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Borre style metalwork in the material culture of the Birka warriors : anapotropaic symbolHedenstierna-Jonson, CharlotteFornvännen 2006(101):5, s. [312]-322 : ill.http://kulturarvsdata.se/raa/fornvannen/html/2006_312Ingår i: samla.raa.se

Fornvännen 101 (2006)

Borre style metalwork in the material cul ture of the Birka warriors An apotropaic symbol

By Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson

Hedenstierna-Jonson, C., 2006. Borre style metalwork in the material culture ofthe Birka warriors. Fornvännen 101. Stockholm.

The use of the Borre style in the dress and equipment of the Viking Period war-riors at Birka is presented and discussed. The absence of Borre style metalwork onblade weapons evokes thoughts on the symbolic meaning of the style within amartial society. An apotropaic symbolic role for the style is suggested.

Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson, Arkeologiska forskningslaboratoriet, Stockholms univer-sitet, SE-106 91 [email protected]

Borre was the great Viking Period art style, comp -rehensive both in content and in geographicaldistribution. It is believed to have been in usefrom about AD 830 or 850 to the end of Birka'sfloruit about AD 975. The Borre style was oneof the most vigorous Viking Period styles. It wasthe most widely spread of the Scandinavianones and flourished during the period in whichthe Scandinavians expanded their territorygreatly. Borre was the main Scandinavian con-tribution to the collective of style and form thatcould be seen at Eastern trading posts in the 10thcentury. This paper will focus on Borre sty le me -talwork connected to warriors, starting from findsmade at Birka's Garrison. A main theme is theplainness of the era's offensive weapons in con-trast to the often elaborately decorated costumeand other equipment. As the Borre style wasused to decorate a wide selection of artefacts, itsabsence from blade weapons is surprising andsuggests that it has something to do with thesymbolic meaning of the Borre style.

The Borre styleAccording to David Wilson (1995, p. 91 f; 2001)the Borre style originated on precious metal.The decoration with transverse lines frequentlyoccurring on copper alloy originally imitatedfiligree work. Actual filigree technique was alsoused but on a limited number of objects. Wilsonmaintains that Birka was the main centre of ma -nu facture and states that several casting mouldsdisplaying the Borre style were found during the1990s excavations in the Black Earth (finds asyet not published). Birka constituted a milieuwhere there was a market for high quality pro -ducts as well as more common artefacts, andwhere there is archaeological evidence of manu-facture. It may be daring to regard Birka as themain centre of manufacture, but the style hadan established position and developed further inthe hands of Birka's craftsmen.

Wilson gives a comprehensive account of theScandinavian origin of the Borre style. It is how-ever important to emphasise that the Borrestyle was not limited to Scandinavia. It shouldbe regarded as a product of its time, rooted in

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313Borre style metalwork in the material culture of the Birka warriors


Scandinavian as well as Continental and Insularstylistic traditions.

In the wide framework that constituted theBorre style there was room for non-Scan di na -vian motifs, e.g. ringed pins with Celtic orna-mentation and trefoil brooches with foliage or -na mentation. This may be an indication of Bor -re as mainly a fashionable style, widely spreadand accepted in Scandinavia during the middleViking Period. The style became universal andwas therefore not, in contrast to certain otherScandinavian styles, limited to one category ofobjects, one geographical region or a certainma nufacturer or commissioner. The Borre stylerepresented the last period of pagan Scandi -navian art. With Christianity came Romanes -que art and its influence over Scandinavian sty -les, anticipated in the Ringerike style and clear-ly visible in the Urnes style.

The Borre style flourished when the Vikingexpansion culminated and Scandinavians en -larged their territories. Westbound Vikingsconquered more and more of the British Islesand northern France, and in the East Scan -dinavians dominated the important trade routesalong Volga and Dnepr, extending to Byzan -tium and the Caliphate. This was probably themain cause of the extensive geographical distri-bution of the Borre style. Borre constitutes theScandinavian contribution to the mix of stylis-tic expressions found at trading posts along theeastern Viking routes.

