0:00:03 > 0:00:09'In July 2009, one lucky find lifted the lid on a long-lost world...'
0:00:09 > 0:00:12We all love buried treasure.
0:00:12 > 0:00:14It's like a fairy story,
0:00:14 > 0:00:18these glorious things emerging from clods of earth.
0:00:19 > 0:00:22There's a sort of magic of it.
0:00:24 > 0:00:28'..an astonishing treasure trove of gold and silver
0:00:28 > 0:00:31'hidden in a field in Staffordshire, in the Midlands.'
0:00:31 > 0:00:35You never really ever get involved in finds with precious metals.
0:00:35 > 0:00:38This is real sort of Indiana Jones-type stuff.
0:00:38 > 0:00:41'I'm going to take you on a journey
0:00:41 > 0:00:45'to unlock some of the mysteries of this new-found Anglo-Saxon hoard.'
0:00:45 > 0:00:50Were they looted as a result of battles?
0:00:50 > 0:00:56Were they given to the Mercian king as tribute by his sub-peoples?
0:00:56 > 0:00:59We found them dismembered and bent.
0:00:59 > 0:01:01Were they crammed into a box to be taken away?
0:01:03 > 0:01:06'And I'll discover just how it could help transform
0:01:06 > 0:01:10'our understanding of one of the most fascinating periods in our history.'
0:01:10 > 0:01:16Finds like the Staffordshire hoard show that this was a vibrant
0:01:16 > 0:01:20and colourful and bright society, as much as anything else,
0:01:20 > 0:01:25and it helps us to think about this time in a completely different way.
0:01:28 > 0:01:32This is the story of the greatest find in generations.
0:01:47 > 0:01:52'I want to take you back about 1,400 years, to seventh-century England,
0:01:52 > 0:01:55'to around the time when the Staffordshire Hoard was hidden.
0:01:55 > 0:02:00'The days of Roman Britain had long passed. We'd entered a new era.
0:02:00 > 0:02:03'As the Romans withdrew, bands of adventurers arrived on our shores
0:02:03 > 0:02:06'from northern Germany and Scandinavia.'
0:02:06 > 0:02:09The Dark Ages, the name traditionally given
0:02:09 > 0:02:13to the time between the Romans leaving and William the Conqueror arriving,
0:02:13 > 0:02:17is a time when we have only a very dim knowledge of. You can see why.
0:02:17 > 0:02:20This is Catholme in Staffordshire. It doesn't look like much,
0:02:20 > 0:02:24but it's the site of one of the finest Dark Age finds
0:02:24 > 0:02:25ever made in the Midlands.
0:02:25 > 0:02:29This was an Anglo-Saxon settlement of the seventh century,
0:02:29 > 0:02:33a thriving community with more than 60 buildings.
0:02:40 > 0:02:43'Anglo-Saxon Catholme would have looked like this,
0:02:43 > 0:02:48'villages where people raised livestock and grew crops.
0:02:48 > 0:02:52'We know from archaeological evidence that average life expectancy was just 30,
0:02:52 > 0:02:55'with people facing the hazards of war and feuds
0:02:55 > 0:02:58'and at risk from famine and epidemics.
0:02:58 > 0:03:01'As people abandoned Roman cities,
0:03:01 > 0:03:04'the lifestyle of this largely pagan, illiterate people
0:03:04 > 0:03:08'has left historians with a challenge.'
0:03:09 > 0:03:13When the Romans left, they took their stone-building techniques with them,
0:03:13 > 0:03:15so when the Anglo-Saxons built, they used wood,
0:03:15 > 0:03:20and their buildings have long since rotted back into the soil.
0:03:20 > 0:03:23What they have left are a few bits of fired ceramic.
0:03:23 > 0:03:29This is a weight from a weaving loom and this is a delicate handmade urn.
0:03:29 > 0:03:32Basically, they didn't leave too many clues behind them.
0:03:36 > 0:03:39'This has left historians with a major problem.
0:03:39 > 0:03:41'How do you tell the story of this era
0:03:41 > 0:03:43'with just a few occasional teasing glimpses
0:03:43 > 0:03:46'into life in these long-forgotten kingdoms?'
0:03:47 > 0:03:50It's taking pieces of a puzzle,
0:03:50 > 0:03:53a thousand-piece puzzle, and you've only got eight piece.
0:03:53 > 0:03:57That's the sense in which we've been working up until this point.
0:03:57 > 0:04:01'The discovery of astonishing weaponry in the Staffordshire Hoard
0:04:01 > 0:04:04'shone a new light on our Anglo-Saxon past.'
0:04:07 > 0:04:09The traditional view is that
0:04:09 > 0:04:13life in the Dark Ages was nasty, brutish and short,
0:04:13 > 0:04:17and it's this idea that everyone lived in huts and hovels
0:04:17 > 0:04:20and really didn't have much quality of life.
0:04:20 > 0:04:23That's why we get this term "Dark Age" associated with it.
0:04:23 > 0:04:26But that's so far from the truth.
0:04:28 > 0:04:30'So can this find tell us more
0:04:30 > 0:04:34'about an England divided among warring kingdoms?
0:04:34 > 0:04:37'In the centre was Mercia, a kingdom that stretched across the Midlands
0:04:37 > 0:04:40'and a land with a reputation for aggressive warriors.
0:04:42 > 0:04:46'But archaeological evidence has been very thin on the ground,
0:04:46 > 0:04:48'with few finds of any significance.'
0:04:49 > 0:04:52We just had tantalising glimpses.
0:04:52 > 0:04:55The artefacts we had covered the whole date range,
0:04:55 > 0:04:59from the fifth to the eleventh century, but just one or two items.
0:04:59 > 0:05:02But just a few pieces didn't really give us
0:05:02 > 0:05:04a full idea of how things were at that time.
0:05:04 > 0:05:09You could use documentary material, and you could use the fact
0:05:09 > 0:05:12that you've got Saxon carved crosses and so on
0:05:12 > 0:05:14to put some flesh onto it,
0:05:14 > 0:05:18but the human element was somewhat lacking.
0:05:22 > 0:05:25'In the summer of 2009, all that changed
0:05:25 > 0:05:28'when a reluctant farmer from Staffordshire
0:05:28 > 0:05:32'was finally persuaded to allow metal detectorists onto his land.'
0:05:32 > 0:05:37We'd had several requests in the past for people to come metal-detecting,
0:05:37 > 0:05:41and until the motorway was announced, we never allowed anyone on.
0:05:42 > 0:05:46And then a chap running a club
0:05:46 > 0:05:48approached me, and he said,
0:05:48 > 0:05:52"You may as well let someone on now, because if there's anything there
0:05:52 > 0:05:55"and the motorway takes it, it'll be lost forever."
0:05:55 > 0:05:57And he'd got a good point.
0:05:57 > 0:06:01Anyway, I think eight of them came at the weekend
0:06:01 > 0:06:03and went all over the whole farm.
0:06:04 > 0:06:08And they only found buttons and buckles, what I thought was rubbish.
0:06:08 > 0:06:11And then Terry approached me.
0:06:11 > 0:06:14And I'd told him no several times...
0:06:16 > 0:06:20..basically because I didn't particularly like him!
0:06:20 > 0:06:25Anyway, he come and asked me to come on this field specifically,
0:06:25 > 0:06:28and I thought, "He can't come to any harm down there,
0:06:28 > 0:06:30"and he won't find anything."
0:06:32 > 0:06:34'Fred couldn't have been more wrong.
0:06:34 > 0:06:37'Metal detectorist Terry Herbert not only struck gold,
0:06:37 > 0:06:39'he made the find of a lifetime.'
0:06:40 > 0:06:47I was working in the yard, and he came up mid-morning...
0:06:47 > 0:06:50and he said, "Sit down." I said, "What's the matter with you?"
0:06:50 > 0:06:54I said, "What's the matter?" He said, "I've found a Saxon hoard."
0:06:54 > 0:06:57Well, I didn't believe him.
0:06:58 > 0:07:03It wasn't until the archaeologists came on and I had a look meself...
0:07:03 > 0:07:05that I realised what he'd found.
0:07:06 > 0:07:09'When the experts arrived, the extent of the hoard
0:07:09 > 0:07:11'started to become clear.
0:07:11 > 0:07:15'This was a find unlike anything they'd seen before.'
0:07:15 > 0:07:16I was not really believing it,
0:07:16 > 0:07:21because you'd seen the odd piece like this in some of the books,
0:07:21 > 0:07:26but to have row upon row of these things was just quite incredible.
0:07:26 > 0:07:29I think my first thought was very much
0:07:29 > 0:07:32how lucky the detector must have been to have found all this
0:07:32 > 0:07:35and there couldn't possibly be anything left to find.
0:07:36 > 0:07:39So we got to the site, and within seconds
0:07:39 > 0:07:43there was this large oval gold piece with garnets,
0:07:43 > 0:07:46just sat there on the surface, and we thought, "Gosh, this IS real."
0:07:46 > 0:07:49And almost with seconds of breaking the ground,
0:07:49 > 0:07:52piece after piece was coming up.
0:07:52 > 0:07:56We got quite hectic just right from the dot.
