Three conjectures on the early churches

Three conjectures on the early churches.

Summary. Scant early documentary evidence for the first and second cathedrals has inevitably led to speculation and wild conjecture. Two hypotheses are given which have warped our understanding of the first cathedral and a third which arises out of recent archaeological investigation.

Raising conjectures has been an interest of early historians, particularly in the late-19th century. Conjectures always have some logic, but remain ideas under empirical evidence is found.

1.     The earliest churches were built on St Michael’s hill.

Diuma, the first Bishop of Mercia died in c. 658 and the next priest (he might not have been made bishop), Coellach, lasted a few months before being removed by King Wulfhere. The next two bishops were more favourable to the Mercian people and it is presumed they now had a church within the Lichfield (Licetfelda) area, but where?

Sculptures of the first four bishops around the northwest entrance door. From the left, Diuma who was Irish, Coellach who was Irish or Scottish and is without a mitre and staff suggesting he was never formally installed, Trumhere who was English and from Ingethling (Gilling)[1] monastery, near Richmond, Yorkshire, and Jaruman, possibly Irish, who, according to the Victorian sculptors, holds the first church with a date around 666. All four bishops were acquainted with the monasteries at Lindisfarne and Iona.

 

Savage posed the question, ‘Why did Jaruman (this should be Trumhere the third Bishop of Mercia) build his church in Lichfield’ and then speculated the location as being on St Michael’s hill.[2] He cited a copy of an anonymous manuscript held in the cathedral archive (its provenance is unclear) called, ‘History of the church of Lichfield’ and dated 1575.[3] This told the legend of Romans (Savage stated it could have been the heathen Angles) slaying a thousand Christians and burying them in what is now St Michael’s churchyard. The cemetery was said to have been consecrated by Augustine, ‘The Apostle of the English’. Savage added it was ‘the tribal burying ground of the Mercians’. Evidence of an Early Medieval[4] crouched burial was revealed when excavations were made for a new vestry for the church in 1978, suggesting an earlier history to the site. Gould and Gould[5] wrote cautiously, perhaps it had early medieval origins. This tentatively points to a Roman/Early Medieval cemetery and presumably a church on the wooded hill and fits with the idea of the first churches being constructed of timber and on high, prominent ground.[6]

          If true, why did the church for Chad move across the marshy, wooded area, now Lichfield town centre, to the hillock on which now stands the cathedral? Two reasons are presented; firstly, it was nearer the stream or river for baptism and sanitation and secondly, it was on a flat Mercian sandstone outcrop lined east to west in which stone was readily available. Also, nearby clay from the stream bank could be used to mix with the clay, dry in the sun, and construct walls. It might also be that King Wulfhere and Bishop Wilfrid knew this site was spiritually untainted, unlike the Anglo-Saxon pagan burial ground.[7] It was superior topographically, practically and spiritually.

2.     The first church was said to have been built in the year 700. Was this a misunderstanding with a shrine tower around Chad’s grave.

It has been a long-standing myth that the first church was built by Bishop Headda around the year 700. This ignores Stephen of Ripon’s statement and Bede’s assertion of a church for St Chad when he arrived in 669.[8] Yet, there is an authoritative statement, “The first church definitely known to have stood on the site of the present cathedral was that built by Bishop Headda and consecrated in December 700.”[9] This unambiguous statement given in the Victoria County History, 1970, without any reference somehow has prevailed? It appears to be premised on Bede stating he was buried near the church of St Mary and then further confused by the belief from the 13th century that his burial was near the ‘monastery’ or ‘House of St Chad’ 700 m north-east of the cathedral by the east end of Stowe pool at a place called Stowe.[10] The website of St Chad’s church states there was a Christian community on this site in the 7th century. All this comes from a narrative of Lastingham monastery, Yorkshire, where Chad was the abbot before being Bishop of Mercia. From this it was taken the first cathedral came later than Chad and was built in the time of Bishop Headda’s episcopate.  

Headda holding the first cathedral; it looks like Escomb Church, Durham. The statue is on the sedilia on the side facing the north sanctuary aisle.