The Borre style was used on a wide array ofViking Period artefacts. The majority of Borre-decorated objects at Birka were trefoil broochesand pendants usually linked to female dress.Tortoise brooches are one of the more frequentfind classes from Birka. Among these only a smallnumber are decorated in the Borre style, charac-teristic of Birka's late phase. “In jewellery theBorre style […] is principally confined to newforms of jewellery” (Jansson 1985, p. 230).According to Birgit Maixner (2004, p. 88), thestyle was primarily used on personal objects.One category of objects on which the Borrestyle was used only very rarely is weapons.Though frequent enough on equipment con-nected to the warrior, such as shield mounts,sword chapes etc., the style rarely occurs on of

fensive weapons (cf. Skibsted Klæsøe 1999, p.118). But there are exceptions. A hilt and pom-mel of a Petersen D-type sword from a burial atGnezdovo, Smolensk, is decorated in openworkBorre style (fig. 1; Road from the Varangians to theGreeks 1996, p. 8 fig. 64).

Stylistic elementsThe basic elements of the Borre style are grip-ping beasts, ribbons and masks of animals andpeople (most recently discussed in Maixner2004). Frequently depicted animals are cats andbat-like creatures with rounded ears. The grip-ping beast is one of the older and most fascinat-ing features of Viking Period art. Johannes Brønd -sted (1924, p. 169) described them as “coarse,solid, muscular animal forms with strong grip-

Fig. 1. Hilt and pommel of a Petersen D-typesword from a burial at Gnëzdovo, Smolensk(Road from the Varangians to the Greeks 1996,p. 8 fig. 64). This is one of the very few instancesof Borre style on an offensive weapon.


ping-paws or gripping-feet, with which theyhold on tight to each other or clutch the frameof the ornament […] and with their heads al -ways set full face”. This motif was described byBrøndsted (1924, p. 167) as being “radically freefrom tradition”. The origin of the gripping beastshas been the subject of much discussion and hasbeen linked to both Carolingian and Anglo-Saxon art. Sophus Müller (1880; cf. Fuglesang1992), who first defined the motif, called it the“Nordic-Carolingian lion”, revealing his view ofits origin. Wilson (2001, p. 144) emphasises the

differences between the Scan dinavian grippingbeast and the Insular or Con tinental grippingbeast, and maintains that there were two sepa-rate traditions, one native Scandinavian andone firmly seated Christian tradition. Whenused as an element of the Borre style, the grip-ping beast has been “tamed”, with its bodyplaced symmetrically using the spine as an axis(cf. Fuglesang 2001, p. 160; Franchesci et al.2005, p. 40 f).

The knots and ribbons, another of the style'sbasic elements, show several similarities to tex-

314 Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson


Fig. 2. The addorsed pair of pretzel knots, a recurrent motif in Borre style art. a) Borre in Vestfold, Norway(Wilson 1995, p. 88). b) Birka grave Bj 643 (Arbman 1940, Taf. 42:1). c) Hässelby in Uppland (Duczko 1989,p. 190). d) Birka grave Bj 524 (Arbman 1940, Taf 42:1).

a

b

d

c


tile work, mainly the craft of passementerie (cf.Maixner 2004, p. 21). The use of passementeriein the dress has many obscure points that areopen to discussion, but there is a possible con-nection between textile dress decoration andstrap ends and other decorative metalwork usedin the dress. Both passementerie and Borre stylemetalwork should most likely be seen as parts ofa rank-indicating symbolic language. The studyof passementerie might be an entrance into thedifficult world of the Borre style. The wide varie -ty of Borre style motifs includes a certain degreeof formalisation, especially concerning knotsand ribbon designs. One type of knot (fig. 2)appears recurrently in the eponymous finds fromBorre in Vestfold, in the material from Birka'sGarrison and ringed pins from Birka and an -cient Rus'. Such knots, characterised by SigneHorn Fuglesang (1991, p. 98) as “an addorsedpair of pretzel knots”, are also known fromContinental and Insular art (cf. Duczko 1989).The third basic element of the style – masks ofanimals and people – is rooted in earlier Norseart (cf. Arwidsson 1963). Typical is a triangularface with large bulging eyes. The ears are usual-ly rounded and placed above the eyes, enhanc-ing the triangular outline of the mask.