0:07:57 > 0:08:01You never really ever get involved in finds with precious metals.
0:08:01 > 0:08:04This is real sort of Indiana Jones-type stuff.
0:08:08 > 0:08:12The largest hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold and silver ever discovered in Britain
0:08:12 > 0:08:14has officially been declared as treasure.
0:08:14 > 0:08:17'It may have seemed like a movie,
0:08:17 > 0:08:21'but this treasure trove of gold and silver was very real.
0:08:21 > 0:08:23'It was a fabulous find that would make Terry a wealthy man,
0:08:23 > 0:08:27'as he revealed in a rare interview at the time.'
0:08:28 > 0:08:30It came quite as a shock, actually,
0:08:30 > 0:08:34but when the archaeologist was on the field, he came up to me
0:08:34 > 0:08:38and he said, "At the end of this, you'll end up being a millionaire."
0:08:38 > 0:08:41- And that happened, didn't it?- Yes. - How much did you get altogether?
0:08:41 > 0:08:45£1,642,500.
0:08:47 > 0:08:49'Fred also got his share of the find.
0:08:49 > 0:08:51'But despite his sudden wealth,
0:08:51 > 0:08:54'he's carried on farming his land near Lichfield.
0:08:54 > 0:08:58'He may have brought the treasure near the surface when he had problems with his plough.
0:08:58 > 0:09:01'But he's still not claiming any of the credit.'
0:09:01 > 0:09:04I feel very lucky.
0:09:04 > 0:09:06I think it's more luck than judgment
0:09:06 > 0:09:09that I actually ended up owning it, you know?
0:09:11 > 0:09:13People have asked me if I feel proud,
0:09:13 > 0:09:17but I don't think pride is the right thing.
0:09:17 > 0:09:20You're proud of something you've done or something you've made,
0:09:20 > 0:09:23something you've achieved.
0:09:23 > 0:09:25But I think this is pure luck.
0:09:30 > 0:09:34'It is a multimillion-pound discovery.
0:09:34 > 0:09:36'But for historians, the hoard's real worth
0:09:36 > 0:09:40'lies in what it can possibly tell us about our distant past.
0:09:40 > 0:09:43'We now have thousands more clues into Anglo-Saxon times -
0:09:43 > 0:09:47'pommels from the top of swords, pieces of warrior helmet,
0:09:47 > 0:09:50'strange serpents and mangled crosses,
0:09:50 > 0:09:53'a Boys' Own collection of warrior bling.
0:09:53 > 0:09:57'And it captured the imagination of the world.'
0:10:00 > 0:10:06So, you think that old metal detector is no good use any more?
0:10:06 > 0:10:09SHE SPEAKS JAPANESE
0:10:09 > 0:10:14It's the biggest haul of Anglo-Saxon gold and silver ever found.
0:10:14 > 0:10:18I never, ever in my career thought I would be holding
0:10:18 > 0:10:22this kind of treasure. It's the sort of thing you dream of.
0:10:22 > 0:10:26I think the fact we made the lead item on the six o'clock news
0:10:26 > 0:10:29was an epic hint that maybe things were going to be big.
0:10:29 > 0:10:31It is the earth yielding up its treasure.
0:10:31 > 0:10:36It literally came from the soil of Staffordshire.
0:10:36 > 0:10:41It was deliberately put there. It was removed from it 1,500 years later.
0:10:41 > 0:10:43But it needs to keep those roots.
0:10:43 > 0:10:46It's very big.
0:10:46 > 0:10:49It's 1,500 objects, and it's 11lb of gold
0:10:49 > 0:10:53and God knows how much more silver, so it's a huge find.
0:10:53 > 0:10:56And I think, if one were to do simple arithmetic,
0:10:56 > 0:10:58this is a multiple of several times
0:10:58 > 0:11:02everything else that we've got from Anglo-Saxon England.
0:11:02 > 0:11:05It wasn't just the press whose appetite was insatiable.
0:11:05 > 0:11:08The public were also desperate to find out all they could
0:11:08 > 0:11:10about this incredible hoard.
0:11:10 > 0:11:14It's outstanding, the quality of the work and the quantity as well.
0:11:14 > 0:11:17This is, I guess, only a small amount of it, but very impressed.
0:11:17 > 0:11:21It's absolutely fantastic. It hasn't disappointed one little bit.
0:11:21 > 0:11:22It's been brilliant.
0:11:22 > 0:11:26I'm a jeweller, so it's quite a thrill to have a look at it.
0:11:26 > 0:11:30At its peak, people were waiting four hours to and see the hoard.
0:11:30 > 0:11:34To get 42,000 people through one gallery in a 19-day period
0:11:34 > 0:11:36is unequalled here.
0:11:36 > 0:11:40Astonishing. It was our experience of the blockbuster.
0:11:40 > 0:11:42And it was wonderful!
0:11:44 > 0:11:50'The hoard was huge, packed with beautifully crafted artefacts.
0:11:50 > 0:11:52'But what does it actually tell us?
0:11:52 > 0:11:58'Can one lucky find really change our thinking about Anglo-Saxon England?
0:12:00 > 0:12:02'Well, before the hoard was found,
0:12:02 > 0:12:07'we already had some idea about what life was like in this period.'
0:12:07 > 0:12:11There really haven't been that many large Anglo-Saxon finds in Britain,
0:12:11 > 0:12:13and perhaps the best-known before the hoard
0:12:13 > 0:12:16was at this incredible set of burial mounds
0:12:16 > 0:12:18at Sutton Hoo in Suffolk.
0:12:20 > 0:12:24In the 1930s, an archaeologist from the museum excavated this mound,
0:12:24 > 0:12:28and in it he made a series of incredible finds,
0:12:28 > 0:12:30finds that gave us a stunning insight
0:12:30 > 0:12:34into a world that had previously only existed in legend.
0:12:38 > 0:12:41The last remotely comparable find...
0:12:41 > 0:12:44Normally, you find a couple of brooches and this kind of thing,
0:12:44 > 0:12:45if you're lucky a ring.
0:12:45 > 0:12:49We discovered the royal ring of an Anglo-Saxon king,
0:12:49 > 0:12:51which is pretty amazing.
0:12:51 > 0:12:54But this is the only thing that's comparable to it,
0:12:54 > 0:12:59the great discovery in the 1930s called the Sutton Hoo ship,
0:12:59 > 0:13:01which is in East Anglia.
0:13:02 > 0:13:07The Sutton Hoo ship is a deliberate burial.
0:13:07 > 0:13:11It's a wonderful ceremonial burial, and what they did, it must be a king.
0:13:11 > 0:13:15We think it's Raedwald, the king of the East Anglians.
0:13:15 > 0:13:18They dragged this great longboat up from the river.
0:13:18 > 0:13:22They lay the king's body there, and they surround it
0:13:22 > 0:13:24with these incomparable treasures,
0:13:24 > 0:13:27and they dress it, so he's got his great helmet on,
0:13:27 > 0:13:30he's got his massive sword by his side.
0:13:30 > 0:13:34Sutton Hoo is a deliberate creation. It's a grand ceremonial funeral.
0:13:34 > 0:13:38It's like something out of one of the sagas, except in the sagas,
0:13:38 > 0:13:40for example the death of Beowulf,
0:13:40 > 0:13:42they deliberately destroy it.
0:13:42 > 0:13:46It's a funeral pyre. The thing is consumed with fire.
0:13:46 > 0:13:49This was a burial, so it's preserved,
0:13:49 > 0:13:52so that really is the English tomb of Tutankhamun.
0:13:52 > 0:13:56In Sutton Hoo, we really have an idealised sense
0:13:56 > 0:14:01of the hall in miniature for the afterlife.
0:14:01 > 0:14:05So the king, if we can say it's a king, the deceased,
0:14:05 > 0:14:09has been buried with everything they would need for the afterlife.
0:14:09 > 0:14:12And what we get is a real glimpse of the life of the hall
0:14:12 > 0:14:14in Anglo-Saxon times.
0:14:14 > 0:14:17We have drinking horns, cauldrons, everything they would need.
0:14:17 > 0:14:20A lyre to play music on.
0:14:20 > 0:14:23It's like opening a window onto the time
0:14:23 > 0:14:28in terms of looking at it as this vibrant hall life,
0:14:28 > 0:14:32this kingly or noble life of the hall.
0:14:35 > 0:14:37Sutton Hoo may have been a significant find
0:14:37 > 0:14:42but such windows into the past have been few and far between.
0:14:42 > 0:14:44For much of their understanding of this era
0:14:44 > 0:14:47scholars have had to rely on historical texts.
0:14:47 > 0:14:48The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle,
0:14:48 > 0:14:52originally compiled under the orders of King Alfred The Great of Wessex,
0:14:52 > 0:14:54gives us one account of this time.
0:14:54 > 0:14:57A further picture is painted by a man who may have been
0:14:57 > 0:14:59this country's earliest historian.
0:15:01 > 0:15:07Bede's writing in the late 720s,
0:15:07 > 0:15:09the early 730s,
0:15:09 > 0:15:12was the first to give shape to English history.
