An English guy with a metal detector stumbled upon the largest stash of Anglo-Saxon treasures found to date, on his friend's farm in Staffordshire, last July. We read about this a while back, but realized, how perfect this is for our ever expanding search for whimsical blog entries for you, our darling Bittersweeties! K, back to the gold story.
The Anglo-Saxons were a Germanic tribes that occupied Britain from the fifth century until 1066. Out with the Romans, in with the new... eh, I mean old, Old English*, that is. Terry Herbert found no less than 1,345 items dating to 675-725AD, weighing in at approximately 11 pounds of gold, and 6 pounds of silver, making it the largest hoard to represent this time period, period.
The pieces contain gems, and expertly carved beasts, exhibiting the very finest in Anglo-Saxon workmanship. Crosses, pommel caps**, & hilt collars, were found along with a strip of gold simply stating in Latin, "Rise up O Lord, and may thy enemies be dispersed and those who hate thee be driven from thy face." If our swords were meant to kill rather than thrill, I guess we'd go a little heavier on the bitter, than the sweet, as well.
*Not to be confused with Olde English 800, commonly referred to as OE, Old Gold, Olde E & 8-Ball, a brand of malt liquor produced by the Miller Brewing Company. We don't drink malt liquor here at Bittersweets headquarters. It's bad for you.
** What's a pommel cap you say? Here's what one looks like, plus the price in case you're looking to buy your very own:
Alex, show me "pommel cap" for $500.
Despite the annoying ad, this clip does show the objects up close.
Take me to youtube!
This one features the guy who found the loot, narrating!
The guardian, please!
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