The Borre style in Birka's GarrisonThe archaeological material from Birka's Garri -son represents a working environment with adistinct functional dimension. This makes itparticularly suitable for comparison with otherarchaeological contexts such as burials and sett -lements (Kitzler 1997; Hedenstierna-Jonson etal. 1998; Holmquist Olausson & Kitzler Åhfeldt2002). The finds from the Garrison are rich andinclude many different object types, includingprestige pieces as well as everyday gear. Theyprovide insight into the material culture of theBirka warrior and his profession. Different kindsof arms and armour constitute a major group ofartefacts. One might speak of the panoply of thegarrison warrior.

Decorated objects are few, especially whencompared to the Birka graves. This can partly beexplained by the fact that most of the finds areutility objects and not display pieces of the kindfound in the graves. Although Borre is the only

true Scandinavian style found in this context,the objects decorated in this style are surprising-ly few in comparison to those decorated in fo -reign styles. Most of the decorated metalwork isrelated to the warrior's dress. The Garrison of -fers a unique material of copper alloy mountsand fittings from belts, pouches, footwear andother equipment. Most of these mounts are dec-orated in a so-called Oriental style with palmet-tos and scrollwork of a post-Sassanian character(cf. Arne 1911; 1914; Hedenstierna-Jonson &Holmquist Olausson in print). Neverthelessthere are four mounts decorated in Borre style,two of them quadrangular and two tiny strapends.

Weaponry – plain and operationalAs stated above, the most comprehensive groupof finds from Birka's Garrison consists of wea p -on ry. Among the finds are offensive weaponssuch as swords (fragments), seaxes, axe heads,spearheads, and arrowheads. The defensive wea p -ons are shields, ring mail, lamellar armour andpossibly part of a helmet. The weapons are gene -rally plain, without any cast or inlaid decora-tion. They are by and large simple and opera-tional, but a few decorative mounts for warriorequipment have been found.

Among the more spectacular finds are mountsfrom the case of an Eastern type composite bow,decorated in Oriental style, and fittings from apossible helmet depicting parading birds flank-ing a tree in a compositional form and with astylistic expression originating from Byzantium(Holmquist Olausson & Petrovski in print). TheBorre style decorated items related to weap onryare two shield handle mounts (fig. 3) and asword chape (fig. 4). The former are decoratedin a schematised Borre style with sharp relief,produced locally in Birka's workshops (Jakobs -son 1996). The latter belongs to a small group ofsword chapes combining Borre style decorationwith a possible Christian motif - the Crucifixion(Hedenstierna-Jonson 2002). This type's geo-graphical distribution is wide but very distinctwith a possible origin in the Danish state. Thechape had been deposited without a sword by apost in the so-called warriors' hall in the Garri -son area.






Passementerie, Oriental dress and Byzantine influencesFour Borre style copper alloy mounts (fig. 5) arepossibly related to the dress. They have typicalmotifs with knotwork, braids and animals. Oneof the quadrangular mounts shows a pair of ad -dorsed pretzel knots. The other is but a frag-ment but reveals the rear end of a typical Borreanimal seen from the side (cf. Wilson 2001, p.145). The strap ends are unusually small, buthave the characteristic plait ending in an animalhead seen from above. One of the strap ends andthe quadrangular mount with knotwork aregilded. An additional Borre style object relatedto the dress is the ring of a ringed pin (fig. 6).

The rope, ribbon, knot and interlace werewithout doubt central motifs in Norse stylistictradition, as apparent in the Borre style. There isan interesting similarity between the ribbonand knot-based designs of the Borre style com-plex and passementerie found in several Birkagraves. Granted that the design of the ribbonsand knots allude to filigree work, there is also apossibility that they are meant to imitate thestructure of the silver wire used in passemen -

terie. There are for instance distinct similaritiesbetween the interlace on strap ends and passe-menterie from Bj 524, Bj 944 and Bj 1040 (fig.7). There is also another connection betweenpassementerie and metalwork in a small num-ber of Byzantine belt buckles decorated with in -terlace closely resembling the passementerie foundin Birka (Stephens Craw ford 1990; Schulze-Dörrlamm 2002). These buck les, though datedto the 6th and 7th centuries, show an estab-lished symbolic language where ribbons andknots in the form of passementerie have a givenplace. The correlation between pas se menteriefrom Birka graves Bj 520 and Bj 1125 and that ofByzantine ceremonial dress (fig. 8) has beenpointed out by Inga Hägg (1983).

