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Article: What these gems reveal about the brutal men who made England.(News)
- Article from:
- Daily Mail (London)
- Article date:
- September 25, 2009
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2009 Solo Syndication Limited. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: by Dr Helen Geake
FROM his high vantage point, the mighty Anglo-Saxon king Penda looked down on a sight of unimaginable brutality. Below, on a battlefield strewn with bodies, his men fought with a lust for blood, filling the air with the roar of their shrieks, sword striking sword with the metallic clang of early warfare.
Later, in the glory of victory, Penda's warriors dug a shallow hole.
They made a triumphal burial of their enemy's weapons and battlefield spoils. It was a custom of the day, a form of ritual humiliation of the foe, described in the great Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf: 'Weapons of war and weeds (clothes) of battle, with ...