Out now

 Here

From the forthcoming Osprey

 

‘OFFA’s DYKE’, LATE 8th CENTURY AD

(1) King Offa of Mercia

Offa is credited with ordering the construction of this impressive earthwork along the border between Mercia and the hostile Welsh kingdom of Powys. We reconstruct the king’s appearance as in his vigorous middle age, and his costume partly from the carvings on the Franks Casket. 

(2) King Beorhtric of Wessex

To Offa’s left side stands his younger ally Beorhtric. He wears a blue cloak hanging open at the front to below his knees, copied from the Franks Casket; its silver disc brooch with small raised bosses is from the Evington specimen. His rich saffron-yellow tunic is, again, pleated below the waist. He holds a sword with a silver and gilt pommel, from a specimen found at Chiswick on the river Thames.

(3) West Saxon warlord

Between and behind the two kings, a warlord stands in attendance on Beorhtric. His helmet is a composite of the Coppergate and Wollaston specimens, in comparison with the Franks Casket. He is protected by a knee-length leather coat quilted with diamond-pattern stitching copied from the St John’s Bishopshill Cross, and a high collar. The bindings of his trousers would again have small silver fastening tags. His sword has a silver pommel with inlaid gilt panels (from the Windsor specimen), and at his feet is a shield with a ‘sugarloaf ’ boss (from British Museum specimen 1912, 1220.3). On campaign, he carries a finely mounted drinking horn as a sign of status.

From Anglo-Saxon Kings and Warlords AD 400–1070.

Illustrated by Raffaele Ruggeri.