Passementerie was part of the Oriental dressof which there are several examples in Birka.According to Hägg (2003, p. 18), only 10 out of50 male burials with preserved textiles at Birkacontain no traces of Oriental dress fashion. TheOriental dress consisted of a caftan, often withprestigious ornaments, such as silver and goldpassementerie on silk. In some cases a textilegirdle, often of silk, held the caftan together.

Fig. 3. Shield handle mounts from Birka's Garrison. Fig. 4. Sword chape from Birka'sGarrison. The motif is a Borre styleCrucifixion.




Fig. 5. Borre style bronze mounts and strap endsfrom Birka's Garrison.

Fig. 6. A ring from a ringed pin, found at Birka'sGarrison.

Fig. 7. Interlace ornamentation comparedwith passementerie. a-b) Strap ends fromSandvor in Rogaland and Borre inVestfold, Norway (Duczko 1985:82f).Passementerie from Birka graves. c) Bj1040. d) Bj944. e-f) Bj524 (Geijer1938 Taf 28:3-4 & Taf 35:3,5).

ab c

d

e

f


The girdles were occasionally trimmed withpassementerie. The caftan is strongly associatedwith Turkic nomads and the Islamic area. TheOriental dress in Birka should thus most likelybe seen as a product of contacts with the Eas -tern mounted tribes. The closest parallels to theBirka dress are, not surprisingly, found in theancient Russian area and in the emerging Kie -van state. Passementerie like that from Birka'sgraves has been found in burials in AncientRussia (cf. Jansson 1988; Shepard 1995; Hedea -ger Krag 2004).

Although the closest parallels are found inKievan Rus' and the steppes north of the BlackSea, Byzantine influences must also be consid-ered. There are traces of Byzantine influence inthe Birka material, especially at the Garrison.The mounts from a possible helmet have clearByzantine connotations as have three Byzantinecopper coins struck for Emperor Theophilos(reigned AD 829–842). In this context it may notbe surprising that Anna Muthesius (2004, p. 297 f)inquires: “Could the Birka tunics, with their ela -bo rate border decoration, represent the nearestthing one has to a Byzantine military tunic?”Muthesius continues: ”What cannot be denied isthat the Vikings would have been in no doubt

about what Byzantine dress did look like by thetenth to the eleventh centuries”.

A Scandinavian horse and an Eastern warriorA trapezoid Borre style mount (fig. 9) found in thehall building in Birka's Garrison is generally con-sidered to be a part of a bridle. It has coun ter partsfrom wealthy graves in the Lake Mä laren area andon Gotland, where a distinct feature is the combi-nation of Eastern dress and Scan dinavian horsegear. An example is provi ded by the Skopintullbarrow at Hovgården on Adelsö, the island closestto Birka/Björkö, a part of the Viking Period cen-tral-place complex. A large number of copper alloymounts have been found in the barrow, many withclose parallels from the Garrison. The mountsrelated to the dress are generally decorated inOriental style while the mounts from the bridlehave Borre style ornamentation. The situationis similar in a wealthy burial from Antuna in Edparish, Upp land (Andersson 1994), and in Birkagrave Bj 496. Parallels to the trapezoid mount aswell as the Borre style bridles have also beenfound in Ancient Rus', e.g. an extraordinary snaff -le-bit in gilded bronze with a three-part mouth-piece found in 1969 in a hoard in Supruty, Tuls -kaja in the Schekinskiji region near Murom



Fig. 8. Passementerie from Birka grave Bj 520 (Geijer 1938, Taf 28:2) compared to Byzantine belt bucklesfrom the 6th and 7th centuries (Stephens Crawford 1990, fig. 582; Schulze-Dörrlamm 2002, p. 215) and withpassementerie knots and pendants from Sitten, Switzerland (Hägg 1983, p. 213).


(Road from the Varangians to the Greeks 1996,p. 74 fig. 599).

