Ornament and Order

Essays on Viking and Northern Medieval Art

for Signe Horn Fuglesang

Edited by Margrethe C. Stang

and Kristin B. Aavitsland
© Tapir Academic Press, Trondheim 2008

ISBN 978-82-519-2320-0

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 Table of Contents
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Tabula Gratulatoria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Erla Bergendahl Hohler

Signe Horn Fuglesang – an Intellectual Portrait . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Eloquent Objects from the Early Middle Ages

David M. Wilson
Jellinge-style Sculpture in Northern England . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Anne Pedersen and Else Roesdahl

A Ringerike-style Animal’s Head from Aggersborg, Denmark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

James Graham-Campbell
An Eleventh-century Irish Drinking-horn Terminal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Ornament and Interpretation

Ulla Haastrup
he Introduction of the Meander Ornament in Eleventh-century
Danish Wall Paintings. houghts on the Symbolic Meaning
of the Ornament and its Role in Promoting the Roman Church . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Kristin B. Aavitsland
Ornament and Iconography. Visual Orders in the Golden Altar
from Lisbjerg, Denmark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Margrete Syrstad Andås

he Octogon Doorway: A Question of Purity and Danger? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Iconography in Context

Nigel Morgan
he Iconography of the Sculpted Wooden Altar Frontals and Altarpieces
of Norway and Sweden, c. 1250–1375 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

Margrethe C. Stang
Body and Soul: he Legend of St Margaret in Torpo Stave Church . . . . . . . . 161

Lena Liepe
he Knight and the Dragon Slayer.
Illuminations in a Fourteenth-century Saga Manuscript . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179

Lars Olof Larsson

St Eligius in Öja. Some Notes on a Puzzling Sculpture
by Egypticus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201

he Middle Ages Transformed

Mona Bramer Solhaug

Modern Enthusiasm about Medieval Art. he Transformation of
Limoges Cruciixes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

Notes on the Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227

Signe Horn Fuglesang’s Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231

 A Ringerike-style Animal’s Head
from Aggersborg, Denmark
Anne Pedersen and Else Roesdahl

In 1945 a small object with a three-dimensional animal’s head in classic Ringerike

style (igs. 1–2) was found at Aggersborg. It was handed to the architect C. G.
Schultz of the National Museum, director of the excavations which had only just
begun. All that we know of the object today is that it was a surface ind made by
one of the workmen employed in the excavation; its location was not recorded. he
object was illustrated in articles in 1949 and 1986 but, despite its artistic quality,
it has otherwise been largely forgotten.1 In this note we wish to draw attention to
it again and discuss the context and possible function of this ine, but incomplete
object.

Finds context
Aggersborg is situated on the northern shore of the Limjord, at an important
crossing. To the west the jord gave access to the North Sea, while a waterway to the
north (now long since vanished) gave direct access towards Norway; to the south a
road led towards Viborg and also to the Army or Ox Road. Excavations in 1945–54
revealed traces of a large circular fortress of the Trelleborg type, overlying an earlier
settlement. his settlement, which began c. 700, and was destroyed c. 980 when
the fortress was built, produced a considerable amount of material and many types
of objects. he fortress functioned for a few years only (if, indeed, it was inished)
and few artefacts can be associated with it with any certainty. According to written
sources there were royal manors or castles at Aggersborg throughout the Middle
Ages (the earliest source relates to a revolt against King Knut the Holy in 1086), but
these have not been archaeologically identiied. he object under discussion cannot,
therefore, be associated with any known structure. However, the Ørbæk coinages
of Knut the Great and Harthaknut were probably struck at a site with this name,

31
 Anne Pedersen and Else Roesdahl

Fig. 1 Object with an animal head from Aggersborg. Photo: Lennart Larsen.

which had a good natural harbour, on the opposite shore of the Limjord. If this
is indeed so, there was an important royal site here in the irst half of the eleventh
century, when the Ringerike style lourished and the object was produced. A royal
site on one or both sides of the Limjord may account for the quality of the animal’s
head, which may also have been lost by a traveller crossing the jord.2

The object and its function

he object is of copper alloy; now corroded, it was probably once part of a larger
piece. In its present state, it consists of a short, slightly curved bar, from which an
animal head protrudes at right angles. he bar measures 2.5cm across, and the ani-
mal head is 3.2cm long, with the bar. One side of the bar shows trace of hammering
but both ends are completely smooth, showing no signs of breaks. It is possible,
however, that the ends were iled down and that the object was symmetrical along
an axis through the animal head. he object appears not to have been fully inished
after casting, although lines have been chased on the head and the curled lobes of
the lappets and eyebrows have been emphasized by drilling.
he head is a ine, well-balanced example of the Ringerike style,3 but the func-
tion of the object is not easy to determine. he curved bar with no evidence of

Fig. 2 Animal head from Aggersborg. Slightly idealised drawing, after Schultz 1949: 108 with
minor adjustment. Photo: Lennart Larsen. Scale c. 1:1.