 

This narrative was recorded in the 14th century from a text that is wholly unreliable. The text was in the Chronicon Lichfeldense, since lost, but copied in Warton’s, Anglia Sacra – see note 3.[11]  The writer, thought to be Alan de Assheborn, wrote a very fanciful early history of Britain and added bits of Lichfield’s history to exemplify his ideas. The discovery of Chad’s grave at the east end of the nave in 2003[12] completely contradicts this medieval story. Chad was not buried at Stowe.

Nave excavation 2003 showing the position of Chad’s grave. The grave is marked in red, a foundation to a shrine tower in blue and the midline of the cathedral in yellow.

So why did medieval writers believe there was a first church on the cathedral site, but 30 years later than Chad? Maybe they saw the foundation of the shrine tower when retrieving Chad’s relics around the time of building the current cathedral, early 13th century. They noted the foundation, but did not notice the grave. They presumed the foundation was the first cathedral. Its wall size, around 1 m thick, indicated a date of around the beginning of the 8th century. Perhaps, they saw this foundation earlier since a King Edgar silver penny was found in a pit during the 2003 excavation and was dated to the 10th century.

^{King Edgar silver penny. Obverse has +EADGAR RE around a small cross pattée within an inner circle. Reverse has INGEL-RI for the moneyer Ingelrics based at Derby. He minted coins showing a rosette and with MO in the field which means money, coin or die and is a feature of Mercian mints. Little is known on this moneyer which makes it unusual. Thanks to Dane Kurth of wildwinds.com.}

The two records of Stephen of Ripon’s biography of Bishop Wilfrid and Bede’s history book are relatively clear the first church was built around 667‑9 when Bishop Wilfrid joined King Wulfhere to provide a site for the new ecclesiastical centre of the kingdom of Mercia. It would be odd that Chad, who had been the Bishop of Northumbria for three years based at Lindisfarne, arrives at Licetfelda and does not have a church-cathedral. Medieval and Victorian writers chose to ignore this and later writers never questioned the notion.

3.     The second cathedral would have had a tower for keeping treasure and had sections to separate worshippers, king and clergy. Its nave extended into the current cathedral nave, and was slightly narrower.

A massive foundation for the second cathedral was revealed in 1854 under the choir and presbytery floor.[13] It has been argued with some evidence it is Early Medieval and is best seen as being built by King Offa for his archbishopric, but until it is carbon-dated this remains speculative.[14]

 

Plan of the second cathedral and abutting rectangular chamber superimposed on the plan for the current cathedral.

If it was the east end of Offa’s basilical cathedral, what would the rest of this cathedral, particularly the west front, look like? There are few cathedral foundations existing for the late 8th century to give guidance. However, in 2003 at the east end of the nave a very early wall on the inside of the nave columns indicated an earlier nave. Rodwell (2004) described it as a late Saxon or Norman nave wall foundation.¹¹ It could also have been the nave of Offa’s second cathedral. If so, it was slightly narrower than the current nave.

Stone wall (red) on inside of columns. It had very little masonry. It was a mortared construction using mixed rubble which has a similarity to the basilical foundation in the choir and presbytery.

 

It has been argued the church was similar in time and structure to Brixworth, Northamptonshire.[15] The west end of this church has undergone much change, but some detail is known, so if it is used as a model, remembering Offa attended both churches, then it is possible to guess what the second cathedral looked like.

 

Imagined Offa’s second cathedral using Brixworth as a guide.

Externally, might the second cathedral have looked like this? 

Or this? Chad’s shrine tower would stand alone away from the west end,

 

One reason for having a tower was to securely hold the treasures and artefacts of the cathedral. With Lichfield that could have included everything found in the Staffordshire Hoard.[16] It could also have had a secure meeting room. This was also the time churches were sectioned internally to serve various functions. The nave could have had procession, the king and family might have sat separated from others, perhaps in the presbytery/choir area, and the clergy would be in the apse. The altar could have been in the presbytery. The church is now a line from the public entrance at the west end to the high altar and clergy at the east end. The three arches separated the secular from the sacred areas.

