A HISTORY OF RUTLAND long/ and several were found in graves on Kingston Down, near Canterbury,' while single specimens are mentioned from Marston St. Lawrence, North- amptonshire, and Lowesby Hall, Leicestershire. That the bow was known in England about a.d. 700 is shown by the carving of Egil the archer, on the Northumbrian casket presented by the late Sir WoUaston Franks to the British Museum, and the weapon seems to have been fairly common among the Teutonic peoples on the Continent about the 6th century.' A bronze relic of more than ordinary interest is illus- trated in colours on the frontispiece (fig. 5), and a continental example is here given for comparison (fig. 2). Both are tags for the girdle, and served not merely as decorative terminals, but also to facilitate the passing of the leather strap through the hoop of a buckle. The close resemblance between the two will be obvious, and that they are approxi- mately contemporary few will be disposed to doubt ; but the Samson specimen ^° is rightly referred to the 5th century. Fig. 2.— Bronze when animal forms were being introduced into the art of Girdle-end, Samson, ? i • n j l i Namur (A) northern Europe, which was still strongly innuenced by late Roman models. The blunt end of the tag was split to re- ceive the end of the girdle, which was secured by a pair of rivets; and in both specimens animal heads may be detected springing from the lower angles of this upper band. The incomplete lozenge forming the centre is ornamented in one case with punched rings and in the other with openwork, but both are flanked by fairly realistic animals in side view, the heads pointing downwards and almost meeting at the point. The occurrence of the Rutland example in a cemetery that may on other ground be referred to the latter part of the 6th century, can only be explained by supposing it to have been in safe keeping during the long interval, or to have been brought by some immigrant or trader from the neighbourhood of Namur in the 5th century. Another early example of this style has been found in Kent,^^ the pair of animals being attached to the foot of a brooch that may be derived from Denmark, but belongs to the same school of art. The accompanying photograph of pottery in Mrs. Morris' collection comprises four vessels of cinerary type, the smaller vases coming probably from unburnt burials. The largest cinerary (middle of top row) is 9J in. high, and shows the characteristic knobs and incised markings of this ware. AH are hand-made, that is, are not turned on the potter's wheel, and the clay is a dark brown, with some impurities. Besides these may be mentioned a vessel with spout of peculiar form (front centre of group), the connecting joint (only) of a pair of girdle-hangers,'^ the ferrule of a spear, 3 in. long, ' y.C.H. Hants, i, 388 ; Hillier, Hist, of Isle of Wight, p. 30. ' V.C.H. Kent, i, 346, 363 ; Faussett, Inventorium Sepukhrak (index) ; Jrch. Cant, viii, 249. The Kentish specimens were frequently found in children's graves. ' As at Reichenhall and Nordendorf, Bavaria ; Rittersdorf, Luxemburg ; Castel Trosino, Asculum. '" Figured, with others similar, by Sven Soderberg, in Prdhistoriscke Blatter, 1 894, pi. xi, p. 7 ; and Jntijuarisk Tidskrijt for Sveiige, xl, 17 ; cf. Salin, Die altgermanische Thierornamentik, 128, fig. 346. Another was found at Vermand, Dept. Aisne (5th cent.) ; Eck, Deux cimetiires gallo-romains, pi. xv, fig. 4, p. 214. " V.C.H. Kent,, 397, pi. ii, fig. 3. " In the British Museum is a complete specimen from Searby, Lines, figured in Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc. xvi, 311, pi. xxiii, fig. 6 ; cf. de Baye, Industrial Arts of the Angl. Sax. pi. xi (Searby, and Little Wilbraham, Cambs.). 98
