The information below was collected as a result of feedback from this years K&Q's A&S competition. I'll continue to add information to this write up as I find it (I have a few more ILL books on the way), but I'm posting this now on my blog because I have some other research and documentation I need to work on at the moment. This was however, and interesting question to try to answer, and it took me in directions I did not expect to be going with my research, which was a good thing. I'll need to figure out later how I can incorporate some of what I've written into my more formal A&S documentation. Please consider the following a rough draft, as some citation information still needs to be added or checked for accuracy.
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My recreation efforts have focused on the early Anglo-Saxon period, between the 5th-8th century (400-700). The main reason for this early focus is that beads from this time
period are the ones that are available to us to study. As Anglo-Saxon
society converted to Christianity, people stopped being burred with
grave goods, and it is from grave goods that most of our knowledge of
glass beads arises. However, when I read about Anglo-Saxon art, glass beads are almost never discussed. When historians look at early Anglo-Saxon (or Migration Period) art, it is the metalwork they give all their attention. Other studies dismiss early period art entirely, focusing on the art that was influenced by the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity. According to one source "little of artistic interest
survives from" the early Anglo-Saxon period,"and the art that is important and worth consideration are " stone buildings...crosses and the production of liturgical books, vessels, and vestments" (Oxford Art Online,
"Anglo-Saxon Art). Where glass specifically is mentioned as an art form,
the focus is on stained glass in churches during the later period.
This leads to the question, why are beads not considered by art historians as being worth studying. Evidence from graves shows us that beads were significant and highly symbolic objects of adornment for women of all ranks. Perhaps the reason they are not given considerations by art historians is due to the simplistic (and sometimes rough) nature of their decoration. When compared to beads produced in the middle east during and after this time period, Anglo-Saxon beads are rather crude. Beads have also have a history of having been ignored by archeologists (Mannion; Brugmann) and only in the last several decades has a very serious study of them begun to take place.
Regardless of the reasons, glass beads can still be considered in light of broader aesthetic styles of the time period. However, because I have not found an academic who has made this connection for me, much of what I have to say here regarding glass beads will be my own thoughts in light of the academic research I have done.
To view pictures of Anglo-Saxon beads as you read, you can visit these two pages from my blog
Mucking Typology
Brugmann's Typology
To discuss early Anglo-Saxon artistic style it also helps to research the art of the Migration Period, the time from the 5th-8th century when the Germanic tribes overran and settled in areas once controlled by the declining Roman empire. Early Anglo-Saxon art is heavily influenced by the styles of the Germanic tribes who settled in England. While some Migration period art forms may have contained lingering Roman influences, several sources note that Anglo-Saxon art, including glass beads, do not seem to have been influenced much by the Romans at
all (Guido
3-4, Owen-Crocker 7).
The Roman's preferred small shaped monochrome shaped
beads in transparent blue and green
(Brugmann 28-29). This style is nothing like the colorful and decorative Germanic style. According to one art historian, the "relationship between Saxons in England and the Saxons on
the continent
was never forgotten. There as a relationship of taste too...the
tastes of Anglo-Saxon England were never markedly different from the
tastes on the European Mainland" (Dodwell, 24). In fact, many Anglo-Saxon glass beads were imported form the continent or based off of continental designs (Brugmann).
Adornment
was important to the semi-nomadic Germanic tribes, because these items
were basically portable and very visible wealth (Dubin 73). As
a result, much of the surviving artwork from the Migrationon period on the continent and in early Anglo-Saxon England consists of
"decoration applied to portable equipment" that has been recovered as grave goods (Oxford Art Online, "Migration
Period"). One of the most "distinctive features" of Migration period art its range of color and surface patterning, seen mainly in jewelry" (Oxford Art Online, " Migration Period Art). This stylistic preference was actual brought to Europe from more Eastern civilizations (south Russian and Iranian traditions) by the Germanic tribes, which had been nomadic long before they overran the remains of the Roman Empire.
