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A stunning gold Saxon sword pommel that was unearthed in a field in Leicestershire, England by an 81-year-old woman has sold at auction for $22,000 (£16k).The rare 7th-century artifact was found in 2021 while the long-time metal detector enthusiast was searching a field during a local gathering of detectives.They told her that there was nothing to be found in the field where she was searching, but she persevered and found the gold pommel seven inches beneath the ground...Weighing 20.5 grams, the pommel -- which the Leicester Museum declined to purchase -- would have been fixed to the end of the...

A seventh-century slate window ledge inscribed with an intriguing mix of Latin, Greek and Celtic words, names and symbols has been unearthed at Tintagel Castle in north Cornwall. The discovery adds weight to the view that the rugged coastal site, which is most often associated with the legend of King Arthur, was home in the early middle ages to a sophisticated and multicultural port community. Put together with other finds including Iberian goblets and bowls from what is now Turkey, the slate ledge suggests Tintagel may well have been an important royal base with trade links stretching from Europe’s Atlantic...

A small piece of slate was discovered during excavations on Tintagel Island inscribed with the name "Artognov". Is this the first real proof of King Arthur's existence? Was he really born at Tintagel as legend insists? On 6th August 1998, English Heritage revealed that during the last week of digging on the Eastern terraces of Tintagel Island, a broken piece of Cornish slate (8" by 14") was discovered bearing the name "Artognov". It was excavated on July 4th, by Kevin Brady, an archaeologist working with a team from Glasgow University. "As the stone came out, when I saw the letters...

Author Adam Ardrey claims that instead of the romantic English king of legend who lived at Camelot – which is often said to be Tintagel in Cornwall or in Wales – Arthur was actually Arthur Mac Aedan, the sixth-century son of an ancient King of Scotland, whose Camelot was a marsh in Argyll. He also suggests that Arthur pulled the sword Excalibur from a stone at Dunadd near Kilmartin, died near Falkirk and was buried on the Hebridean island of Iona, which he declares to be Avalon. Ardrey, an amateur historian who works as an advocate in Edinburgh and previously...

Variations on the classic Merlin and King Arthur legends span hundreds, if not thousands, of retellings. Many are documented within handwritten medieval manuscripts dating back over a millenia—but some editions are far rarer than others. For example, less than 40 copies are known to exist of a once-popular sequel series, the Suite Vulgate du Merlin. In 2019, researchers at the University of Cambridge discovered fragments of one more copy in their collections, tucked inside the recycled binding of a wealthy family's property record from the 16th century. But at the time of discovery, the text was impossible to read.Now after...

The famous Sutton Hoo burial site may have also included graves of soldiers recruited by a foreign army, new research has revealed.Helen Gittos, 50, an associate professor of early medieval history at the University of Oxford, has released a new research paper into the Anglo Saxon wonder near Woodbridge in Suffolk.She has put forward a theory that those buried at Sutton Hoo could have been recruited by the Byzantine Army in the eastern Mediterranean in 575 AD, based on items found during excavations...During the Covid-19 pandemic, Dr Gittos examined distribution maps of copper items that travelled from the eastern Mediterranean...

The Dark Age Kingdom that Divided Britain. | 11:20Paul Whitewick | 153K subscribers | 34,937 views | January 12, 2025

As an amateur historian -- and probably not a good one -- I go nuts when I see amateurish fictions tendered as core premises. This is no more frequently found than in Hollywood; but do not kid yourself, it is not confined to Hollywood. The following famous movie scene (based on the play) is a case in point, one worse than most: Camelot is unique. And we have, by far and away, the most equitable climate in all England -- Camelot (1967)A) The King Arthur stories hail back to the collapse of Celtic Briton, after the Roman garrison left in...

Exceptionally Well-Preserved Anglo-Saxon Sword Found in UKArchaeologists in rural Kent, UK, have unearthed a “really incredible” 6th-century sword from an Anglo-Saxon cemetery near Canterbury. Several other striking objects have also been found at the same site. It is exceptionally well preserved; the silver-and-gilt hilt has a finely crafted decorated pattern, and the blade is embossed with runic script. Parts of the weapon’s leather-and-wood scabbard – and its beaver fur lining – have also survived. A ring is attached to its pommel, which archaeologists believe might symbolize an oath to a king. The weapon’s condition is so impressive that it is...

Welcome to this weeks video, the Story of Wansdyke. This week we take a deep dive into the Wansdyke, a wall, a border, or.... who knows. It spans across a large section south Britain. until recently much of what we know about it was through various antiquarians. But now we have, thanks to Dr Alex langlands, an approximate date that will allow us to piece together this mystery.The WALL that Divided Britain | 20:52Paul Whitewick | 147K subscribers | 34,630 views | December 8, 2024

The pendant imitates a Roman coin called a solidus, a type of gold coin introduced by the emperor Constantine in the fourth century A.D. It was discovered in January 2023 near the town of Attleborough in Norfolk, England, and dates to the late fifth to early sixth century. The piece of jewelry copies the imagery and inscriptions found on coins from the time of emperor Honorius, ruler of the Western Roman Empire from A.D. 393 to 423.The obverse shows a bust of Honorius wearing a pearl diadem and a cuirass, or chest armor, while the reverse depicts a draped standing...