Plain weapons and decorated equipmentMaria Domeij (2004; 2005) has presented aninteresting interpretation of the ideologicalframework and background to the various styleelements in Norse art, claiming a link betweenwarfare and art. She suggests that “the cognitivemeanings of the ornamentation may have beentightly knit to an ideology of honour and war-fare”. Domeij develops the contextual readingpresented by Anders Andrén (2000, p. 10) inconnection with the reading of rune stones.Andrén emphasised the importance of visual lit-eracy in the understanding of the interplay ofimage and text. Though the Borre style objectsdo not carry any text, the visual literacy wasnevertheless equally important in the under-standing of the symbolic value of the objects.Another perspective on the relationship be tweenimages and texts is that of how images, texts andwords are constructed. This implies that “differ-ent styles of animal art may be regarded as anal-ogous to poetic metres like Drótt kvætt andFornyrðislag” (Andrén 2000, p. 26), and alsohas “the same social connotations as some ofthe poetic metres”.

Emphasising the important role of bindingin Norse society and the link between bindingand death, Domeij suggests that Norse animalart should be understood as a materialised modi -fication of the poetic metaphors of battle. Thegripping beasts become less deviant from Norsestylistic tradition when studied in the light ofthe dismembered and bound animals frequentlydepicted in earlier Norse art, both used, accord-ing to Domeij (2004), as metaphors for fightingand slaying in war. With this apparent connec-tion to martial life the absence of the Borre styleon blade weapons is even more interesting.

The warrior equipment from Birka's Gar ri -son includes utility weapons and everyday ob -jects, primarily made for use, not display. Theweaponry was operational, the types are simpleyet effective and the complete set gives animpression of professionalism. Though presenton weaponry, e.g. mounts for shield handles andsword sheathes, no offensive weapons are deco -

rated in the Borre style, nor in any other style.There has clearly been a significant differencebetween weapons actually used in battle andweapons that were mainly for display, as in aburial context (cf. Le Jan 2000, p. 290 f). Thetwo categories served different functions andwere thus designed in slightly different ways.This was not an innovation of the Viking Pe -riod, but it probably became more widely spreadas the specialised professional warrior becamemore established during this period. Greatchanges took place in warfare and martial soci-ety during the Viking Period. Even if the actualdifferences are difficult to identify, the increas-ing degree of professionalism and the increasingscale of warfare were two main factors (cf.Hedenstierna-Jonson 2006).

Professionalism implies a certain amount ofstandardisation in weapons and equipment, andalso that weaponry was provided by kings orchieftains. This would have had consequencesfor the design of the weapons and the composi-tion of weapon systems carried by the warriors.



Fig. 9. A Borre style bridle mount from Birka'sGarrison.


As suggested by Domeij, Viking Period stylisticexpressions may have constituted an intricateweb of metaphor and associations. Possibly theexplanation for the Borre style's absence fromoffensive weapons should be sought in these as -so ciations. The professional warrior would havebeen equipped in a rational and efficient way,with arms and armour optimised for continuouswarfare. This seems to be the overall image gi -ven by the equipment from Birka's Garrison.

Yet the Garrison also displays a strong pres-ence of religion and there is no indication of adecrease in the use of religious symbols amongthe specialised warriors, rather the reverse.Many decorated weapons are known from theViking Period, e.g. sword hilts and the socketsof spearheads. The styles used are Mammen,Jellinge, Ringerike and Urnes, some of whichcoexisted with the Borre style in the later 10thcentury (Mägi-Loûgas 1993; Skibstedt Klæsø2002, p. 87). Why, then, is the Borre style notseen on these weapons? The answer probablylies in the intrinsic meaning of the style. Its signi -ficance was somehow not compatible with blad-ed weapons. Therefore we need to return to thebasic elements of the Borre style and their sym-bolic meaning.

Borre style symbolismStarting with the gripping beasts, we are dealingwith one of the most discussed motifs of theViking Period. When entering the scene aboutAD 800 this motif was a departure from Norsestylistic tradition, but when depicted on theobjects from the Garrison the beasts had analmost two centuries old tradition. With theirtriangular or pear-shaped heads and gogglingeyes, the gripping beasts deviated from the ge -ne ral form in which animals had been represen -ted. Instead of the traditional ribbon- or s-shaped bodies with heads seen in profile andelongated extremities, the gripping beast's bodyis stout, the head presented en face and theextremities are usually just paws.