 

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[1] Bede, Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum. J. McClure and R. Collins, The Ecclesiastical History of the English People, (Oxford: 2008) 132.

[2] H. E. Savage, The church heritage at Lichfield, St Chad’s Day address 1914. Unpub. Article held in the cathedral library, 3. J. Britton, The history and antiquities of the See and Cathedral Church of Lichfield. (London: 1820), 24, referred to William Dugdale knowing of a document that claimed Jaruman had a church in the Close in 666.

[3] It is difficult to know the origin of this reference. It is said to be a copy made by Canon Whitlock made in 1569 of a previous lost ‘Chronicle’ manuscript. It is likely the story was taken from the ‘Book of Alan of Ashbourne, Vicar of Lichfield’ written in the 1320s, which has been lost, but a copy was made by Canon Thomas Chesterfield, mid-15th century and then repeated by H. Wharton, Anglia Sacra, (London: 1691). The manuscripts are in the British Museum and Bodleian Library, Oxford.

[4] Early Medieval has replaced the term Anglo-Saxon

[5] J. Gould and D. Gould, ‘St Michael’s churchyard, Lichfield’, Trans, South Staffs. Archaeological and Historical Society, (1975), 16, 58‑61.

[6] William of Malmesbury wrote, ‘Lichfield was a tiny village in the midst of a woody district on the banks of a brook’, William of Malmesbury’s ‘De Gesta Pontificum Anglorum’, written early in the 12th century (Hamilton 1870, 307).

[7] See the post, ‘Reasons why Lichfield (Licitfelda) had approval.’

[8] See the posts, ‘Wulfhere and Wilfrid, and later Bede, name Lichfield’ and ‘Wilfrid founder of church of Mercia.’

[9] M. W. Greenslade and R. B. Pugh, House of secular canons - Lichfield cathedral: To the Reformation, A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 3. Originally published by Victoria County History, London, 1970, 140‑166.

[10] It has been suggested the location of Stowe was more likely to be at the west end of Stowe pool. It cannot be assumed it is where his well and 13century church are now located.

[11] Originally it was titled ‘The book of Alan de Assheborn, Vicar of Lichfield’ and dated in 1320s. Alan of Ashbourne wrote a tangled history full of fabled beliefs from c.1323 until his death in 1334.

[12] W. Rodwell, ‘Archaeological excavation in the nave of Lichfield Cathedral’, (unpublished report held in Lichfield Cathedral Library 2003) 1–17.

[13] See the post, ‘The incomparable apse of the second cathedral.’

[14] See the post, ‘Why the second cathedral must be Early Medieval.

[15] See the post, ‘Second cathedral has a short perch layout. It is Early Medieval.’

[16] See the post, ‘It has to be the Lichfield Hoard.’

It has to be the 'Lichfield Hoard'.

 Summary. The Early Medieval (Anglo-Saxon) hoard found 2009 in Hammerwich 4.4 miles from Lichfield was most likely an archive of treasure stored in Lichfield. Now known as the Staffordshire Hoard, it is emblematic to all that was happening in the ecclesiastical centre of Mercia. Its many Christian pieces strongly indicate a link with the cathedral. The questionable alternative hypotheses are stated and reasons given why it should be seen as the ‘Lichfield Hoard’.

    When a metal detector found gold around 11am on 5 July 2009 in a field on the edge of the parish of Hammerwich it started an unresolved argument on where had it come from, whose hoard it was and who should look after it.

An intense thunderstorm and a passing van with Viking Office Supplies written on the side was portentous, or so some initially thought! The finder and land owner could not agree who benefitted. There were difficulties on who should look after the hoard, was it Stafford or Stoke? It has been written “the genuine need for secrecy and security, to protect the site from looting, was extended to absurdity by excluding proper consultation. Even the later period of fieldwork in March 2010 was carried out without wider consultation”.[1] It even needed a third visit to the field in 2012 to make sure everything had been found and it had not.[2] Many wanted to interpret the hoard and rush into print before it was completely analysed. How pundits were allowed to conclude the date of burial must have been the latest date of fabrication of certain pieces was an embarrassment. Displays with a huge reconstructed helmet suitable for a Roman centurion and emphasising warriors forever fighting have warped the history.