In general, early Migration period art consisted of "abstract geometric designs,
together with simple human and animal figures of symbolic purpose" (Oxford Art Online, "Migration
Period"). This style is perhaps best expressed in metalwork. Early Anglo-Saxon metalwork was"dominated by highly stylized animal and human
figures from the Germanic Tradition" and sources note that the animals likely held symbolic or spiritual significance for the wearers (Oxford Art Online, "Anglo-Saxon Art) As a result, one would think that these human and animal figures would also be found on beads, however, there is likely a practical reason that they are not. While it is relatively easy to add geometric designs to beads in the form of dots, lines, waves, zig-zags to make patterns on glass beads, my experiences attempting to make SCA order medallions has taught me that drawing more complex designs on a glass bead is very difficult, even with my modern torch set up. Now, sculpting animals and figures can be done a bit more easily. The Phoenicians, for example, made glass beads in the shape of animal and human heads. However, this is not something that is found in Anglo-Saxon glass. I'm honestly not sure why. Overall, I have not found much that indicates that Anglo-Saxon glass designs were ritually or spiritually significant in any way. Many cultures, both earlier and later than the Anglo-Saxons created "evil eye beads" as protective amulets. However, no archeologists that I have read have identified an Anglo-Saxon bead with such a design. The closest I have come to a symbolic design on a bead is an Annular Twist pendant bead with a cross design on it, and it is the only cross design I have seen on an Anglo-Saxon glass bead.
While Anglo-Saxon glass beads did not incorporate Migration period stylistic preference for symbolic animal and human designs, glass beads can be seen to adhere to other aspects of Anglo-Saxon style. Anglo-Saxon artistic style was generally characterized by "bright and shining decoration"
(Oxford Art Online, "Anglo-Saxon Art). Sculptures and walls were often
painted bright colors (although little evidence of this remained today) and this
preference for bright and contrasting colors and decoration is refereed to as polychromy
by many books on Anglo-Saxon and Migration period art. In general surface decoration on objects was important to the Anglo-Saxons: "for
them, it was the undecorated that was exceptional (Dodwell 38). The "visual aesthetic of early Anglo-Saxon jewelry" was one of "dense ornament and busy surfaces which
play on contrasts of glitter and plainness" (Webster, 8). While simple monochrome beads made up a large number of beads found at excavation sites (this is likely because they are much easier to produce), decorated Anglo-Saxon beads that are found have bright colors and surfaces filled with design; often several overlapping basic design elements are present (dots with waves, lines with waves, or two overlapping waves with dots, etc). Higher status graves also generally have more complexly decorated beads that lower status graves, showing that these decorated beads were highly valued (Hirst and Clark).
A wide variety of glass colors are evident in Anglo-Saxon glass; really all the basic colors of the rainbow are represented, along with white, brown and black. Archeologists have shown how metals were used to color glass since ancient time, and Anglo-Saxon bead artists also likely knew how to alter the colors of the glass that was imported to the island from other areas by adding recycled glass of other colors to a crucible of glass before making their beads (Henderson). Nothing I have seen indicates that certain colors were harder to acquire than others. However, some colors were prefered for aesthetic reasons. The word polychromy also refers more specifically to a Migration period preference for red (glass or garnet) and gold ornamentation. Decoration
with garnet and gold (the later of which became much more easily
available for a time during this period) became very popular in the Merovingian kingdom and by extension in
Anglo-Saxon society (Oxford Art Online, "Anglo Saxon Art). Merovingian bead design had a clear color preference for red and gold, and many beads with these colors are found in Anglo-Saxon graves as imports.
The Anglo-Saxons also were interested by "variable brightens;" they did not have our modern obsession with color itself (Dodwell, 33-4). The opposition of light and dark is actually a regular theme in
Anglo-Saxon poetry (Webster 25). In the physical arts, this contrast is found in the gold and red polychrome style mentioned above (Websiter 25). This preference for variable brightness and a general lack of concern about the colors themselves might explain the red, yellow, and green "traffic light beads," a bead design that was created by Anglo-Saxons (and not imported from the continent). To modern eyes, this color combination is somewhat garish, but the colors do contrast very well with each other on beads. This red, green and yellow color combination can also be found in some pages of the Lindsfarne gospels.
During 7-8th centuries bead in Anglo-Saxon England became less associated with the Germanic continent. The designs became more simple and more monochrome. With the spread of Christianity, glass stopped being burred in graves, and our knowledge of Anglo-Saxon glass beads decreases as a result.
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While it is possible to identify and
trace the origin of cultures artistic style, Dr. Dorothy Hoogland Verkerk, a
professor of Art History, notes that this distinction is a very modern one “There
is a constant back and forth exchange of ornament, pattern and design in all
medieval art. So it is less important to trace the origin of a design — who did
it first — than it is to appreciate the borrowings and choices made by artists
and patrons.”
Source: http://etc.ancient.eu/2014/10/30/irelands-exquisite-insular-art/
