Part 11

The colonisation of the northern and western coasts of Scotland by the heathen Northmen forms an episode in the history of our country only second in importance to the earlier colonisation of its southern districts by the Romans, and far surpassing it in the interest of its historical annals. Its archæological interest may be estimated by the number and variety of the relics which have now been shown to belong to the Viking period of the Northmen in Scotland—a period of singular interest alike in connection with its history, its archæology, and its art.

LECTURE III. (OCTOBER 24, 1882.) THE CELTIC ART OF THE PAGAN PERIOD.

In this Lecture I shall deal with certain groups of relics which present in their forms and their decoration features which we have learned to recognise as distinctively Celtic.

About the year 1820 a singular object was found in a morass on the farm of Torrs, in the parish of Kelton, Kirkcudbrightshire. Having passed into the possession of Mr. Joseph Train, it was presented by him to Sir Walter Scott, and it still remains in the Museum at Abbotsford.[55] It is of the form of an elongated mask (Fig. 92), somewhat resembling the frontal of a horse. It measures 10½ inches in total length, but the tip is apparently imperfect. Its breadth in a straight line across the lower margin is 3⅝ inches, and about 8½ inches on the round outside. Its greatest breadth in a straight line across the back is 6 inches, and 11 inches on the round outside, immediately above the insertion of the horns. At a height of 3 inches above the lower straight margin are placed two circular holes, one on each side, each measuring 2 inches in diameter. From between these eyelike holes, and a little above the level of their centres, two curiously curved, cylindrical, tapering horns spring close together on either side of the median line. The diameter of each of the horns at the base is 1⅜ inch, and they rise to a height of 8¾ inches to the top of the curve, the whole length of the perfect horns along the curve of the outer edge being 16½ inches. The horns are hollow, the whole object being formed of thin beaten bronze.

Footnote 55:

This and many of the other objects referred to in this Lecture have been described in the _Proceedings_ of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland by Dr. John Alexander Smith, who has specially illustrated the interesting relics which I regard as belonging to the closing period of Scotland’s Paganism. They have been referred by Mr. Franks and others to a special school of art which they have denominated the “Late Celtic,” but from my point of view I must regard them as the work of the early Celtic school, which was the precursor and parent of the greater school of Celtic art of the Christian time which I have already described.

Its ornamentation is as peculiar as its form. It consists of a series of irregularly divergent spirals in _repoussé_ work repeated symmetrically but not identically on either side of the median line of the front of the object. These spirals or scroll-like figures are formed of curves which are long and flattened, passing suddenly into curves of quicker motion, and ending in volutes. These curves, though proceeding in the same direction, do not proceed at parallel or regular distances from each other, but converge and diverge so as to enclose between them alternate spaces of varying extent of surface. The spaces enclosed between the curves are raised, and the spaces enclosed by their convolutions are flat, but the raised spaces are modelled so as to express the confluence of solid curves of the peculiar forms already indicated. These trumpet and spiral scrolls, as they are called, enclosing irregularly formed curvilinear spaces, and producing designs which are similar but unsymmetrical, are repeated in different varieties of pattern on the outer sides of the horns (Fig. 93). In the terminal convolutions of the scrolls the curves are sometimes arranged so as to produce a zoomorphic effect, which differs from the later zoomorphism of the metal-work of the Christian time and of the later manuscripts, in being more geometrical in form and character. The zoomorphic termination of the horns has also more of a geometric character than is usual in the Christian period.