 

Field in the parish of Hammerwich. Taken around 2000. Note the unexplained crop mark

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                                             The dig in 2009. Thanks to Erica Bayliss for three images.

Even giving it a name was unfortunate. Traditionally hoards are named after the site where it was found and the magazine editorial in British Archaeology (Nov/Dec issue 109, 2009) proposed ‘Hammerwich Hoard’. 

Hammerwich Parish sign. Note the strange Staffordshire logo.

 Then several articles thought the site was in an ancient area known as Ogley Hay and this name was proposed.[3] Ogley has only been known since the Domesday Survey and could not have been part of the earlier settlement of Hammerwich.[4] A letter to British Archaeology (May/June issue 130, 2013) by the author pointed to the inappropriate Ogley Hay name. It was followed by the equally obscure designation of The Staffordshire Hoard. Ownership had now acceded to the museums and their great need to display the only gold Anglo-Saxon hoard that is without coins. It was frequently said we had not seen anything like this before.[5] Its problematical handling has perhaps not been seen before.

            Without an accurate name came all kinds of conjecture as to why the hoard was buried in a comparatively nondescript place. That is, within the plough level of soil on a rise of marginal land within a boggy heath and alongside an old Roman road (Watling Street) that had become an Anglo-Saxon pathway. Also close to a pathway west from Lichfield that eventually reached Wales and a stream that eventually joined the river Tame.

Map of area before development of A5 and M6 (Toll).

    The theories for the hoard sadly showed how easy writers conjured the most elaborate opinions. Claiming ‘that no one will ever know for sure’ and then detailing an elaborate plot weaved into some historical context is disingenuous. The following have been floated:

1.  It was King Penda’s incalculable treasure obtained from the Northumbrians, 655.[6] A tribute hoard.[7]
2. A leftover from a raiding army that had to leave in a hurry. For example, the Welsh attacking Mercia or even Northumbrians.[8] An angst hoard.
3. An assemblage of unwanted items destined for melting and recycling which never reached the forge.[9] A smith’s hoard.
4. A leftover from a Viking raid on a Royal Hall.[10] A plunderer’s booty hoard.
5.  A collection amassed by thieves and left as a deposit in a pagan sanctuary.[11] Bullion becoming a stash.
6. A votive offering comparable to Scandinavian deposits of broken military gear left in lakes or buried in defined areas.[12] A sacrificial hoard.

In defence of these wild theories, it needs stating they are based on behaviours thought to have occurred with other hoards and deposits; they are not isolated ideas, but that does not make them relevant. Surely, no two hoards have ever been buried for the same reason.

 The astonishing fact concerning all these suppositions is the nearness of Lichfield (Licetfelda) and an early cathedral-church initiated by King Wulfhere, developed by King Æthelred and adorned by King Offa which was never mentioned. Lichfield was air-brushed out of the story.[13] When the kings were mentioned they were on manoeuvres, never at home or in their ecclesiastical centre. Somehow Sutton Hoo cemetery can be 4.4 miles from Rendlesham’s royal enclosure (50 hectares containing a hall 23 x 10 m), but no one accounts for the Hammerwich find spot being 4.4 miles from Lichfield and an eccesiastical centre on a large site surrounded by a ditch.

Sutton Hoo site with the mound where the ship burial was found in the middle. Its archaeology suffered from predispositions that needed later correction. Its helmet is the best reconstruction, but not to be taken as certainty.

