A Watery Grave

 

During the medieval period, it was a common tradition to bury lords in great ships filled with furnishings and riches.

"They laid their dear lord, the giver of rings, deep within the ship by the mast in majesty; many treasures an adornments from far and wide were gathered there.  I have never heard of a ship equipped more handsomely with weapons and war-gear, swords and corselets;  on his breast lay countless treasures that were to travel far with him into the waves' domain."

At one such grave site, a burial mound at Sutton Hoo in Suffolk, England, laid many antiquities of "portable wealth": a gold belt buckle, 10 silver bowls, a silver plate with the imperial stamp of the Byzantine emperor, 40 gold coins, 2 silver spoons, and a purse cover.  Decorated with cloisonne plaques (metal strips filled with semiprecious stones or pieces of colored glass), the purse is the most exquisite of the treasures found at Sutton Hoo.

This purse cover is an example of the premier art of the middle ages due to the rarity and intricacy of the metalwork and the interlacing of animal figures.  These animal figures are arranged symmetrically in three different groups.  The first group depicts a man facing forward standing between the profiles of two beasts.  This composition is know as heraldic grouping and was a long-standing tradition from the ancient world.  The next two groups (found within the center of the purse cover) both depict eagles attaching ducks.  The way these figures were designed fit together well enough that they also look like abstract designs.

The owner of this intricate coin purse, and all of the other treasures, is unknown--but many speculate that these riches could only belong to a king.