32
 A Ringerike-style Animal’s Head from Aggersborg, Denmark

Fig. 3 he Perth spur. Photo: courtesy Perth Museum & Art Gallery, Perth & Kinross Council,
Scotland.

attachment may be the result of a failed casting, the ends of which were iled down,
possibly in an attempt to preserve or adapt the ine head for another purpose. his
interpretation is supported by the probability that, had the object been completed,
one would expect a better inish.
he nature of the ind, the casting technique and the style are reminiscent of
eleventh-century horse-trappings, and it seems likely that an explanation for the
object should be sought among such material. Although it is not pointed, the head
itself and the slightly curved bar suggest that it was intended to form the goad of
a spur (lacking the sides to which leather straps for fastening would have been at-
tached). Two similar and roughly contemporary cast animal heads of copper alloy

33
 Anne Pedersen and Else Roesdahl

are known from the South of England.4 he irst, 5.6cm long, comes from Race
Hill, Lewes in East Sussex. he head has open jaws and a high forehead with point-
ed oval eyes and very small ears; the style is clearly close to the Scandinavian Urnes
style. An iron rod or pin through the length of the head protrudes from the animal’s
mouth. At the opposite end, the base of the neck is concave when seen from the
side and would have itted over a bar with a rounded cross section. he second
animal head, only 3.9cm long, was found at Soberton, Hampshire. he details are
much more stylized than those on the head from Race Hill. Otherwise, the objects
bear a close resemblance to each other. he Soberton head also has the remains of
an iron rod or pin (forming the goad) and a concave base at the end of the neck.
Two earlier discoveries, from Pakenham in Sufolk and from Perth in Scotland,
give an idea of what spurs with zoomorphic goads might look like.5 Although not
of identical type, both have a goad of copper alloy protruding from the mouth of an
animal. he date of the Pakenham spur is uncertain, while the ind context of the
Perth spur beneath a medieval building suggests an eleventh- or early twelfth-cen-
tury date (ig. 3). he goad of a third spur of copper alloy from Marnhull in Dorset
is also shaped like an animal head (although extremely stylized), but in this case it
forms the terminal of a long neck.6 he three spurs are all cast in one piece, as was
the Aggersborg object.
An interpretation of the animal head as a fragment of an uninished spur would
accord with the general development of riding equipment in the eleventh century.

a. b. c. d.

Fig. 4 Stirrup terminals from Nr. Felding, in west Jutland (a), and Nørholm, south of the Limjord,
north Jutland (b–d). Scale c.1:1. Photo: National Museum of Denmark.

34
 A Ringerike-style Animal’s Head from Aggersborg, Denmark

Copper alloy appears to have become increasingly popular, and parallels to the
animal motif can be found on several types of objects, not least among copper-
alloy ittings found in recent years, both in Denmark and in England, as a result of
the increasing use of metal detectors among amateur archaeologists and enthusi-
asts. Quadrupeds in the Ringerike style feature on the strap plates of copper-alloy
stirrups and on the corresponding strap-mounts of iron stirrups.7 he quadruped
is also seen on a few mounts with a rhombic eye at either end; they are interpreted
as cheek-pieces for bridles. One such piece ornamented with a fairly simple animal
was excavated in Lund in a context dated to the irst half of the eleventh century,
while a more elaborate version was found at Bardney in Lincolnshire.8 Related to
these are many fragments of copper-alloy cheek-pieces decorated with animal heads
in the Ringerike and Urnes styles.9
Another group of mounts identiied in the last decades ofers even better paral-
lels to the Aggersborg animal head than these two-dimensional images. Copper-al-
loy stirrup terminals have animal heads in the round, but in these cases with hollow
backs which often contain traces of the lead solder that fastened the terminals to the
bottom of the two sides of an iron stirrup. Some terminals are very simple but have
clear reminiscences of the Urnes style, while others show a head with snout and ears
– sometimes also a mane – in the Ringerike style (ig. 4); both in size and style they
correspond to the Aggersborg object.10
It seems very likely that sets of horse equipment, consisting of stirrups of either
copper alloy or iron with copper-alloy strap-mounts and terminals, and bridles
with decorative cheek-pieces, would include spurs of copper alloy decorated with
an animal head – with or without an iron goad. he use of copper-alloy spurs in
Scandinavia is attested by a burial ind from Lundby, Fors, Sweden (albeit a simple
version). Here a pair of copper-alloy stirrups and a bridle with decorated copper-
alloy cheek-pieces were associated with a pair of copper-alloy spurs with simple
goads.11
To conclude, we maintain that the original function of the ine animal head
from Aggersborg cannot be determined with certainty. However, a use in the
context of contemporary riding equipment is probable, and it is most likely that it
was intended to be part of a spur. he distribution of copper-alloy horse trappings
suggests that they were manufactured and used on both sides of the North Sea in
the eleventh century. he Aggersborg object belongs to the earlier part of this period
– the period of joint Danish-English kingship – but because of its particular frag-
mentary and semi-inished state it was probably manufactured in Denmark, perhaps
at Aggersborg or Ørbæk. Together with the drinking-horn mount from Aarhus it is
probably the inest example of the Ringerike style so far found in Denmark.12