The object being incomplete, its purpose is not obvious. But it is suggestive of the probability of its having formed part of a helmet that Diodorus Siculus, writing only a few years after the conquest of Gaul by Julius Cæsar, describes the military equipment of certain Gallic tribes as including “bronze helmets with lofty projections rising out of them, which impart a gigantic appearance to the wearers; for upon some are fixed pairs of horns, upon others the shapes of birds and beasts wrought out of the same metal.” These horned helmets are represented on some of the consular medals, and the whole description of the Gallic equipment is so similar to what we know of the habits of the Celtic tribes of Britain, that it may be concluded that in this respect their customs may not have been greatly dissimilar.[56] And, in point of fact, there is in the British Museum a bronze headpiece found in the river Thames, near Waterloo Bridge, which, from its peculiar form, was at first considered to be a jester’s cap. But Mr. Franks has shown that it is a military helmet of native workmanship. It consists of a cap of thin bronze, with an additional plate at the back, decorated with scrolls of this peculiar character in low relief, among which are cross-hatched discs once coated with red enamel. From each side of the cap projects a conical horn terminating in a moulded button, and upon one side of the horn runs a string of small projecting studs.

Footnote 56:

The common denarius of the family Furia exhibits a trophy formed of the horned helmet, the tunic of mail, the peculiarly ornamented oval shield, and the large war trumpet. On a denarius of Servilia a Gaul wearing the horned helmet appears aiming a back-handed blow with his long sword at a Roman antagonist. The name “Cornuti” itself is suggestive of this peculiarity.

It is therefore not improbable that this object at Abbotsford may have been the front part of a military helmet, or of a headpiece used for display. Such a headpiece with similarly large and curving horns, terminating in similar zoomorphic endings is seen (Fig. 94) on the head of a warrior who appears to be engaged in mimic combat with another accoutred as fantastically as himself, and whose grotesque headpiece bears a resemblance still more remarkable to another bronze object of the same character which I have next to describe. These representations occur on a bronze plaque dug up in the island of Oland, and they have therefore no necessary connection with the usages of the Celtic people. They merely show that in assigning such a purpose to these objects we are not attributing to them a purpose to which they were never applied. But the special use of the object is really of no great moment for the purpose of the present investigation. That purpose is fulfilled when we are enabled to say, from an examination of its special characteristics, that it has certain typical relations linking it with other objects, forming a distinct group and occupying a definite place in the series of types which characterise the area now termed Scotland. I therefore proceed to the description of other objects distinguished by the same characteristics.

At Liechestown, in the parish of Deskford, Banffshire, about the year 1816, a remarkable relic (Fig. 95), now in the Banff Museum, was found in a mossy piece of ground, at a depth of about 6 feet, and resting on a bed of clay at the bottom of the moss. This object, which is equally peculiar alike in respect to its form and ornamentation, is in the shape of a boar’s head of thin beaten bronze 8½ inches in length by 5½ in greatest breadth. The lower jaw is movable. The eyes are circular holes 1¼ inch in diameter. The whole head is formed of four plates of bronze, the snout, the palate, and the lower jaw (Fig. 96) having been each made separately, and attached to the posterior part of the head, which consists of an embossed plate bent to the shape. A disc-like plate, which was found with it, is now attached to the open back of the head, but does not quite fit, and it is doubtful whether it had been so placed originally. The ornamentation of this singular object is of the same character as that of the Torrs bronze, but simpler, being merely a series of trumpet-shaped ridges in _repoussé_ work round the eyes. But this ornament, simple as it is, is quite sufficient to determine the relations of the relic to that general group of objects of which it and the bronze from Torrs are the most remarkable specimens.

It is obvious that if these objects had any relation to military equipment, we ought to find the very peculiar art which is so conspicuous in their decoration, also exhibiting itself in the decoration of the weapons and other war-gear in use among the same people. Diodorus, in fact, informs us that the Gauls used oblong shields as tall as the man, and painted after a peculiar fashion. Some of these shields, he also says, had figures of animals in relief of bronze, not merely for ornament but also for defence, and very well wrought. It has been already remarked that it is probable that the military equipment of the Gallic tribes resembled that of the British; and it is the fact that oblong shields, decorated with the peculiar patterns characteristic of the style of art exhibited by the two headpieces which have been described, having these patterns further adorned by coloured enamels, and also possessing the distinctive feature of figures of animals in relief in bronze, have been found in England.[57]

Footnote 57:

A bronze shield, found in the river Witham, 3 feet 8½ inches long, and nearly 14 inches wide, with straight sides and rounded ends, is decorated with studs of red coral, and had the figure of an animal attached to it by rivets. Another, found in the Thames, 2 feet 6½ inches long and 14½ inches wide, is ornamented with enamelled patterns in this peculiar style, and of singular beauty and remarkable excellence of design and workmanship. They are figured in colours of the originals in the _Horæ Ferales_, edited by A. W. Franks, of the British Museum (4to. London, 1863), Plates XIV.-XV.

