed by ploughing.Шаблон:Sfn It might also have been deliberately buried, as was the helmet eyebrow from Uppåkra.Шаблон:Sfn If buried alone, it might have been an allusion to the one-eyed god Odin who sacrificed an eye in exchange for wisdom and intelligence in Norse mythology.Шаблон:Sfn

Exhibition

The Lejre Museum now displays the Gevninge fragment alongside other seventh-century grave finds from the area.Шаблон:Sfn The fragment was exhibited in Denmark and internationally from 2013 to 2015 as part of a major exhibition on the Vikings, starting at the National Museum of Denmark.Шаблон:Sfn It then travelled to the British Museum for Vikings: Life and Legend,Шаблон:SfnШаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn then to Berlin's Martin-Gropius-Bau for Die Wikinger.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn

Context and Beowulf

The discovery of the fragment in Gevninge is notable for its proximity to Lejre, Шаблон:Convert down the river from Roskilde Fjord.Шаблон:Sfn Lejre was once a centre of power, as evidenced by monumental burial mounds, large halls, the silver-filled Lejre Hoard, and stone ships.Шаблон:Sfn For the last hundred years Lejre has also been understood as the most likely setting for Heorot, the great mead hall of the Danes in the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf, to which Beowulf travels in search of Grendel and Grendel's mother.Шаблон:Sfn In this sense, Gevninge could have been "the Port of Lejre",Шаблон:Sfn standing guard against anyone who sailed towards the capital.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Indeed, Beowulf and his men are met by such a guard when they disembark in Denmark:Шаблон:Sfn

Colour photograph of folio 137r of the Beowulf manuscript
Folio 137r of the Beowulf manuscript, showing lines 229–252Шаблон:Refn

Шаблон:Verse translation

The watchman is a "noble warrior"Шаблон:Sfn (Шаблон:LangШаблон:Sfn) who, after listening to Beowulf's explanation of his voyage, directs his men to watch the hero's boat and offers to escort him to king Hrothgar. He then turns back stating, "I'm away to the sea, back on alert against enemy raiders"Шаблон:Sfn (Шаблон:LangШаблон:Sfn). Whether or not Gevninge was the basis for the coastal outpost encountered in Beowulf, the two filled similar roles.Шаблон:Sfn They would have also been subject to similar strategic considerations, being both early lines of defence against attack, and places to welcome the flow of visitors.Шаблон:Sfn In this way, the fragment provides a nexus between legend and historical fact.Шаблон:Sfn

Notes

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References

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Bibliography

External links

Шаблон:Helmets

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