0:15:12 > 0:15:16One has to imagine that he is writing in a vacuum.
0:15:16 > 0:15:21He, in effect, is the first person who determines
0:15:21 > 0:15:25the narrative of English history in this very early period.
0:15:25 > 0:15:30And so his contribution was absolutely staggering.
0:15:30 > 0:15:34And he articulates
0:15:34 > 0:15:37the whole of that period.
0:15:37 > 0:15:42He characterises and identifies the different kingdoms,
0:15:42 > 0:15:45we see how they interacted with each other,
0:15:45 > 0:15:48we see what made them tick. We see all of these things
0:15:48 > 0:15:53for the first time in any kind of detail
0:15:53 > 0:15:55from Bede's Ecclesiastical History,
0:15:55 > 0:15:59so it's THE most extraordinary source.
0:15:59 > 0:16:04But it has... It sees everything from a Northumbrian perspective
0:16:04 > 0:16:07and we would dearly like
0:16:07 > 0:16:10to have other views of that period
0:16:10 > 0:16:13written from other parts of the country.
0:16:15 > 0:16:19Though there's debate about the balance and accuracy of these texts,
0:16:19 > 0:16:23they are two of the most valuable sources we have for the Anglo-Saxon period.
0:16:23 > 0:16:26But we also have one of England's most important poems,
0:16:26 > 0:16:31written in old English somewhere between the ninth and 11th century.
0:16:31 > 0:16:33Beowulf tells of a warrior hero
0:16:33 > 0:16:37who sets out to destroy a man-eating monster called Grendel
0:16:37 > 0:16:41in a story which captures many of the beliefs and attitudes of the time.
0:16:44 > 0:16:47"Glittering gold spread on the ground,
0:16:47 > 0:16:52"the old dawn-scorching serpent's den packed with goblins."
0:16:54 > 0:16:59So, rich literary sources like Beowulf, Bede and The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle,
0:16:59 > 0:17:03along with wonderful, if rare, finds like Sutton Hoo
0:17:03 > 0:17:07have given us an intriguing insight into life during the Dark Ages.
0:17:09 > 0:17:13But there is one particular gap in our knowledge of these times.
0:17:13 > 0:17:17A lack of literary finds from the biggest Anglo-Saxon kingdom of all.
0:17:17 > 0:17:18Mercia.
0:17:18 > 0:17:20Mercia's fascinating
0:17:20 > 0:17:23because we don't have much in the way
0:17:23 > 0:17:25of documentary references to Mercia,
0:17:25 > 0:17:28because what we have, we have The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle,
0:17:28 > 0:17:30which is really bigging up Wessex.
0:17:30 > 0:17:34It's all about how wonderful Alfred was and how wonderful Wessex was.
0:17:34 > 0:17:36And we have Bede, the Venerable Bede,
0:17:36 > 0:17:40who has an agenda to say how wonderful Northumbria was.
0:17:40 > 0:17:42We don't have an equivalent for Mercia.
0:17:42 > 0:17:46What everybody said was, the Mercians were a violent,
0:17:46 > 0:17:50rapacious lot who went around hunting, shooting, killing people.
0:17:50 > 0:17:55They didn't get a chance to tell their side of the story.
0:17:56 > 0:17:59But that's where the hoard could help.
0:17:59 > 0:18:03It was discovered at the centre of what used to be this huge kingdom
0:18:03 > 0:18:05and it could give us more clues
0:18:05 > 0:18:08about how these mysterious Mercians used to live.
0:18:08 > 0:18:10'So what can it tell us?
0:18:10 > 0:18:12'I've come to Tamworth, north-east of Birmingham,
0:18:12 > 0:18:15'a few miles from where the hoard was found.'
0:18:15 > 0:18:20And we know that in the middle of the seventh century, which is about when the hoard was buried,
0:18:20 > 0:18:24Tamworth was at the very heart of Mercian royal power.
0:18:24 > 0:18:27The mighty Mercian kings would fight their enemies,
0:18:27 > 0:18:30beating off invasion or trying to expand their empire,
0:18:30 > 0:18:34and then they'd return here to Tamworth to sign treaties and charters,
0:18:34 > 0:18:38and, of course, reward their loyal followers and warriors with gold.
0:18:38 > 0:18:42And today, Tamworth Castle stares down at what was heart
0:18:42 > 0:18:45of this royal estate.
0:18:46 > 0:18:50WARRIOR BATTLE CRIES RING OUT
0:18:50 > 0:18:53SWORDS CLASH
0:18:53 > 0:18:58'Even before the hoard was found, historians thought they had a pretty good idea
0:18:58 > 0:19:01'of the importance of Tamworth and the people who used to live there.'
0:19:01 > 0:19:05The Royal Court wasn't a group of delicate people all wearing silk
0:19:05 > 0:19:06and satin and posing.
0:19:06 > 0:19:08It was a warrior band.
0:19:08 > 0:19:12The warrior elite surrounding the king, lived and died with him.
0:19:12 > 0:19:15If he succeeded, they got pots of gold, pots of land,
0:19:15 > 0:19:19pots of women, lots and lots of nice horses and life was great.
0:19:19 > 0:19:22If the king failed, they died horribly.
0:19:22 > 0:19:23Yeah.
0:19:23 > 0:19:26Well, actually, if we come out onto the Tower,
0:19:26 > 0:19:27you get a fantastic sense...
0:19:27 > 0:19:28Oh, wow!
0:19:28 > 0:19:32..of the setting of Tamworth and why it was such a special place,
0:19:32 > 0:19:33why it was so important.
0:19:33 > 0:19:36- That's gorgeous. - It is stunning, yeah.
0:19:36 > 0:19:40You can see the castle's a very strategic spot for looking out,
0:19:40 > 0:19:44to dominate all this ground here and of course, the river crossing there.
0:19:44 > 0:19:48'Marion Blockley is an archaeologist and an expert in Anglo-Saxon history.
0:19:49 > 0:19:55'For her, the hoard is further proof of the wealth and power of Tamworth.'
0:19:55 > 0:19:58- So this is a major British royal settlement?- Absolutely.
0:19:58 > 0:20:01It's as important as anywhere else in the whole of the modern UK?
0:20:01 > 0:20:02Definitely.
0:20:02 > 0:20:04I've worked in Canterbury, York and many other places
0:20:04 > 0:20:07and I have this feeling...
0:20:07 > 0:20:11Poor Tamworth, it feels neglected, but it was exceptionally significant.
0:20:11 > 0:20:15More charters were signed here, at important times of the year,
0:20:15 > 0:20:18at Christmas, Easter. The Royal Court travelled around
0:20:18 > 0:20:21and Tamworth was the place they wanted to be.
0:20:21 > 0:20:26'The hoard was discovered not far from where we are standing.
0:20:26 > 0:20:30'Marion likes to imagine it could be proof of a battle with Welsh warriors
0:20:30 > 0:20:33'in the 7th-Century Midlands, recorded in a later poem.'
0:20:33 > 0:20:35Any ideas how it might have got there?
0:20:35 > 0:20:37Nearby, two miles away, was a famous battle,
0:20:37 > 0:20:42where two kings, Morfael and Cynddylan, were involved
0:20:42 > 0:20:44in the Battle of the Britons and it's possible,
0:20:44 > 0:20:46as they fled, that took the hoard with them
0:20:46 > 0:20:48and buried it, hoping to come back.
0:20:48 > 0:20:49Sadly, they were killed.
0:20:51 > 0:20:55The story goes that Cynddylan of Powys allied himself
0:20:55 > 0:20:56to a ruler called Morfael
0:20:56 > 0:21:01and together they launched a terrifying raid against settlements called Caer Lwydgoed,
0:21:01 > 0:21:03which some people think is today's Lichfield.
0:21:06 > 0:21:10'The allies were ruthless. The fighting was fierce and bloody.
0:21:10 > 0:21:11'Many were killed.
0:21:12 > 0:21:17'As was practice at the time, they ransacked the town and they left'
0:21:17 > 0:21:22with the spoils of war and the booty they'd captured at Caer Lwydgoed.
0:21:25 > 0:21:28'The battle was recorded in around the 9th century
0:21:28 > 0:21:31'in a lament for one of the Welsh leaders.'
0:21:31 > 0:21:34"Before Lwydgoed they triumphed.
0:21:34 > 0:21:38"There was blood beneath the ravens and fierce attack.
0:21:38 > 0:21:41"Glory in battle, great plunder,
0:21:41 > 0:21:44"before Caer Lwydgoed, Morfael took it."
0:21:46 > 0:21:49That's really rather wonderful, isn't it?
0:21:49 > 0:21:52To think it might have something to do with the hoard is exciting.
0:21:52 > 0:21:55It is. I'm not saying it's true, but, you know, it may well be.
0:21:56 > 0:22:01'This could be a rare teasing moment of clarity in a very murky history.
0:22:01 > 0:22:04'The trouble is that this poem was written around 200 years later
0:22:04 > 0:22:07'than we can date anything in the hoard.
0:22:07 > 0:22:10'And battles like this weren't exactly unusual.
0:22:10 > 0:22:14'Turf wars were an everyday feature of Anglo-Saxon life.'