Continuing with the Borre style's intricateinterlace, knots and ribbons, there are at leasttwo different sides to these elements. Rooted inNorse tradition, interlace had been used in con-nection with various motifs, both as a way of

pre sentation and as a representation of the Nor -se skaldic verse and artistic values in general.The interlace and knotwork may be seen as anembodiment of Norse thought. It was used incombination with human figures, possibly in -ter preting scenes from mythology, e.g. Odin's self-sacrifice. Then, with the introduction of Chris -tianity, the new god was depicted in a man nerthat correlated with the established sym bolic lan-guage. Crucifixes show the figure of Christ tied tothe cross and often bound to the framework withadditional interlace (Fuglesang 1981; Hedeager1997; Hedenstierna-Jonson 1998; 2002).

Masks with human or animal features con-stitute the third basic element of the Borre style.According to Greta Arwidsson (1963, p. 163,184), the most frequent use of human masks canbe found in earlier Norse art of the 7th and 8thcenturies. The incorporation of masks in the Bor -re style thus constitutes a continuation of an oldmotif and might indicate a return to old valuesconcerning the masks' meaning.

In earlier material, the staring eyes in com-bination with dismembered bodies and ambigu-ous compositions have been interpreted as sym-bols of Odin in his capacity as sorcerer or sha -man. The dismembered bodies of animals andthe split representation of faces have been inter-preted as symbolising ecstatic states and Odin'sability to transform into animals (Magnus 1995;Hedeager 1997; Hedenstierna-Jonson 1998). InClassical Greece the apotropaic mask or apot ro -paion, a mask or head of the gorgon Medusa,was widespread. It was commonly used on war-riors' equipment, mainly shields and body ar -mour (cf. Frothingham 1911; Phillies Howe 1954;Arwidsson 1963, p. 170; Wilk 2000, p. 145 ff).Ta nia Dickinson (2005) has presented an inter-pretation of Migration Period imagery on Ang lo-Saxon shields, deducing apotropaic qualities.The possible apotropaic nature of Norse animalart has been discussed by Siv Kristoffersen (1995,p. 11). She suggests that the animals' strengthand ability to watch over the individual wastransferred through the decorative designs tothe decorated object and thus to the possessor.In the apotropaic symbol resided the ability tofrighten off evil and to protect the holder of theapotropaion (cf. Marinatos 2000, chapter 3).




To frighten or to maim?The elements of the Borre style suggests aninterpretation of the style as being apotropaic inmeaning and function, at least when used onmilitary equipment. This would account for thereluctance to use the style on offensive weapon-ry. There are sword chapes decorated in the Bor -re style, and when used on shields the Borrestyle metalwork was visible only to their carriers.There are exceptions – sword hilts have beenfound that display Borre style ornament. Stillthe use of the style on blade weapons is ex t re -me ly rare. Notably the decoration of the Gnez -dovo (fig. 1) sword shows no staring eyes orfaces, only S-shaped animal bodies and grippingpaws.

The interpretation of some elements of thecompositions as symbols of Odin may seem in -consistent with the fact that these symbols werenot used on offensive weapons. But the Borrestyle's elements appear to refer to Odin as shape-shifting sorcerer and shaman, not as warrior.This was an ambiguous role related to femaleprinciples with which Old Norse male societywas not entirely comfortable. Odin thus has arightful place in the symbolism of a decorativestyle used for protection, while the force of theactive blade should apparently not be obstruct-ed or reduced in any way. The blade was not pri-marily meant to frighten off enemies, but todestroy them.

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Summary

The Borre style, the great art style of the VikingPeriod, is found on a wide array of objects in anextensive geographical area. The near absence ofthe style from blade weapons therefore begs thequestion of the symbolic meaning of the Borrestyle in connection to martial material culture.The Borre style is discussed on the basis of thesymbolic meaning of its basic elements: gripping

beasts, knotwork and masks. The style's absencefrom blade weapons suggests that the Borrestyle functioned as an apotropaion in connectionwith martial material culture, protecting anobject's possessor and frightening enemies. TheBorre style was used to decorate de fen siveweapons such as shields or the offensive weaponin rest, as on sword chapes.

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