No shields of this character have yet been discovered in Scotland, but there are other objects of a military kind which exhibit the same peculiar art in a sufficiently characteristic manner. One of these is a sword-sheath (Fig. 97) of bronze, 23½ inches in length by 1¼ inch in width, which was found at the foot of the Pentlands, near Mortonhall, and is now in the Museum. It is formed of thin beaten bronze; the ornamental cup-shaped expansions at the lower end are solid castings, and the ornamental strap carrying the loop in front is fastened on with pins. The back of the sheath is a thin slip of bronze sliding in grooves in the inner margins of the two sides. This is the only example of a sword-sheath of this style and period known to have been found in Scotland. Several sheaths of the same character have been discovered in England. Perhaps the most characteristic of these is one in the collection of Canon Greenwell at Durham, which exhibits, in a very special manner, the peculiar style of ornament of which I have given so many illustrations. The swords which these sheaths contained were of iron and have perished. One found in the Thames has the blade still within it, 3 feet 1½ inch in length, but a mere mass of oxide.[58] These swords differ greatly in the length and form of the blade from the leaf-shaped swords of bronze which were in general use at an earlier period, and their sheaths differ still more widely in form and ornament from the sheaths of the leaf-shaped swords.

Footnote 58:

The specimens of these iron swords with bronze sheaths found in different parts of England are enumerated by Mr. Franks in the _Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of London_, vol. iv. p. 166; and several are figured in _Horæ Ferales_, Plates XIV.-XVIII.

Another class of objects, which are more of the nature of harness-mountings or horse-furniture, also exhibit this peculiar style of ornamentation, in some cases combined with the remarkable feature of having their sunk spaces filled with coloured enamels.

A pair of massively-formed objects (Fig. 98), the precise use of which is not apparent, were found in a bank of clay on a spur of the Cheviots at Henshole on Cheviot. They are of cast bronze, and consist of an oblong body, hollow, rounded at one end and flattened at the other; the upper and lower surfaces inclined towards the small end, which is narrower than the width at the middle. A stout tang of about 2 inches in length is carried on a bar which crosses the open part of the small end, and the convexity of the larger end bears the mark of hammering as if to drive the tang home. They are destitute of surface decoration, but they seem to be allied by the characteristics of their form to other objects which are less indefinite in the indications of their art.

In a large cairn on the farm of Hillock Head, in the parish of Towie, Aberdeenshire, which covered an interment placed in a cist with an urn, there were found a number of bronze objects, all of which were lost except two (Fig. 99), which are now in the Museum. They are in the form of oval hollow rings, expanding on the inferior side, and having an oval opening in the under part, which shows the remains of an iron pin fastened at each side of the opening with lead. Their general appearance is suggestive of the mountings of horse-harness, but their precise purpose is not obvious, and the articles found in association with them are undescribed. Although the testimony is singularly defective on that point, it is not probable that they had any connection with the interment in the “short cist” which contained bones and an [Illustration: Fig. 100.—Mounting in Cast Bronze from Dowalton Loch (2 inches in diameter).] urn. A similar object in bronze, also presenting the remains of iron fastenings in the lower part, was found under a large stone on the hill of Crichie, near Kintore, along with a number of globular balls of shale each about 1¼ inch in diameter, slightly flattened on one side, and having the remains of iron loop-like fastenings in the flattened side.[59] A number of rings and harness-mountings found at Middleby, in Annandale, in 1737, and now preserved in Penicuick House, exhibit the same style of decoration in a more pronounced and characteristic manner.[60]

Footnote 59:

_Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot._, vol. v. p. 111.