0:22:14 > 0:22:17We can understand it now, I think, better than it's ever been
0:22:17 > 0:22:22possible since, because we have gangland culture back in Britain.
0:22:22 > 0:22:26It's gang warfare and what happens is,
0:22:26 > 0:22:30when you take over the territory of a rival gang, the lot get bumped off,
0:22:30 > 0:22:33usually in extraordinarily unpleasant ways.
0:22:36 > 0:22:41A close examination of the hoard throws up more questions than answers.
0:22:41 > 0:22:44'There are bits of weaponry, which belong to high-status warriors.
0:22:44 > 0:22:47'But there are also an extraordinary number of them,
0:22:47 > 0:22:50'especially the ornate pommels.'
0:22:51 > 0:22:56- So these are pommels for the top of a sword, are they?- That's right.
0:22:56 > 0:22:57They're highly decorative.
0:22:57 > 0:23:02The stunning thing is that there are more than 90 of these in this hoard.
0:23:02 > 0:23:04I mean, I couldn't believe it.
0:23:04 > 0:23:08I've spent 30 years digging Anglo-Saxon sites, finding one or two of these objects.
0:23:08 > 0:23:11And to see so many, literally, my jaw dropped.
0:23:11 > 0:23:15This quantity of swords is quite remarkable.
0:23:16 > 0:23:21'One possible explanation is that the hoard was part of a king's collection.
0:23:21 > 0:23:24'It may have been on its way to the palace here at Tamworth,
0:23:24 > 0:23:27'when it was somehow intercepted.'
0:23:28 > 0:23:33Tamworth was a Royal Treasury. At that time, kings used to
0:23:33 > 0:23:35receive gifts of heriots,
0:23:35 > 0:23:39something known as a heriot. Warriors, elder men, the important
0:23:39 > 0:23:44sort of middle-class people of the society at that stage, would actually
0:23:44 > 0:23:48bequeath their most significant items of weaponry,
0:23:48 > 0:23:52their best swords, their best helmet, to the king.
0:23:53 > 0:23:56And often the king would then distribute high-quality swords
0:23:56 > 0:23:59back to their favoured warrior,
0:23:59 > 0:24:02so it sort of gives us a context for this group of objects.
0:24:02 > 0:24:06It's possible, there are so many interpretations,
0:24:06 > 0:24:11but it is possible that this group of objects, which are mainly weapons,
0:24:11 > 0:24:16with the exception of a few crosses, were actually acquired by a king,
0:24:16 > 0:24:19they were given to the king over a long period of time,
0:24:19 > 0:24:24and that king then redistributed them to his most favoured warriors.
0:24:24 > 0:24:30Or someone pulled a heist against the king and ran off with it!
0:24:30 > 0:24:32That's the intriguing thing, because it's bent -
0:24:32 > 0:24:35there's all sorts of ways we can interpret the fact it's been bent.
0:24:35 > 0:24:38To some, the way the hoard is broken and twisted
0:24:38 > 0:24:42suggested it could record the very moment when it was taken,
0:24:42 > 0:24:45perhaps as spoils from a bloody battle.
0:24:45 > 0:24:47You look at it, you look at that cross,
0:24:47 > 0:24:51you can see exactly what it once was,
0:24:51 > 0:24:54you can see the moment it was crumpled,
0:24:54 > 0:24:58you can practically see how the hands tore it off.
0:24:58 > 0:25:04Again, I think it's a pommel, where you can actually see how it had been jemmied off.
0:25:04 > 0:25:08There's that moment of action, it's frozen for ever.
0:25:08 > 0:25:14The hoard also offers proof of the wealth of sections of this society.
0:25:14 > 0:25:17This piece isn't actually from a sword,
0:25:17 > 0:25:20it's a sort of guard where you'd have a single-sided stabbing knife,
0:25:20 > 0:25:22called a seax.
0:25:22 > 0:25:24I see, it's almost this piece here?
0:25:24 > 0:25:27Exactly, it's the equivalent to this piece here,
0:25:27 > 0:25:30but it would have been from a single-sided.
0:25:30 > 0:25:32- But that's solid gold. - It's solid gold.
0:25:32 > 0:25:35The owner of that must have been...
0:25:35 > 0:25:38amongst the most rich and powerful men in the kingdom.
0:25:38 > 0:25:41And if you look, it's exquisite detail,
0:25:41 > 0:25:46the light catching it, these gripping birds, it is unbelievably beautiful.
0:25:46 > 0:25:52The guys who wore and carried these items of decorative jewellery
0:25:52 > 0:25:57were described as the strutting peacocks,
0:25:57 > 0:25:59they were - this was their show armour.
0:25:59 > 0:26:03Very little of this stuff shows any evidence of being, you know,
0:26:03 > 0:26:05hacked about in battle.
0:26:05 > 0:26:08This was the stuff you wore on the parade ground.
0:26:08 > 0:26:12In examining the hoard, we come across another mystery.
0:26:12 > 0:26:17We have a really interesting problem, I think, with the Staffordshire hoard,
0:26:17 > 0:26:20in that you have all the attachments to weapons,
0:26:20 > 0:26:23but there aren't these sword blades,
0:26:23 > 0:26:28and we read in the literature about how finely wrought these things were,
0:26:28 > 0:26:30from examples at Sutton Hoo,
0:26:30 > 0:26:34you can see that these things were incredibly complicated to make,
0:26:34 > 0:26:35the actual blades of swords,
0:26:35 > 0:26:40and were very prized, so why weren't they deposited in this hoard?
0:26:40 > 0:26:44What we may have here is that these elements of decoration
0:26:44 > 0:26:49are the personalisation of a sword, the blade will be passed from one warrior to the other.
0:26:49 > 0:26:52Their sword was their battle friend.
0:26:52 > 0:26:56They gave names to their sword, we all know about Excalibur.
0:26:56 > 0:26:58"My favourite sword, Excalibur."
0:26:58 > 0:27:03These swords were symbolic of the power of a great warrior.
0:27:03 > 0:27:06Absolutely exquisite, it's a work of art
0:27:06 > 0:27:09- on a weapon for killing people. Quite incredible, really.- Yes.
0:27:09 > 0:27:13One of the country's leading Anglo-Saxon experts from the University of Cambridge
0:27:13 > 0:27:19believes that looking at where the hoard was found, beside an ancient road close to Tamworth,
0:27:19 > 0:27:23may help us to understand what it actually is.
0:27:23 > 0:27:28To my mind as a historian, the most remarkable thing about the Staffordshire hoard
0:27:28 > 0:27:30is the location of the find.
0:27:30 > 0:27:35The hoard was found on the side of the Roman Road known as Watling Street,
0:27:35 > 0:27:37now known as the A5,
0:27:37 > 0:27:43and that is very close to some of the other known recorded centres
0:27:43 > 0:27:46of Mercian power - Tamworth is very close by,
0:27:46 > 0:27:50Lichfield, where the bishopric of the Mercians was established,
0:27:50 > 0:27:52that also is very close.
0:27:52 > 0:27:57So it's found in the heartland of the Kingdom of the Mercians,
0:27:57 > 0:28:01but equally, it's found on the side of Watling Street,
0:28:01 > 0:28:06which is the major road leading from the heart of the Kingdom of the Mercians
0:28:06 > 0:28:08down into London, and onwards.
0:28:08 > 0:28:12The fact that the hoard is sitting there on Watling Street
0:28:12 > 0:28:15means, in effect, that it could have come from the south,
0:28:15 > 0:28:17it could have come from East Anglia,
0:28:17 > 0:28:22it could have come from almost any other part of Britain.
0:28:22 > 0:28:26So one has then to look at the material itself,
0:28:26 > 0:28:31and to see whether archaeologists,
0:28:31 > 0:28:34and experts in seventh century metalwork and art history
0:28:34 > 0:28:40are able to say more about the associations of the material
0:28:40 > 0:28:45once it has all been properly cleaned, studied,
0:28:45 > 0:28:48related to other surviving objects, and so on.
0:28:48 > 0:28:52What it would be nice to know is more about the circumstances
0:28:52 > 0:28:54by which the hoard got there -
0:28:54 > 0:28:57is it some kind of ritual deposition,
0:28:57 > 0:29:00somebody in a panic hiding it who never comes back for it?
0:29:00 > 0:29:02If you knew that,
0:29:02 > 0:29:06you would then have a better sense of the significance of the road in that.
0:29:07 > 0:29:12The landscape where the hoard was found could explain why it was buried here.
0:29:12 > 0:29:17For decades, modern traffic has passed by the site on what's now known as the A5.
0:29:17 > 0:29:21But which then was an important route between London and the Midlands.
0:29:21 > 0:29:25In the Anglo-Saxon times, this area would have been totally remote,
0:29:25 > 0:29:27and almost silent,
0:29:27 > 0:29:30quite unlike today, with Watling Street blasting past.
0:29:30 > 0:29:34The Watling Street was there in Anglo-Saxon times,
0:29:34 > 0:29:39but the rest of the area was wood pasture, it was woodland
0:29:39 > 0:29:40and heathland, open woodland,
0:29:40 > 0:29:46because it was used probably on the summer pasture by estates way to the west and east.