     Even more astonishing is the interest shown in linking the hoard with manufactories in East Anglia, Kent and Northumbria without ever seriously considering craftsmen could be living or visiting inner Mercia. Appraisal of the hoard has been eccentric, saying more about the writer and where they came from or how the hoard impacts on their specialism. Ignored or glossed-over pointers for the hoard originating from Lichfield are:

1. The Mercian hegemony, kingly power, military prowess, priestly importance, and the people settled around a significant river could have amassed such treasure. Mercians, particularly under Penda, were better organised than other sub-kingdoms.
2. The collection of pommel caps and sword hilt fixtures over a long time, 520–670, connected perfectly with the early Mercian kingly dynasties.
3.  The Easter Cross and Bishop’s handbell can be linked to a growing Roman church and Bishop Wilfrid. The Easter Cross would fit onto the cover of an altar display book such as St Chad’s gospels. The pectoral cross must have belonged to a bishop. There are pieces that could have belonged to an ecclesiastical elite, such as Mercian earls (eorl). The fanciful idea of Christian pieces came from priests fighting in an army belongs to a sixth-century history. Warriors and priests in the seventh-century kept a respectful distance, except for at the time of festivals like Easter and Christmas when scribes helped warriors write their charters.
4. A lack of blades is easily explained by weaponry being an archive kept in a church.[14] The abundance of sword hilt pieces (97 pommel caps) might just be because the sword is also a cross and the hilt is the head. Did the swords have a spiritual significance? Read Beowulf.[15]
5. Majority of items were bent, broken or misshapen, but not degraded beyond repair. They did not show destruction caused by conflict. It was as if they were removed from use and placed in storage, perhaps ready for repair. As if they belonged to an archive of past treasured objects. There were also sets of pieces and again looked as if treasure from a particular time and place.
6. A lack of horse decoration, coins, protective gear and dress fittings would be appropriate for a church archive and not associated with a royal hall or battle. Female pieces are missing and again this would fit with a church and not a royal household.
7. The inscribed strip with its angst message could be connected to a raid on the cathedral by the Danish Northmen in early 875.[16]^,[17]
8.  Burial could have been at the beginning of an exodus into Wales and linked with the removal of the St Chad’s gospels to north Carmarthenshire.

Drawing of the inscribed strip with its message of woe. A date of 8th or 9th-century has been given.

 

It is time for the elaborate conjectures based on events elsewhere need to be buried and a prosaic, topographical interpretation considered centred on Lichfield. The Staffordshire Hoard is emblematic to all that was happening in the ecclesiastical centre of Mercia.

[1] See Webster et al (2011).

[2] 91 further pieces were found of which 81 were declared treasure.

[3] L. Webster, C. Sparey-Green, P. Perin and C. Hills, ‘The Staffordshire (Ogley Hay) hoard: problems of interpretation’. Antiquity, (2011), 85, Issue 327, 221–229.

[4]  The hoard find spot lay within the extra-parochial area of Ogley Hay, now part of the parish of Hammerwich, according to D. Hooke, ‘The Landscape of the Staffordshire Hoard’, in Papers from the Staffordshire Hoard Symposium, H. Geake (ed.), 2010. See https://finds.org.uk/staffshoardsymposium

[5] Surely Sutton Hoo and the Snettisham treasure (and arguably others) are just as significant.

[6] Burying by the road from Wroxeter and Chester and not the north road to Northumbria needs explaining.

[7] See the post ‘King Penda needs a statue.’

[8] Why a fighting unit of men should then decide to bury their booty is counter-intuitive.

[9] Why a smith’s forge should be close to a boggy waste land requires explanation. The hammer in Hammerwich cannot be cited.

[10] There is no evidence the Vikings went west of Watling Street in this area of Mercia.

[11] Why would thieves want to bury their bullion? Especially in a place where robbers could have worked.

[12] Depositing a cross as a votive offering is unheard of and Scandinavians doing so in England is unknown. It resonates with the site possibly being an Anglo-Saxon weoh.

[13] A display of some of the hoard in the cathedral is not the same as emphasising its significance.

[14] The argument that the hammer welded blades are more valuable than the hilts avoided the question ‘why were the blades not present in a booty or bullion hoard’?

[15] The subliminal suggestion is numerous swords and seax pieces showed the Anglo-Saxons were forever fighting. Barbarians who must have lived before Christianity arrived has now become new folklore.

[16] R. Sharp, The hoard and its history. Staffordshire’s secrets revealed. (Studley: 2016), 76–7.

[17] See the post ‘Vikings and Lichfield.’

Cross for a bishop of Mercia

Summary. A broken pectoral cross, dated 7th century, was found in the Staffordshire Hoard that must have once belonged to an important early bishop. It is compared to similar crosses associated with Early Medieval bishops. One possibility is it belonged to Chad.

