Hello, I'd like to moderate r/williammorris. I mod several subreddits, have written on Morris topics a lot, and am a member of the William Morris Society. A mod bot recommended that I post here to take it over. I am not sure what else it wants from me.
This is an ongoing attempt at mapping out all known instances of depictions of figures with what appear to be horned helmets with bird terminals from Anglo-Saxon England. This list is by no means complete and I will add more as time allows. You can help grow this list by contributing additional instances in the comments.
This motif seems to enter the record in the 500s and, like a lot of motifs and things like runes, seem to exclusively be associated with Germanic-speakers.
Exterior to Anglo-Saxon England, many examples are known from Scandinavia and among continental Germanic-speakers, which I will cover in future posts. In the meantime, for comparative purposes, here are a few notable examples from Sweden:
https://samlingar.shm.se/object/BFA9D7DE-2931-44E2-8CFC-C656C38D3D21
https://samlingar.shm.se/object/200B22FE-CCFE-4546-958F-539BDF89146C
https://samlingar.shm.se/object/60245538-9CAA-4B14-B6E3-1AE2FD963684
Note that there are quite a lot of these depictions known now and more seem to be found quite regularly. It seems that up until the Viking Age and from the late Migration Period these horn helmeted figures were just all over the place. Like many motifs, they disappear from the record with Christianization.
The bird-horn helmeted figure motif is connected to the wolf-head figure motif known from Anglo-Saxon England, Scandinavia, and Germanic-speaking Continental Europe, while the valknut symbol is currently only known from Anglo-Saxon England and Scandinavia.
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KNOWN EXAMPLES
BERK-DB4E15
https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/888099
LEIC-40DB05
https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/191137
YORYM-FAE4AF
https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/778907
YORYM-024D31
https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/230788
SF-F9D919
https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/918052
SF449
https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/19073
NMS559
https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/36287
SUR-EC1C9E
https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/741418
HAMP-B292C2
https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/551446
HAMP2432
https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/32042
Sutton Hoo helmet
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/H_1939-1010-93
(for the helmet plate motif, see p. 79 here: https://lcm2.web.rug.nl/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Williams-The-Sutton-Hoo-Helmet-in-Oddy-The-art-of-the-conservator-1992-1.pdf )
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KENT, need more info
https://www.reddit.com/r/AncientGermanic/comments/1cd3cmw/apparent_new_migration_period_era_horned/ — any papers or other publications on this one?
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Potentially related
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/H_2017-8005-1
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There are no doubt numerous other examples I haven't linked to here. Please provide links to especially museum entries if you know of more.
Edit: Please note that this is from Cambridgeshire and not Lincolnshire but I can't change the title.
From the entry:
>A cast copper-alloy Early Medieval Pressblech die for making thin, sheet metal, mounts. The die is triangular but with two lugs either side of its wider end. It is now slightly curved and has a perforation at the pointed tip but appears to be complete. Depicted in low relief on the die is a human figure with the head of a wolf. The head and feet are in profile stance, facing left, but the torso is facing front. The warrior wearing a hauberk, or a tunic, its surface covered with cross-hatching suggesting mail. In proportion to the body, both the arms and the angled feet are thinly depicted. The right arm is close to the body with the elbow bent and the hand on the hilt of a sword worn at the waist. In the left hand is a spear, pointing upwards. The wolf-head is worn, but the open mouth, with sharp triangular teeth and a large annular eye are clearly visible. The reverse of the die is plain and rough-cast. The length is 56.2mm, the maximum width is 30.9mm, the thickness is 3.3mm and the weight is 22.93g.
>An account of this important object by Dr Kevin Leahy will be included in the journal Medieval Archaeology vol. XLX 2006.
See comments from other examples of this motif from the Germanic Migration Period.
This is now the second oldest English language instance in our growing database.
One thing to highlight here is that the earliest English language example we have so far is from Whimple, which is in Devon in southwest England, far from Scotland.
Were it not for the chance recording of this early English example, the data would imply that examples from England were only known significantly later.
Clearly, the data only provides us with so much insight into what was an extremely widespread spell transmitted orally and reaching far back into prehistory but not found in, say, southern Europe as far as we can tell. We'll see if that remains the case over time.
As always, please reach out if you have instances we haven't covered. We also welcome you to apply examples you find to our template and send them to us to add them to the database.