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ACCOUNT OF THE SOCIETY'S RESEARCHES IN THE SAXON CEMETERY AT
SARR (SARRE) Part 3 |
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Thus at least one-third of the adult males buried at Sarr were sword-bearing
warriors; and this fact must, I think, lead to a reconsideration of the
various opinions that Saxon thegns, or the "viri electi," or the
borsholders or tything-men were alone armed with this weapon. The
"Capitularies" of Charlemagne seem to indicate that amongst the
Frankish nations cavalry only then bore the sword.1 This probably
applied to those Continental tribes who were armed with the francesca, or
axe, as well as the spear, a weapon certainly not in general use at the
period of these interments, though introduced at a later period amongst the
Anglo-Saxons, if we are to consider the Bayeux Tapestry as reliable
historical authority. |
interment. Mr Akerman has given an interesting account of this weapon (‘Archaeologia,’
vol. xxxvi. p. 78), and Mr. Wylie also (Id. vol. xxxv. p. 48). |
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Page 319 (This page prepared for the Website by Christine Pantrey) |
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