A New Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Great Square-Headed Brooches, 1997, 512 p., 258 ill., rel. -

Ces fibules à tête carrée, qui comptent parmi les plus riches parures féminines du monde germanique des Ve et VIe s., ont connu un succès notable chez les Anglo-Saxons. Un catalogue de quelque 209 objets permet d'apprécier les variantes, les décors et l'évolution de cette forme devenue, à travers les prototypes germaniques et les influences scandinaves, une spécialité insulaire. Square-headed brooches were among the most costly and elaborate forms of female dress jewellery for many Germanic peoples in the fifth and sixth centuries AD; Scandinavian in origin, they are spread widely over England and western Europe. This volume presents a fully illustrated catalogue and analytical study of some 209 brooches of this class belonging to a particular series produced predominantly in the Anglian and Saxon areas of Britain. The categorising and dating of the brooches throws light on Scandinavian influence on these areas, and is also evidence for the chronology of various types of associated finds. The practical and symbolic function of the brooches, together with changes in production and in patterns of deposition, are also considered, and the catalogue as a whole makes a major contribution to an understanding of social and cultural change in a critical period of historical development. Square-headed brooches were among the most costly and elaborate forms of female dress jewellery for many Germanic peoples in the fifth and sixth centuries AD; Scandinavian in origin, they are spread widely over England and western Europe. This volume presents a fully illustrated catalogue and analytical study of some 209 brooches of this class belonging to a particular series produced predominantly in the Anglian and Saxon areas of Britain. The categorising and dating of the brooches throws light on Scandinavian influence on these areas, and is also evidence for the chronology of various types of associated finds. The practical and symbolic function of the brooches, together with changes in production and in patterns of deposition, are also considered, and the catalogue as a whole makes a major contribution to an understanding of social and cultural change in a critical period of historical development.