Sutton Hoo, King Raedwald

1. SUTTON HOO
KING RAEDWALD AND ANGLO-SAXON

2. KING RAEDWALD
• KING OF EAST ANGLIA. HE WAS BORN BETWEEN 560 AD AND 580 AD, AND
CAME TO THE THRONE IN ABOUT 600 AD. ST AUGUSTINE OF CANTERBURY
ARRIVED IN ENGLAND ON HIS MISSION FROM ROME DURING THE EARLY
YEARS OF HIS REIGN, AND HE BECAME THE FIRST EAST ANGLIAN KING TO
CONVERT TO CHRISTIANITY.
• HIS CONVERSION WAS NOT UNIVERSALLY POPULAR, AND HIS DEVOUTLY
PAGAN WIFE PERSUADED HIM TO RETRACT SOME OF HIS COMMITMENT FROM
IT. HE THEREFORE KEPT TWO ALTERS IN HIS TEMPLE, ONE CHRISTIAN AND ONE
PAGAN.

3. DEBT OF GRATITUTE• HE LATER GAVE PROTECTION TO EDWIN, AN EXILED CLAIMANT TO THE THRONE OF
NORTHUMBRIA, BUT, AFTER REFUSING OFFERS OF RANSOM FROM AETHELFRITH,
KING OF NORTHUMBRIA FOR EDWIN'S DEATH, WAS THREATENED WITH WAR IF HE
DID NOT SURRENDER HIM.
• HE REMAINED LOYAL TO EDWIN, AND MARCHED NORTH TO CONFRONT
AETHELFRITH. AETHELFRITH WAS KILLED, AND EDWIN WAS MADE RULER OF
NORTHUMBRIA.
• EDWIN'S DEBT OF GRATITUDE ENSURED THAT HE BECAME THE FIRST EAST
ANGLIAN KING TO HAVE INFLUENCE IN NORTHUMBRIA. HE RULED UNTIL HIS DEATH
IN ABOUT 624 AD, AND IS COMMONLY RECOGNIZED AS THE LIKELY OWNER OF THE
FAMOUS SHIP BURIAL AT SUTTON HOO.

4. EXCAVATION OF SUTTON HOO
• IN 1939, JUST BEFORE THE OUTBREAK OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR, AN
ARCHAEOLOGIST NAMED BASIL BROWN EXCAVATED THE LARGEST OF 18
BURIAL MOUNDS IN THE GROUNDS OF A COUNTRY HOUSE AT SUTTON HOO,
EASTERN ENGLAND. INSIDE, HE DISCOVERED A SPECTACULAR UNDISTURBED
BURIAL IN A VAST SHIP.
• THE BURIAL DATED TO THE EARLY AD 600S, WHEN SUTTON HOO BELONGED TO
THE ANGLO-SAXON KINGDOM OF EAST ANGLIA. THE EXTRAORDINARILY RICH
GRAVE GOODS SUGGESTED THAT THE SHIP BURIAL COMMEMORATED A VERY
HIGH-RANKING MAN – POSSIBLY EVEN A KING

6. • THE 27-METRE-LONG SHIP HAD BEEN DRAGGED UP A STEEP SLOPE FROM THE
RIVER DEBEN TO THE BURIAL GROUND ABOVE. OVER TIME, ITS WOODEN OAK
PLANKS AND RIBS DECAYED, REPLACED BY COMPACTED SAND. THIS LEFT A
CLEAR IMPRESSION OF THE HULL IN THE GROUND, STUDDED WITH IRON
RIVETS.

7. IRON RIVETS

8. • THE BURIAL CHAMBER, PROBABLY WITH A PITCHED ROOF, WAS
CONSTRUCTED IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SHIP. IN THIS SMALL ROOM, ONCE
DECORATED WITH SUMPTUOUS TEXTILES, LAY THE DEAD MAN SURROUNDED
BY INCREDIBLE TREASURES.