    In the Staffordshire Hoard was a pectoral cross[1] suitable for a bishop or abbot to wear on their chest. It had an eyelet at the top and the little wear inside the eyelet suggested a leather thong or silk thread threaded through to hang the cross around a neck. The wearer would then turn it upside down and perhaps kiss it. It would be prominent and an obvious symbol of office.

Replica of the Staffordshire pectoral cross.

The cross is similar in size and shape to the cross of St Cuthbert found in his coffin and now held at Durham Cathedral. There is a difference between the two regarding the decoration on the front face. The hoard cross has a pattern of twisted wire filigree in linked coils in a ‘C’ shape like an eyeglass.    

The Cuthbert cross has cloisonne cell-work infilled with garnets.[2] Both have a box structure with a space below the central, prominent cabochon garnet which might have contained some relic making them an encolpion. The date of Cuthbert’s cross has been estimated to be 650–670 and the Staffordshire cross could be equivalent.

 

Drawing of an intact pectoral cross, contrasted with the Cuthbert cross

                    In 1776, a small gold Saxon cross, also with eyeglass filigree, was found in a barrow on Winster Moor[3], Derbyshire. It was missing the middle stone, but the shape and design is very similar to a pectoral cross. It is small being 350 mm long and just under 30 mm wide. If this is a bishop’s pectoral cross, who would have been buried in a barrow on a moor? Bishop Betti is thought to have resided nearby at Wirksworth. A date of 650–700 has been given.

Drawing of the Winster Moor Cross which can be seen in Weston Park Museum, Sheffield.

 

The Holderness[4] cross[5] is equal-armed being 49mm long and wide. It has cloisonne cell-work infilled with garnets like the Cuthbert cross. Bishop John of Beverley served not very far away. A general date of 7th-century has been given.

Holderness Cross, from Commons Wikimedia, D. Pett, The Portable Antiquities Scheme/The Trustees of the British Museum.

 

The Ixworth cross found at Stanton, near Ixworth. Suffolk, c. 1856, is 450mm high. Again, only a general date of 7th-century has been ascribed. It could be connected to the centre at Rendlesham palace 35 miles away.

Drawing of the Ixworth Cross, from the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology, Volume 3, 1863, 296.  

 

Three further crosses include those found at Wilton, Norfolk (560 mm high), datable to between 613 and 630, Thurnham, Kent (350 mm diameter) and Milton Regis, Kent, (310 mm diameter). Smaller crosses attached to necklets have also been found, as well as disc shaped crosses. There is a distinct similarity in the filigree work on the face of the cross with two items found in an archaeological excavation at Bamburgh Castle, Northumberland. The Hunterston brooch (c700) also has this feature.

 

A pectoral cross found not far from Lichfield and dateable to the 7th-century could have belonged to any of four bishops from Chad to Headda. All had an association with Lindisfarne so it is not surprising for anyone of them to have had a similar sign of office as worn by Cuthbert. If you accept the Staffordshire Hoard was buried much later, such as in the 9th century[6] then many more known clergy can be invoked, including an archbishop.

[1] Tag: Staffordshire Hoard, Pectoral Cross. The top arm was broken off and another one bent before it was buried, possibly as a deliberate act to damage a faith object. A pectoral cross was mentioned in connection with Pope Hilarius in 461, so wearing such a pendant has a long history.

[2] Four garnets around the centre symbolising the apostles and twelve along each arm denoting the disciples.

[3] Winster is by the river Derwent which flows into the Trent south of Derby. It is approximately 40 miles (65 km) from Lichfield.

[4] Holderness is north of the Humber, but not too far from the mouth of the river Trent. It is approximately 125 miles (200 km) from Lichfield.

[5] A. MacGregor, ‘A seventh-century pectoral cross from Holderness, East Yorkshire.’ Medieval Archaeology (2000), 44, 217-222.

[6] R. F. Sharp, The hoard and its history. Staffordshire’s secrets revealed, (Studley: 2016) Chapter 7.