0:29:46 > 0:29:50This area, too, was on a boundary, not an exact boundary,
0:29:50 > 0:29:54but over to the West was the Pecsaetan tribe,
0:29:54 > 0:29:58and to the east, the Tomsaete, two folk regions in Mercia.
0:29:59 > 0:30:02Dr Della Hooke is a landscape specialist,
0:30:02 > 0:30:07and she's come up with three major theories as to how and why the Staffordshire hoard
0:30:07 > 0:30:11came to be buried in this Midlands field, close to Watling Street.
0:30:11 > 0:30:14There are various suggestions that one could make about the hoard.
0:30:14 > 0:30:19Firstly, the village over there is Hammerwich,
0:30:19 > 0:30:23and the name means the hammer place, the hammer settlement,
0:30:23 > 0:30:26which suggests metalworking, but on the other hand,
0:30:26 > 0:30:31there's nothing else been found in Hammerwich parish to suggest metalworking on a great scale,
0:30:31 > 0:30:34just one little pendant.
0:30:34 > 0:30:37But the hoard was strange, because it was mostly gold,
0:30:37 > 0:30:41so the second suggestion is that it was deliberately placed,
0:30:41 > 0:30:43even below a barrow, but there was no body,
0:30:43 > 0:30:48as a sort of votive offering in a way, when somebody died.
0:30:48 > 0:30:54You had to get rid, in Anglo-Saxon times, when gold was imbued with magic,
0:30:54 > 0:30:58because ill-gotten gains had to be buried,
0:30:58 > 0:31:05and it's just possible that it was buried there on this sort of frontier location
0:31:05 > 0:31:09between the two folk groups, as a magical ritual,
0:31:09 > 0:31:10like the one in Beowulf,
0:31:10 > 0:31:15where the gold that Beowulf had taken was buried on his death.
0:31:15 > 0:31:19The final scenario, which may be nearer to the truth,
0:31:19 > 0:31:23isn't quite so exciting, but it could just have been pushed into a hole
0:31:23 > 0:31:29near a hillock which could be recognised again, by someone fleeing along the Watling Street.
0:31:29 > 0:31:34Remember, it was all a very small collection in one bag.
0:31:34 > 0:31:36It would have been a heavy bag, too,
0:31:36 > 0:31:40and if someone was chasing them, or they had stolen it from somewhere,
0:31:40 > 0:31:42somebody's trophy collection,
0:31:42 > 0:31:46they could have put it down there and just never been in a position to retrieve it.
0:31:46 > 0:31:50Because it's very close, on this hill, to the Watling Street.
0:31:50 > 0:31:55Some of these items have come from Northumbria, some of them have come from Kent,
0:31:55 > 0:32:00some have probably come from Scandinavia, so that's an interesting element.
0:32:00 > 0:32:05Were they looted as a result of battles by the Mercians?
0:32:05 > 0:32:12Were they given to the Mercian king as tribute by his sub-peoples?
0:32:12 > 0:32:15And we found them dismembered and bent.
0:32:15 > 0:32:18Now, were they crammed into a box to be taken away?
0:32:18 > 0:32:22And where they were located, right beside Watling Street,
0:32:22 > 0:32:25the location is very prominent, but also hidden.
0:32:25 > 0:32:29Was somebody trying to escape from a battle?
0:32:29 > 0:32:32Were they trying to come away from the royal treasury at Tamworth
0:32:32 > 0:32:34or coming from the settlement at Wall?
0:32:34 > 0:32:40It looks most like some kind of treasure that has been recovered
0:32:40 > 0:32:43from a battlefield,
0:32:43 > 0:32:47I think the most telling thing to my mind about it
0:32:47 > 0:32:52is not so much the sheer quantity, as the folded cross,
0:32:52 > 0:32:58those other gold objects which speak volumes, I think,
0:32:58 > 0:33:00for the context from which it came.
0:33:02 > 0:33:06The Staffordshire hoard may also have something to teach us about trade,
0:33:06 > 0:33:11those sparkling garnets which were discovered in their thousands in a muddy field
0:33:11 > 0:33:14were the jewel of choice for Anglo-Saxon warriors,
0:33:14 > 0:33:17but where did they originally come from?
0:33:17 > 0:33:20Access to the sea allowed them to trade
0:33:20 > 0:33:24and bring in luxury goods from far afield.
0:33:24 > 0:33:29Bronze bowls from Egypt, lapis lazuli from a single mine in Afghanistan,
0:33:29 > 0:33:33and amethyst pendants from India all found their way to these shores.
0:33:33 > 0:33:36The Lindisfarne Gospels,
0:33:36 > 0:33:40these richly decorated Christian manuscripts drawn on the island of Lindisfarne
0:33:40 > 0:33:44further up the east coast in the late 7th or early 8th centuries,
0:33:44 > 0:33:49use a colour red that can only be extracted from certain insects
0:33:49 > 0:33:52living in trees next to the Mediterranean.
0:33:52 > 0:33:58These garnets probably came from India or Sri Lanka,
0:33:58 > 0:33:59and we can do research,
0:33:59 > 0:34:03it's very likely that very early on in the period,
0:34:03 > 0:34:05large garnets came from India and Sri Lanka.
0:34:05 > 0:34:07Later, when the trade routes broke down,
0:34:07 > 0:34:11they had smaller garnets coming from Portugal and Bohemia.
0:34:11 > 0:34:17So you're looking at a remarkable international trade in this stuff.
0:34:17 > 0:34:19- Globalisation?- Globalisation.
0:34:19 > 0:34:23Until the end of the mid to late-7th century,
0:34:23 > 0:34:25you don't have any formal trading sites,
0:34:25 > 0:34:29but they do start to emerge in this period.
0:34:29 > 0:34:32The sites at London, Southampton and Ipswich,
0:34:32 > 0:34:35they're engaged in very, very extensive trade networks
0:34:35 > 0:34:38with Northern Europe and down into the Frankish kingdoms as well.
0:34:38 > 0:34:43Throughout the 5th and 6th centuries, western Britain was engaged in trade
0:34:43 > 0:34:45down the Atlantic coast routes as well.
0:34:45 > 0:34:49So people conceptualise this period as the Dark Ages,
0:34:49 > 0:34:51but actually, that's really not fair.
0:34:51 > 0:34:55You know, it's a society that is thoroughly engaged
0:34:55 > 0:34:58in all kinds of networks and contacts.
0:34:58 > 0:35:01Life keeps going, and it keeps going at a fairly good level.
0:35:03 > 0:35:05Desire for wealth and riches led to battles.
0:35:05 > 0:35:08And around the time when the hoard may have been hidden,
0:35:08 > 0:35:11Mercia had its sights set on expansion.
0:35:11 > 0:35:14It had become one of the most feared kingdoms of all.
0:35:15 > 0:35:19Mercian kings, at this moment, were the winners.
0:35:19 > 0:35:22And so you see little kingdoms to the west,
0:35:22 > 0:35:25bigger kingdoms to the east, are sucked in and absorbed.
0:35:25 > 0:35:28First of all, you roll Northumbria back,
0:35:28 > 0:35:33then you take over lands towards Wales and the Welsh Marches.
0:35:33 > 0:35:39Then, of course, the Mercians absorb Kent, absorb London,
0:35:39 > 0:35:41they swing over into East Anglia.
0:35:41 > 0:35:45So you're creating this huge middle kingdom.
0:35:45 > 0:35:50It's a period of unbelievable turmoil, political and religious.
0:35:50 > 0:35:54It's when England, remember, that isn't England at all,
0:35:54 > 0:35:58England is yet to be invented, the word barely exists.
0:35:58 > 0:36:03Instead, there are these rival warring Anglo-Saxon kingdoms,
0:36:03 > 0:36:07that behave like the first, the worst kind of takeover bidders in the city.
0:36:07 > 0:36:11They sort of decapitate each other, literally, it has to be said,
0:36:11 > 0:36:13not metaphorically.
0:36:13 > 0:36:17They aggregate, they come together, they take over, they destroy.
0:36:17 > 0:36:20And kingdom after kingdom is swallowed up.
0:36:20 > 0:36:24By the 8th, 9th century,
0:36:24 > 0:36:27Mercia is certainly the largest kingdom geographically.
0:36:27 > 0:36:32It covers the largest portion of the British Isles in that respect.
0:36:34 > 0:36:37So what can the hoard tell us about the people who carved out
0:36:37 > 0:36:39the kingdom of Mercia?
0:36:39 > 0:36:41We have very few records,
0:36:41 > 0:36:43and those we do have are written by outsiders.
0:36:45 > 0:36:49We know precious little about the kingdom of the Mercians.
0:36:49 > 0:36:53We know the major figures, we know that there was a figure
0:36:53 > 0:36:56in the first half of the 7th century called Penda,
0:36:56 > 0:36:58who emerges quite clearly
0:36:58 > 0:37:02in the pages of Bede's Ecclesiastical History,
0:37:02 > 0:37:04mainly as a fairly aggressive figure.
