Gevninge helmet fragment

The fragment is an ornate piece, but nothing else remains of the helmet; it might be the single remnant of a disintegrated helmet, or it might have been lost or discarded. It is one of two Scandinavian eyepieces discovered alone, giving rise to the suggestion that it was intentionally deposited in an invocation of the one-eyed god Odin. It would have been part of a decorated "crested helmet", the type of headgear that was common to England and Scandinavia from the sixth through eleventh centuries AD. These are particularly known from the examples found at Vendel, Valsgärde, and Sutton Hoo; the Tjele helmet fragment is the only other Danish example known.

Gevninge is three kilometres (1.9 mi) upriver from Lejre, a one-time centre of power believed to be the setting for Heorot, the fabled mead hall to which the poetical hero Beowulf journeys in search of the monster Grendel. The settlement's location suggests that it functioned as an outpost through which anyone would have to pass when sailing to the capital, and in which trusted and loyal guardians would serve. This mirrors Beowulf's experience on his way to Heorot, for upon disembarking he is met with a mounted lookout whose job it is "to watch the waves for raiders, and danger to the Danish shore." Upon answering his challenge, Beowulf is escorted down the road to Heorot, much as an Iron Age visitor to Lejre might have been led along the road from Gevninge. The Gevninge helmet fragment, a military piece from a riverside outpost, therefore sheds light on the relationship between historical fact and legend.

Description

The Gevninge eyepiece is 8 cm (3 in) wide and 5 cm (2 in) tall, moulded from bronze and gilded. An oval eye opening is overlain by a sculpted eyebrow with grooves representing individual hairs; grooves around the perimeter of the oval might represent eyelashes. The top and bottom of the fragment each have three holes, presumably used to attach it to the helmet where it would have formed the dexter eyepiece. The top three holes might have attached it to the helmet cap, the bottom three to some form of face protection such as a face mask or camail.

Typology

The Gevninge helmet fragment was discovered by itself, with no other nearby artefacts to give it context. The settlement at Gevninge dates to between 500 and 1000, while helmets with similar decorative characteristics suggest dating the eyepiece to the sixth or seventh century, perhaps from 550 to 700; another helmet eyebrow discovered in Uppåkra, Sweden, has the same suggested date. The Gevninge fragment fits into the corpus of Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian "crested helmets", each characterized by a rounded cap and usually a prominent nose-to-nape crest. The Tjele helmet fragment is the only such helmet found in Denmark, while the richly ornamented helmets found at Sutton Hoo, Vendel, and Valsgärde may provide the closest approximation to what the Gevninge helmet would have looked like when whole.

Function

Helmets like that which the Gevninge fragment once adorned served both as utilitarian equipment and as displays of status. Examples from Northern Europe during the Nordic Iron Age and Viking Age are rare. This may partly suggest a failure to survive a millennium underground or perhaps a failure to be recognised after excavation: the plainer Anglo-Saxon and Roman helmets from Shorwell and Burgh Castle were initially misidentified as pots. The extreme scarcity nevertheless suggests that they were never deposited in great numbers, and that they signified the importance of those wearing them. In the Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf, a story about kings and nobles that partly takes place in Denmark, helmets are mentioned often, and in ways that indicate their significance. The dying words of Beowulf, whose own pyre is stacked with helmets, are used to bestow a gold collar, byrnie, and gilded helmet to his follower Wiglaf.

If protection was all that was asked of a helmet, a simple iron cap would suffice. Yet a soldier guarding Gevninge, a riverside outpost on the way to the major city of Lejre, would have to be trustworthy, and perhaps also connected to the king by family or loyalty. He would also occupy an important position in the military hierarchy. Adornments like the Gevninge fragment would have identified the rank of such a person, as well as adding decoration to a helmet.