Footnote 60:

They have been figured by Dr. Daniel Wilson in _The Prehistoric Annals of Scotland_, vol. ii. p. 156.

A mounting in cast bronze (Fig. 100), 2 inches diameter, the sunk spaces of which had probably been filled with enamels, was recently found in the dry bed of the loch of Dowalton, which was drained about eighteen years ago. It is formed of a combination of segmental spaces, the curves of which are those of the divergent spiral, each space being surrounded by a raised border, and the sunk surfaces roughened with a tool.

A bridle-bit (Fig. 101), found in a moss at Birrenswark, in Annandale, before 1785, and now in the National Museum, exhibits the characteristics of this peculiar phase of art in a very striking manner. It is no less peculiar in its design and construction than in the character of its ornamentation. It is a single casting of bronze. The loops of the cheek-rings have been cast within the loops of the centre-piece, an operation implying technical skill and experience of complicated processes of moulding and casting. The design, however, is the most remarkable feature of the object. It is designed as carefully as if it were a piece of jewellery. The rings, though cast in one piece with the loops, are penannular in form, grasping the neck of the loop between their expanded ends. The two rings differ slightly in size, and the loops differ greatly in form. The one is treated as a loop formed of a cylindrical rod bent to the shape of a loop, and carrying the ornamented open-work of its terminal part as between its extended ends. The other loop is treated as a solid form, and in its ornamental termination there is no open work. The two rings are similar, but not identical. The idea of openness suggested by the modelling of the one loop is carried into the construction of the terminal portions as open work, and the idea of solidity is similarly carried out in the other loop. The surface decoration of the terminal portions of the loops is of the same character in the parts of both that are similar, and is partly carried also into the parts of the one which are wanting in the other. It consists of red and yellow enamel _champléve_, the colours alternating in alternate rows of triangular and oval spaces. A double spiral and trumpet pattern appears in the open work of the one loop. The loops and rings are greatly the worse for wear, and have been strengthened by thin pieces riveted on.

It is certainly a peculiar feature of an art so singularly decorative that it was applied so largely to the ornamentation of objects that were appropriated to the commonest uses. Enamelled horse-trappings of the most finished and beautiful workmanship have frequently been found in England, sometimes associated with the remains of chariots.[61] Not only is the use of enamel in the decoration of such objects unknown beyond the area of the British Isles, but the special system of design which accompanies its use is also confined within that area. And it is an interesting fact that there is historical evidence as to the nationality of these remains. The only classical author who mentions the art of enamelling is Philostratus, a Greek sophist in the household of Julia Domna, wife of the Emperor Severus. In a notice of the variegated trappings of the horses in a painting of a boar-hunt he accounts for their peculiar appearance as follows:—“They say that the barbarians who live in the Ocean pour such colours on heated brass, and that they adhere to it, become as hard as stone, and thus preserve the designs that are made in them.” It is matter of inference what people they were who are thus styled “barbarians in the ocean,” but it is matter of fact that horse-trappings of bronze (or brass) decorated with coloured enamels have hitherto been found in the British Islands alone.

Footnote 61:

They have been found at Polden Hill, near Bridgewater (_Archæologia_, vol. xiv. p. 90); at Hagbourn Hill, Berkshire (_Archæologia_, vol. xvi. p. 348); at Stanwick, Yorkshire, with chariot-wheels (York Volume of the Archæological Institute, p. 10); at Arras and Hessleskew, in the same county, with chariot-wheels and the bones of horses (_Ibid._ p. 28), and other places. A synopsis of the whole group of objects characterised by this decoration is given by Mr. Franks in _Horæ Ferales_ (4to., London, 1863), pp. 172, 196, and many figures in the coloured plates (Plates XIV.-XX.).

But this peculiar style of art was not confined to the decoration of such objects as parts of military equipments or harness of horses. It was largely employed in the decoration of personal ornaments and objects of personal use.