0:37:04 > 0:37:09Someone who was active against the Northumbrians,
0:37:09 > 0:37:11who was also active in the East,
0:37:11 > 0:37:13and in particular against the East Angles.
0:37:13 > 0:37:20And so we get the sense of Mercia as, effectively, a predatory power.
0:37:20 > 0:37:24They're out to expand, perhaps,
0:37:24 > 0:37:28but most of all, probably,
0:37:28 > 0:37:31to raid, to acquire treasure,
0:37:31 > 0:37:34to acquire resources that they don't have
0:37:34 > 0:37:36in their own part of the country.
0:37:36 > 0:37:38What many would like to believe
0:37:38 > 0:37:40is that the hoard could have belonged to
0:37:40 > 0:37:43one of the last great pagan kings, Penda.
0:37:43 > 0:37:46A man with a formidable reputation,
0:37:46 > 0:37:50who went on to father a line of famous Mercian leaders.
0:37:50 > 0:37:53He held onto the old religion at the time when many around him
0:37:53 > 0:37:56were turning to Christianity.
0:37:56 > 0:37:58The timing might well be right.
0:37:58 > 0:38:01Penda was a mighty overlord,
0:38:01 > 0:38:04who ruled Mercia during its early rise to power.
0:38:04 > 0:38:07Even by the standards of the time he was ruthless.
0:38:07 > 0:38:10He deposed one king, he killed two others.
0:38:10 > 0:38:12He dealt with one in a particularly grisly way.
0:38:12 > 0:38:16Legend has it that after he defeated Oswald, King of Northumbria,
0:38:16 > 0:38:18at the Battle of Maserfield,
0:38:18 > 0:38:23he had his disembodied arms and head stuck on stakes in the ground.
0:38:23 > 0:38:26THEY ALL ROAR AGGRESSIVELY
0:38:28 > 0:38:34We all want it to be Penda, who was the famous King of Mercia.
0:38:34 > 0:38:39Penda is the king in the early 7th century of Mercia,
0:38:39 > 0:38:44and he's fighting a huge programme of expansion against Northumbria,
0:38:44 > 0:38:47which had adopted Christianity quite early,
0:38:47 > 0:38:50and to begin with, he's immensely successful.
0:38:50 > 0:38:53He defeats and peculiarly unpleasantly disposes of,
0:38:53 > 0:38:56presumably in ritual sacrifice, two Northumbrian kings.
0:38:56 > 0:38:58And it would be lovely
0:38:58 > 0:39:01if this really is the monument of one of those battles.
0:39:01 > 0:39:05Penda really doesn't get the recognition that he deserves in the texts.
0:39:05 > 0:39:09Because most of the history at this point is written down
0:39:09 > 0:39:13by the Venerable Bede, he's a Northumbrian and a Christian.
0:39:13 > 0:39:18And therefore an enemy of this pagan Mercian king,
0:39:18 > 0:39:20the last of the pagan Mercian kings.
0:39:20 > 0:39:22Bede hates Penda,
0:39:22 > 0:39:26because he defeats and does horrible things to Northumbrian kings.
0:39:26 > 0:39:29And also, of course, he's the wrong side, he's a pagan.
0:39:29 > 0:39:32And Bede is a very great historian,
0:39:32 > 0:39:35but great historians are not impartial.
0:39:35 > 0:39:37Bede is writing for a purpose.
0:39:38 > 0:39:42The hoard has yet to give us any direct evidence of Penda.
0:39:42 > 0:39:44But that's not to say the two aren't linked.
0:39:44 > 0:39:48Penda was the one king who held out while everyone around him
0:39:48 > 0:39:51was converting to Christianity.
0:39:51 > 0:39:54In 655 when he died, fighting against his enemies,
0:39:54 > 0:39:58Christianity consumed this final kingdom.
0:39:58 > 0:40:02The conversion of Mercia, England's last great pagan kingdom,
0:40:02 > 0:40:05marked the beginning of a new era in English history.
0:40:05 > 0:40:08And the Staffordshire hoard has helped us shine a light
0:40:08 > 0:40:11on exactly how and when this transformation occurred.
0:40:14 > 0:40:18One of the most intriguing finds in the hoard was a piece of gold
0:40:18 > 0:40:21with an inscription from the Bible that may help us date
0:40:21 > 0:40:23a crucial turning point in our history.
0:40:23 > 0:40:28CHOIR: # Lord have mercy on our souls... #
0:40:29 > 0:40:33The conversion to Christianity changed the whole fabric of our society,
0:40:33 > 0:40:36bringing with it the written word and the rule of law.
0:40:36 > 0:40:39But despite its importance to British history,
0:40:39 > 0:40:42no-one knows exactly how or when it came about.
0:40:44 > 0:40:47Litchfield has been an important religious centre
0:40:47 > 0:40:49since the early Christian days of Mercia.
0:40:49 > 0:40:52And this book is the earliest documentary evidence
0:40:52 > 0:40:55of the religion in the Midlands.
0:40:56 > 0:40:58This is the Cathedral's greatest treasure,
0:40:58 > 0:41:01and we call it the St Chad Gospels.
0:41:01 > 0:41:07We think it was almost certainly created to adorn Chad's shrine.
0:41:07 > 0:41:09So Chad died in 672.
0:41:09 > 0:41:15So this book has been associated with this building for 1,300 years?
0:41:15 > 0:41:17Something like 1,300 years.
0:41:17 > 0:41:21The gospel and the hoard date from around the same time.
0:41:21 > 0:41:24A crucial turning point in the religious history of Britain.
0:41:24 > 0:41:28And in the hoard are a mixture of pagan and Christian symbols.
0:41:28 > 0:41:32So were the Mercians who owned the hoard Christian converts,
0:41:32 > 0:41:35or the last of the pagans? Or could the crumpled crosses
0:41:35 > 0:41:39and Latin inscriptions be the looted possessions
0:41:39 > 0:41:42of another defeated Christian enemy?
0:41:42 > 0:41:44My hunch is that the hoard items
0:41:44 > 0:41:48give us the last glimpse of pagan Mercia,
0:41:48 > 0:41:51and a gospel book like this, the first glimpse of Christian Mercia.
0:41:51 > 0:41:54Looking at some of the symmetrical and floral patterns,
0:41:54 > 0:41:59some of the inlay on the hoard goods is not totally dissimilar...
0:41:59 > 0:42:02Absolutely part of the same cultural family,
0:42:02 > 0:42:07the interlacing, and also the zoomorphic creatures in the decoration,
0:42:07 > 0:42:10very reminiscent of some of the hoard items.
0:42:10 > 0:42:13There's lots of animals depicted in the hoard,
0:42:13 > 0:42:15and on here as well, just beautiful.
0:42:18 > 0:42:22We know that it was not uncommon for monks and bishops
0:42:22 > 0:42:27to be on the battlefield, not necessarily as combatants,
0:42:27 > 0:42:30more likely mostly as non-combatants,
0:42:30 > 0:42:32but bringing with them, as it were,
0:42:32 > 0:42:36the power in which their army believed.
0:42:36 > 0:42:39This is interesting, cos this is a quote on here,
0:42:39 > 0:42:43which actually refers to military activity.
0:42:43 > 0:42:47Yes, it's a Latin text from the Bible, from the Book of Numbers,
0:42:47 > 0:42:50chapter 10, verse 35.
0:42:50 > 0:42:53And the translation of the text is, "Arise, O God,
0:42:53 > 0:42:56"and let your enemies be scattered,
0:42:56 > 0:42:59"let those who hate you flee before you."
0:42:59 > 0:43:03And you can quite see why a kingdom, a Christian kingdom
0:43:03 > 0:43:06going into battle, particularly against a pagan neighbour,
0:43:06 > 0:43:10might want to inscribe exactly that text onto a cross
0:43:10 > 0:43:17that was being perhaps led...to lead the Christian warriors into battle.
0:43:17 > 0:43:20It's a very personal piece, you can imagine someone clutching it...
0:43:20 > 0:43:22- Yes, you can. - ..as they go into battle.
0:43:22 > 0:43:25The fact that it ends up in a hole in the middle of Mercia
0:43:25 > 0:43:29means that perhaps the owner didn't have God on his side that day.
0:43:29 > 0:43:35Absolutely. You've got to feel that the owner of that was on the losing side that day.
0:43:37 > 0:43:40Here, the hoard throws up more questions than it answers.
0:43:40 > 0:43:43This was a religious turning point, but whose?
0:43:43 > 0:43:47And rather than being the last pagans in a largely Christian world,
0:43:47 > 0:43:48were the Mercians a bit of both,
0:43:48 > 0:43:53subscribing to two religions at the same time, just to make sure?
0:43:53 > 0:43:58I think definitely, we find in a number of Anglo-Saxon objects,
0:43:58 > 0:44:00this idea of hedging your bets.
0:44:00 > 0:44:04That we are talking about a transitional moment.
0:44:04 > 0:44:07A spiritual transitional moment, but also a cultural one.
0:44:07 > 0:44:13So, you have the protective talisman of the processional cross.
0:44:13 > 0:44:17That idea of carrying Christ into battle, being protected by him.