9. BURIAL CHAMBER

11. THE SHIELD WHEN IT WAS FIRST
DISCOVERED
• SHIELDS WERE A CRUCIAL PIECE OF KIT FOR ANGLO-SAXON WARRIORS, BUT
THE SUTTON HOO SHIELD IS THE MOST ORNATE KNOWN. LIKE THE HELMET, IT
IS SIMILAR TO EXAMPLES FROM EASTERN SWEDEN, SUGGESTING THE PEOPLE
OF EAST ANGLIA SHARED CULTURAL LINKS WITH THIS PART OF
SCANDINAVIA.
• THE SHIELD’S WOODEN BOARD DECAYED AWAY BUT THE METAL FITTINGS
SURVIVED. IN THE MIDDLE IS A HEAVY IRON BOSS DECORATED WITH PAIRS
OF INTERTWINED ANIMALS. THE OTHER FITTINGS INCLUDE A BIRD-OF-PREY
AND A SIX-WINGED DRAGON, PERHAPS INTENDED AS PROTECTIVE SYMBOLS.

12. Shield from the Sutton Hoo ship burial (part-reconstruction)

13. • MOST ANGLO-SAXON MEN WORE A WAIST BELT FASTENED WITH A BUCKLE.
THE APPEARANCE OF THIS BUCKLE WAS A WAY OF EXPRESSING SOCIAL
STATUS: THE MORE ELABORATE THE BUCKLE, THE MORE IMPORTANT THE
MAN.
• THE GREAT GOLD BUCKLE FROM SUTTON HOO IS THE MOST MAGNIFICENT
EXAMPLE KNOWN. IT WEIGHS 412.7 GRAMS AND IS DECORATED WITH 13
ANIMALS, INCLUDING SERPENTS, BIRDS OF PREY AND MYSTERIOUS FOUR-
LEGGED CREATURES. THE BUCKLE IS HOLLOW LIKE A BOX AND OPENS AND
CLOSES ON A HINGE WITH A COMPLICATED MECHANISM. IT MAY HAVE
STORED A PERSONAL SMALL ITEM, POSSIBLY A RELIC.

15. • THIS MAGNIFICENT PURSE LID, WITH ITS PRECIOUS CONTENTS, HAS
PROVIDED SOME CLUES. LIKE MANY OF THE OBJECTS FOUND IN THE SHIP
BURIAL IT IS OF THE HIGHEST QUALITY. DECORATED WITH GOLD AND GARNET
CLOISONNÉ DESIGNS, WHICH INCLUDE TWINNED IMAGES OF A MAN
STANDING HEROICALLY BETWEEN TWO WOLVES AND AN EAGLE SWOOPING
ON ITS PREY. SUCH A PUBLIC DISPLAY OF WEALTH SUGGESTS THAT THE
OWNER WAS OF EXTREMELY HIGH RANK, PROBABLY A LORD OR EVEN A KING.

17. • THESE SHALLOW BOWLS WERE PART OF A SET OF 10 FOUND IN THE SUTTON
HOO SHIP BURIAL. THEY COME FROM THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN AND
MAY HAVE BEEN BROUGHT TO EAST ANGLIA AS A GIFT
• THIS LARGE SILVER PLATTER WAS MADE IN CONSTANTINOPLE (MODERN DAY
ISTANBUL). FOUR STAMPS ON THE BACK TELL US IT WAS MADE DURING THE
REIGN OF THE BYZANTINE EMPEROR ANASTASIUS I (AD 491–518). THIS
MEANS THE PLATTER WAS ALREADY ABOUT 100 YEARS OLD WHEN I WAS
BURIED AT SUTTON HOO IN THE EARLY AD 600S. PERHAPS IT WAS A
CHERISHED HEIRLOOM.

19. • THE LEATHER PURSE HAS ROTTED AWAY, BUT THE 37 COINS, THREE COIN-
SHAPED BLANKS AND TWO SMALL GOLD INGOTS IT HELD SURVIVED.
• SOME PEOPLE THINK THE PERSON BURIED AT SUTTON HOO WAS FROM A
HIGH-RANKING FAMILY. OTHERS BELIEVE HE WAS A MEMBER OF THE ROYAL
FAMILY OF EAST ANGLIA. MANY ARE CONVINCED HE WAS A KING.