Sutton Hoo purse-lid

The Sutton Hoo purse-lid is one of the major objects excavated from the Anglo-Saxon royal burial-ground at Sutton Hoo in Suffolk, England. The site contains a collection of burial mounds, of which much the most significant is the undisturbed ship burial in Mound 1 containing very rich grave goods including the purse-lid. The person buried in Mound 1 is usually thought to have been Raedwald, King of East Anglia, who died around 624. The purse-lid is considered to be "one of the most remarkable creations of the early medieval period." About seven and a half inches long, it is decorated with beautiful ornament in gold and garnet cloisonné enamel, and was undoubtedly a symbol of great wealth and status. In 2017 the purse-lid was on display at the British Museum.

The Roman legions withdrew from Britain in about 410 CE, by which time there is already evidence that groups of Germanic people were living alongside the native Romano-British population, probably as auxiliary troops. Over the next 150 years, a period from which almost no records survive, they were evidently greatly added to by immigration, and began to create a new social structure and culture that spread to control most of Britain, and began to divide it into a number of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.

The purse-lid was the top of a leather pouch for coins. The leather has decayed but forty Frankish coins and two small ingots were found with the lid. Each coin was from a different mint, indicating a deliberately selected collection. The purse hung from the waist belt by the three hinges seen on top of it. The parts of the lid in other non-jewellery materials had decayed, but it probably had a plate behind the metalwork made of valuable whalebone "ivory"; the lid is now displayed with a plain replacement plate, although the original may well have had decorative carving.

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