0:44:17 > 0:44:20And then you have these talismans, these serpents,
0:44:20 > 0:44:24these traditional Anglo-Saxon battle beasts.
0:44:24 > 0:44:28It's no peace-loving text, this isn't love thy neighbour,
0:44:28 > 0:44:31turn the other cheek, thou shalt not kill, it's none of that.
0:44:31 > 0:44:36It's surge domine, rise up, oh, Lord,
0:44:36 > 0:44:37and let thine enemies be scattered.
0:44:37 > 0:44:41Let those who hate thee be driven from thy face.
0:44:41 > 0:44:43This is the church militant and warlike.
0:44:43 > 0:44:47Of course Christianity adapting itself to context,
0:44:47 > 0:44:50if you try and plant Christianity in a warrior culture,
0:44:50 > 0:44:54it's got to assume the elements of a warrior culture.
0:44:54 > 0:44:58So here you have warlike pagans fighting warlike Christians.
0:44:58 > 0:45:02We shouldn't underestimate just how important the hoard is when it comes
0:45:02 > 0:45:07to telling the story of Britain's conversion to Christianity.
0:45:07 > 0:45:10It's a story that was also sketched out in the Peak District
0:45:10 > 0:45:13by an amateur enthusiast in the 1800s.
0:45:14 > 0:45:16Before the hoard was dug up,
0:45:16 > 0:45:20probably the most important Anglo-Saxon find ever made within
0:45:20 > 0:45:24the old Kingdom of Mercia, were made by this man here, Thomas Bateman,
0:45:24 > 0:45:29whose tomb today sits surrounded by his beloved Peak District landscape.
0:45:29 > 0:45:33Now, in the Victorian period, this man was known as the Barrow Knight.
0:45:33 > 0:45:36He dug up around 200, some say even more, barrows or burial mounds,
0:45:36 > 0:45:41and the site of his most important discovery is a few miles that way.
0:45:46 > 0:45:49The Anglo-Saxons often reused prehistoric barrows
0:45:49 > 0:45:50to bury their most important dead.
0:45:50 > 0:45:54And it was in a grave that probably belonged to an earl or prince
0:45:54 > 0:45:58that Bateman uncovered one of the few helmets ever to be discovered,
0:45:58 > 0:46:02opening a new chapter in the military history of a warlike people.
0:46:04 > 0:46:07This replica of the helmet is in a Sheffield Museum,
0:46:07 > 0:46:10along with the original finds, which archaeologists now believe
0:46:10 > 0:46:13come from the same period as the Staffordshire hoard,
0:46:13 > 0:46:18and show a country on the cusp of moving from paganism to Christianity.
0:46:18 > 0:46:22Well, this is it, this is where it was found.
0:46:22 > 0:46:25You can see the round ditch and arrangement in the middle.
0:46:25 > 0:46:26Absolutely.
0:46:26 > 0:46:31He found the remains of a helmet which had a boar on the crest
0:46:31 > 0:46:33and a silver cross set into the nose piece.
0:46:33 > 0:46:37The remains of a leather cup that had two silver crosses on that.
0:46:37 > 0:46:43Also, some iron chain and some disks that were from a large,
0:46:43 > 0:46:47bronze hanging bowl which would have been used for some ritual purpose,
0:46:47 > 0:46:49whether for drinking or hand washing, we're not sure.
0:46:49 > 0:46:53And do you think that all signifies this is a man of some stature?
0:46:53 > 0:46:55Oh, yes, we call this a princely burial.
0:46:55 > 0:46:58This is someone of really high status in this region.
0:46:58 > 0:47:01How important is what was found here?
0:47:01 > 0:47:03When it was found in the middle of the 19th century,
0:47:03 > 0:47:06it was incredibly important because it gave us,
0:47:06 > 0:47:09really, our first insight into the Anglo-Saxons
0:47:09 > 0:47:11and Germanic culture in the Peak District.
0:47:11 > 0:47:14It showed us the ways in which the Mercian Kingdom
0:47:14 > 0:47:17expanded into this region.
0:47:17 > 0:47:19I don't think at the time,
0:47:19 > 0:47:22the find was as widely publicised as it might have been.
0:47:22 > 0:47:25It sort of disappeared into a provincial museum where it perhaps
0:47:25 > 0:47:28hasn't attracted the attention that it should have had.
0:47:28 > 0:47:32But it's retained incredible importance even in the light of the discovery of the hoard.
0:47:32 > 0:47:35It's interesting little clues, the boar and the cross,
0:47:35 > 0:47:37what do you think they signify?
0:47:37 > 0:47:43Primarily, the boar signals strength, courage, aggression.
0:47:43 > 0:47:46These are the kind of images that a warrior would want to portray
0:47:46 > 0:47:49themselves as possessing in the seventh century.
0:47:49 > 0:47:52The cross is obviously self-evidently a Christian symbol.
0:47:52 > 0:47:56I don't think it is a case of hedging your bets between paganism and
0:47:56 > 0:48:01Christianity, I think it is a perfectly appropriate way for a Christian,
0:48:01 > 0:48:05seventh century Anglo-Saxon Prince to project his image.
0:48:06 > 0:48:13And besides, conversion wasn't necessarily a permanent thing in Anglo-Saxon England.
0:48:13 > 0:48:16It's almost like an ebbing tide, it comes into an area
0:48:16 > 0:48:19and then it might go away again.
0:48:19 > 0:48:24In the seventh century, conversion was very much a political act.
0:48:24 > 0:48:26So, if you are trying to convert an area,
0:48:26 > 0:48:29you went straight to the top, you went to the king, you try to get
0:48:29 > 0:48:33the king to convert, so that's what you see in Kent and East Anglia.
0:48:33 > 0:48:36And sometimes, it would suit those kings to convert
0:48:36 > 0:48:39and so they would, but then 20 years down the line,
0:48:39 > 0:48:41it didn't suit them any more, and so they would revert.
0:48:41 > 0:48:43So, you do see some of these areas
0:48:43 > 0:48:46flip-flopping between Christianity and paganism.
0:48:46 > 0:48:49It's not really until the end of the seventh century
0:48:49 > 0:48:53that most areas of the country are consistently Christian.
0:48:54 > 0:48:58So, whoever buried the hoard has left us
0:48:58 > 0:49:01with a snapshot of a moment in time when England changed for ever.
0:49:03 > 0:49:05But what other secrets might it still hold?
0:49:05 > 0:49:08The painstaking process of cleaning, examining
0:49:08 > 0:49:10and testing the hoard will continue for decades.
0:49:10 > 0:49:16As archaeologists and scientists try to turn speculation into facts.
0:49:16 > 0:49:19There's still an awful lot of analysis to do.
0:49:19 > 0:49:21You can do lots and lots of technical analysis,
0:49:21 > 0:49:24you can analyse the composition of the gold and the garnets
0:49:24 > 0:49:26and you might be able to get some dating out of that.
0:49:26 > 0:49:28You can do much more with the inscriptions,
0:49:28 > 0:49:31looking for parallels for those.
0:49:31 > 0:49:34And just analysing the composition of the hoard itself.
0:49:34 > 0:49:38We don't quite know what that hoard represents.
0:49:38 > 0:49:42We don't know whether it's the aftermath of a battle.
0:49:42 > 0:49:46We don't know whether it's the Kings Treasury that's been
0:49:46 > 0:49:49taken captive on the road and buried in secret.
0:49:49 > 0:49:53So we don't know why it got there. We don't know when it got there.
0:49:53 > 0:49:56It might tell us something very different if we know it was
0:49:56 > 0:50:00buried in 650, compared to if we knew it was buried in 750.
0:50:00 > 0:50:03So, that dating of it is really going to be quite key
0:50:03 > 0:50:06in terms of understanding its significance.
0:50:08 > 0:50:11Kevin Leahy, the National Finds Adviser from the
0:50:11 > 0:50:16Portable Antiquities Scheme has been responsible for cataloguing the hoard.
0:50:16 > 0:50:19What an extraordinary collection, but the other thing is,
0:50:19 > 0:50:22they're very diverse. There are so many different objects, some
0:50:22 > 0:50:25- I don't know what they are.- I must admit, neither do we in some cases.
0:50:25 > 0:50:27This is part of the great, great fun.
0:50:27 > 0:50:30We've moved into new ground in this material.
0:50:30 > 0:50:32Things we've not seen before.
0:50:32 > 0:50:37We almost find that it is not the objects you identify straight away
0:50:37 > 0:50:39that are going to give us the story.
0:50:39 > 0:50:41It's the things that we don't know what they are.
0:50:41 > 0:50:46There's this piece over here. It's truly remarkable.
0:50:46 > 0:50:51Beautifully decorated with garnets on three faces.
0:50:51 > 0:50:52And that's a groove there.
0:50:52 > 0:50:56- Perhaps something would have gone in there.- Yes.
0:50:56 > 0:50:59I have speculated that it's the edging from a book.
0:50:59 > 0:51:02So that's why this could be all bent and shattered, somebody
0:51:02 > 0:51:06ripped apart this jewelled book cover and it became someone's swag?
0:51:06 > 0:51:11Yes, it's torn off the cover, but while a lot of the material is
0:51:11 > 0:51:15bent and broken, there's been no systematic attempts to trash it.