A strange and unknown story exists within the history of Wales: an Irish king in Wales, Serygei, and his defeat by the Welsh king Cadwallon on Ynys Mon (Anglesey). This video will trace the story across 1,500 of myths, legends, and rumours.0:00 - Britain's Irish King1:14 - Cadwallon4:08 - Caergybi6:15 - The 1700s10:30 - The 1800s14:14 - The 1900s18:53 - The Irishman's Monuments21:37 - Ynys Mon24:02 - Serygei | Sirigi26:36 - MaelgwnThe Mystery of Britain's Irish King | 29:29Cambrian Chronicles | 201K subscribers | 25,497 views | November 1, 2024

There may be some truth to the myth of Merlin. On Tuesday, archeologists in Scotland revealed evidence of the legendary wizard’s death in Drumelzier between the 6th and 7th centuries — and the findings could change the way we tell Merlin’s tale. Merlin was said to have been a loyal advisor to King Arthur amid the Dark Ages before being imprisoned, killed and buried along the river Tweed, according to Vita Merlini Sylvestris (the Life of Merlin of the Forest), a medieval manuscript of his life which is currently held at the British Library. A new geological survey of the...

Archaeologists revealed Tuesday that there may actually be some truth to the legend of Merlin and his death in Scotland. The legend goes that Merlin, loyal advisor to King Arthur, was imprisoned in Drumelzier in the Dark Ages, before being killed and buried on the banks of the river Tweed, according to a study published in the journal Archaeology Reports Online. A geophysical survey revealed that there is a grave-like pit in the region. When archaeologists started digging, what they found seemed quite unexpected. Excavations conducted at Tinnis Fort, which overlooks the area of Merlin’s grave in Drumelzier, found it...

Arguably no period in European history is as misunderstood as the Middle Ages, which stretched from the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the fifth century CE to the rise of the Renaissance roughly 1,000 years later. The myths surrounding this fascinating period of kingdoms and peasants are so prevalent that they led medieval historian Winston Black to write, “The first thing to understand about the Middle Ages… is that they do not actually exist.” The popular perception of life in feudal Europe (exacerbated by Hollywood depictions) is that it was prudish, brutish, and excessively foul, but society was...

The Persian conquest of Palestine in 614 CE is described in historical sources as a most violent military raid that dramatically affected the political and administrative stability of Byzantine Palestine, involving large scale damage to churches and a mass killing of the local Christian population. Common view has it that the conquest marked a turning point in the history of the Near East and was one of the causes for the rapid Early Islamic conquests, twenty years later. Although the Persian domination - lasting only 14 years (614-628), was a very brief episode in the long historical sequence of Palestine,...

A new study, published in the journal Numismatic Chronicle, suggests that the village of Vindelev in Jelling, Denmark, likely had connections to a network of European elite.In 2020, one of the largest gold hoards ever found in Denmark was discovered at Vindelev by a metal detectorist.The hoard consists of 23 gold objects dating to the Migration Period during the Germanic Iron Age (a period seen by some researchers as a prelude to the actual Viking Age), which includes: 13 gold bracteates from the 5th century AD, a granulated gold fitting from a sword or knife, and four mounted Roman medallions...

Nine gold pendants with rare horse symbols, ten gold beads, and three gold rings from the 6th century were recently discovered by a metal detectorist in Southwestern Norway. Erlend Bore just wanted a hobby. So just before this summer, he bought a metal detector. To get him off his couch and go treasure hunting. He was searching around the shore of the island Rennesøy in Stavanger, in Southwestern Norway, when the metal detector started to beep. In a lump of soil, he saw something that looked like gold coins. “At first I thought I’d found chocolate money with a gold...

Researchers have discovered that an ancient gold disc found in southern Denmark includes the earliest written reference to the Norse god Odin, revealing that he was worshiped up to 150 years earlier than previously thought, according to a report. The piece of jewelry — which dates to the 400s AD — was uncovered in Vindelev in central Denmark in 2020 amidst a treasure trove that included Roman coins. For years it was publicly displayed at a museum near the site before academics had the opportunity to study it, according to NBC News. A runic inscription with a reference to Odin,...

A chance discovery is shedding new light on early Norse history, after two old school-friends, armed only with a metal detector stumbled across a gold treasure trove.More than 20 gold artefacts, weighing almost a kilo, were found buried in a field in the Danish village of Vindelev. Hidden for almost 1,500 years, the treasure includes Roman medallions and ornate pendants called 'bracteates' - some as large as a saucer.There are mysterious inscriptions and never-seen-before runes, which researchers think are some of the earliest references to Norse gods.So could Vindelev have been the seat of power for a previously unknown Iron...