35
 Anne Pedersen and Else Roesdahl

Bibliography
Bergman, Kjell and Ingmar Billberg. “Hästutrustning.” Uppgrävt förlutet för Pk-
banken i Lund. Ed. Anders W. Mårtensson. Archaeologica Lundensia VII. Lund
1976: 229–231.
Ellis, Blanche. “Perth High Street Excavations 1975–77.” In N. Q. Bogdan et al.
(Metalwork fascicule). Publication forthcoming.
Fuglesang, Signe Horn. Some aspects of the Ringerike style. A phase of 11th century
Scandinavian art. Odense 1980.
Leahy, Kevin and Caroline Paterson. “New light on the Viking presence in Lincoln-
shire: the artefactual evidence.” In Vikings and the Danelaw. Select Papers from
the Proceedings of the hirteenth Viking Congress, Nottingham and York, 21–30
August 1997. Eds. James Graham-Campbell et al. Oxford 2001: 181–202.
Pedersen, Anne. “Riding gear from Late Viking-age Denmark.” Journal of Danish
Archaeology 13, 1996–97 (1999): 133–160.
Roesdahl, Else. “Aggersborg in the Viking Age.” Proceedings of the Eighth Viking
Congress. Århus 24–31 August 1977. Eds. Hans Bekker-Nielsen, Peter Foote,
Olaf Olsen. Odense 1981: 107–122.
Roesdahl, Else. 1986a. “Vikingernes Aggersborg.” Aggersborg gennem 1000 år. Fra
vikingeborg til slægtsgård. Eds. Felix Nørgaard et al. Herning 1986: 53–93.
Roesdahl, Else. 1986b. “Kongsgårde og borge i middelalderen”. Aggersborg gennem
1000 år. Fra vikingeborg til slægtsgård. Eds. Felix Nørgaard et al. Herning 1986:
95–101.
Schultz, C. G. “Aggersborg. Vikingelejren ved Limjorden.” Nationalmuseets
Arbejdsmark (1949): 91–108.
Tillväxten, Fornvännen 4 (1909).
Williams, David. “Two Late Saxon Spur Fragments from Sussex and Hampshire.”
Medieval Archaeology 46 (2002): 115–18.

Notes
1 Schultz 1949: 108 (drawing); Roesdahl 1986b: 96 (photo and drawing).
2 On Aggersborg and the excavations here, see Schultz 1949; Roesdahl 1981; Roesdahl
1986a–b.
3 Fuglesang 1980.
4 Williams 2002: 116, ig. 3.
5 Williams 2002: 116–17. he Perth spur (PHS 1976, A101409) to be published in Ellis:
forthcoming.
6 Williams 2002: 117.
7 Pedersen 1999: 139–46.
8 Bergman & Billberg 1976: 230; Leahy & Paterson 2001: 198.

36
 A Ringerike-style Animal’s Head from Aggersborg, Denmark

9 Pedersen 1999: 135, ig. 4.

10 Nr. Felding (D1179/1995); Nørholm (D282/1998, D34/2000, D33/2000). Length 4.1cm;
5.4cm; 4.3cm; 4.2cm.
11 Tillväxten 1909: 245–47.
12 Cf. other Danish examples published by Fuglesang 1980; the Aarhus mount is seen on Pl.
19–20 (cat. no. 36). We are very grateful to David M. Wilson for comments and for adjust-
ment of our English.

37