0:51:16 > 0:51:19Row upon row of amazing artefacts give us
0:51:19 > 0:51:22a new understanding of the ways in which our ancestors lived.
0:51:23 > 0:51:27I particularly like this material
0:51:27 > 0:51:30because of the strange scenes shown on it.
0:51:30 > 0:51:34They're made out of silver foil.
0:51:34 > 0:51:36It's a technique that we call "pressblech" -
0:51:36 > 0:51:41a German word - for want of a better name in English.
0:51:41 > 0:51:45Um, they show scenes of processions of warriors.
0:51:45 > 0:51:48- You can see the round shield... - Yeah, I can see.- ..and the spears.
0:51:48 > 0:51:53Um, these probably came from a helmet.
0:51:53 > 0:51:56They were used in panels along the sides of a helmet.
0:51:56 > 0:51:58We get that at Sutton Hoo.
0:51:58 > 0:52:01Amazing going into battle with these extraordinary images
0:52:01 > 0:52:03on your helmet. It's incredible.
0:52:03 > 0:52:05'And then, there's this.'
0:52:05 > 0:52:07A lovely thing.
0:52:07 > 0:52:10This hung at the side of an Anglo-Saxon warrior
0:52:10 > 0:52:14who must have habitually rested his left hand on his sword.
0:52:14 > 0:52:17And look at the polish on the top of that,
0:52:17 > 0:52:22where the man's hand was resting on his most treasured possession -
0:52:22 > 0:52:24the hilt of his sword.
0:52:24 > 0:52:28This all meant something to someone. It's not art for art's sake.
0:52:28 > 0:52:31There are stories and things in here.
0:52:32 > 0:52:35'What the hoard has laid bare here
0:52:35 > 0:52:38'is the existence of a rich ruling class.
0:52:38 > 0:52:41These weren't ignorant savages, they were people
0:52:41 > 0:52:45with incredible wealth and skill, who pride great beauty.
0:52:45 > 0:52:48They would spend a lot of time in the company of their weaponry
0:52:48 > 0:52:51and so meditating and ruminating on the imagery,
0:52:51 > 0:52:54and how the piece works and how one beast begins
0:52:54 > 0:52:55and another ends,
0:52:55 > 0:53:00that's part of the beauty of them for their original audience as well.
0:53:00 > 0:53:02The thing that strikes you as you look at them
0:53:02 > 0:53:05I think is twofold, apart from the engineering.
0:53:05 > 0:53:06It's first of all
0:53:06 > 0:53:10the amazing linear sense. It's like Art Deco.
0:53:10 > 0:53:14Either Art Deco or perhaps Art Nouveau.
0:53:14 > 0:53:19These wonderful, sinuous, curling animal, tree, plant -
0:53:19 > 0:53:21particularly animal.
0:53:21 > 0:53:25Fighting lions, fish entwined, they love serpents,
0:53:25 > 0:53:27warlike serpents chewing each other,
0:53:27 > 0:53:30winding themselves round each other's tails.
0:53:30 > 0:53:33So there's this immensely powerful linear sense.
0:53:33 > 0:53:37And you also have the craftsmanship in terms of
0:53:37 > 0:53:39the matching of gold and jewels,
0:53:39 > 0:53:43which, I think, you've got to get to Faberge
0:53:43 > 0:53:45before you've anything as good.
0:53:45 > 0:53:48I suppose the plain truth is - isn't it, really? -
0:53:48 > 0:53:51that the Anglo-Saxons are German.
0:53:51 > 0:53:55So this is the origin. It's a kind of BMW style of engineering
0:53:55 > 0:53:59which we, unfortunately, have grown out of but they still have.
0:53:59 > 0:54:03It's amazing. Under the microscope you see even more detail, don't you?
0:54:03 > 0:54:07It's absolutely incredible.
0:54:07 > 0:54:09We're now seeing this in greater detail
0:54:09 > 0:54:12than the person who owned it ever saw it.
0:54:12 > 0:54:16It's phenomenal. You've got carefully cut garnets,
0:54:16 > 0:54:19laid into intricate cells,
0:54:19 > 0:54:21each stone carefully shaped.
0:54:21 > 0:54:24And garnet's a tricky material to work,
0:54:24 > 0:54:26it's not a particularly rare stone
0:54:26 > 0:54:31but it can't be just sheared off like a slate.
0:54:31 > 0:54:35If you want thin garnets, you've got to cut them thin. And then...
0:54:35 > 0:54:38Millimetre perfect, aren't they?
0:54:38 > 0:54:40They've all got to be cut into these special shapes
0:54:40 > 0:54:43and they've all got to be absolutely perfect.
0:54:43 > 0:54:48'Modern-day jewellers say we would need four times magnification
0:54:48 > 0:54:52'to do the detailed work seen on the hoard.'
0:54:52 > 0:54:57There's the animal's head, the two little ring-like eyes.
0:54:57 > 0:54:59You have to pinch yourself to remind yourself
0:54:59 > 0:55:02how small it is. I mean, how did they cut these shapes
0:55:02 > 0:55:04to fit so perfectly within the gold?
0:55:04 > 0:55:09- It's incredibly intricate, this piece here.- It's mind-blowing.
0:55:09 > 0:55:13The more you look at it, the more incredible it becomes.
0:55:13 > 0:55:16That pattern of cells fitted together.
0:55:16 > 0:55:19Even more startling -
0:55:19 > 0:55:25under each garnet you've got a small piece of waffle patterned gold foil.
0:55:25 > 0:55:29It's to scatter the light back so that it glitters.
0:55:29 > 0:55:32Just like the reflectors on a motorcar.
0:55:32 > 0:55:34- That's what we're seeing here?- Yes.
0:55:34 > 0:55:38When you get the measurements up on the screen, it shows just how small that is.
0:55:38 > 0:55:41Each one of those is 0.03 of a millimetre across.
0:55:41 > 0:55:43It's absolutely incredible.
0:55:43 > 0:55:47Something like this could have been worn by royalty itself. I mean,
0:55:47 > 0:55:49Penda, the great Mercian king,
0:55:49 > 0:55:52it could easily have been attached to him or his family, I guess.
0:55:52 > 0:55:57Yes, or one of the people that he sent into the next world.
0:55:57 > 0:56:00This is material that belonged to the losers,
0:56:00 > 0:56:04not the winners and this could have been taken from
0:56:04 > 0:56:09Oswald of Northumbria or Edwin of Northumbria, or Sigabert of Kent.
0:56:09 > 0:56:10We don't know.
0:56:10 > 0:56:14It's dangerous to try and attach names to material like this
0:56:14 > 0:56:16but it's great fun.
0:56:18 > 0:56:21'The discovery of warrior treasure has put a splash of colour
0:56:21 > 0:56:24'into our black-and-white view of 1,400 years ago.'
0:56:26 > 0:56:30The traditional view is that life in the Dark Ages was nasty,
0:56:30 > 0:56:31brutish and short.
0:56:31 > 0:56:34And it's this idea that everyone lived in huts and hovels,
0:56:34 > 0:56:38and really didn't have much quality of life.
0:56:38 > 0:56:41And that's why we get this term "Dark Age" associated with it.
0:56:41 > 0:56:44But that's so far from the truth.
0:56:46 > 0:56:49'As I've travelled across the old kingdom of Mercia,
0:56:49 > 0:56:51'it's become clear to me
0:56:51 > 0:56:55'just how important the discovery of the hoard really has been.
0:56:55 > 0:56:58'It's shone a light into the Midlands of the Dark Ages,
0:56:58 > 0:57:00'revealing a powerful, wealthy
0:57:00 > 0:57:04'and sophisticated people who were a force to be reckoned with in the Anglo-Saxon world.'
0:57:04 > 0:57:07England, remember, isn't England at all.
0:57:07 > 0:57:09England is yet to be invented.
0:57:09 > 0:57:14Instead, there are these rival warring Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.
0:57:14 > 0:57:16They decapitate each other, literally it has to be said,
0:57:16 > 0:57:18not metaphorically.
0:57:18 > 0:57:23They aggregate, they come together, they take over, they destroy.
0:57:23 > 0:57:26And kingdom after kingdom is swallowed up.
0:57:28 > 0:57:32'In an amazing stroke of luck, it's also captured a moment,
0:57:32 > 0:57:34'a turning point in our history,
0:57:34 > 0:57:37'when Britain became a Christian land.'
0:57:37 > 0:57:41My hunch is that the hoard items give us
0:57:41 > 0:57:45the last glimpse of pagan Mercia. And a gospel book like this,
0:57:45 > 0:57:48the first glimpse of Christian Mercia.
0:57:48 > 0:57:53'As we've found, the discovery also raises as many fresh questions,
0:57:53 > 0:57:56'questions that scientists and historians
0:57:56 > 0:57:59'will spend years trying to answer.'
0:58:01 > 0:58:03The hoard will have many more surprises for us
0:58:03 > 0:58:06and it may yet force us to re-evaluate
0:58:06 > 0:58:08everything we think we know.
0:58:28 > 0:58:32Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:32 > 0:58:35E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk