Mandela’s former office in Johannesburg: a derelict squat

Mandela’s former office in Johannesburg: a derelict squat
Chancellor House once housed Nelson Mandela’s law firm, which was the first black law firm in Johannesburg. The building is now in ruins and is occupied by squatters. There are plans to turn the office into a legal resource centre for young black lawyers. However, efforts to raise the necessary funds to relocate the squatters and legal negotiations have been dragging on for the past ten years.
Andrew Harding reports on BBC Radio 4.
For further information on the history of South Africa, visit our South Africa focus page.

The death of palaeography
Professor David Ganz from King’s College London is the current holder of the UK’s only chair in palaeography. The university has, however, recently, announced its decision to close the chair from September onwards. The subject will no longer exist as a separate academic discipline in British universities. Ganz has now begun to ‘fight for his subject’ and many of the world’s most eminent classicists have petitioned King’s College to reconsider its position. John Crace explains in The Guardian why the study of ancient manuscripts matters and why history will be lost without it.

The Staffordshire Hoard returns home
On Saturday, the Staffordshire Hoard will go on display, for the first time, in the county in which the treasure was found, at the Potteries Museum in Stoke-on-Trent.
Maev Kennedy reports in The Guardian.
The Staffordshire Hoard
February 13th – March 7th
The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery
Bethesda Street, HanleyStoke-on-Trent ST1 3DW
Telephone: 01782 232323
www.stoke.gov.uk

The Nazification of Carnival under the Third Reich
Siobhán Dowling reports in Der Spiegel Online on how the Nazi regime used Carnival, the pre-Lent festival celebrated predominantly in the Catholic west and south of Germany, as a propaganda tool to put forward their own notions of the German nation. There is also a slideshow of images of Carnival celebrations from the time.

Alfred Gregory: Official photographer on the 1953 Everest expedition
Alfred Gregory was the official photographer to the British expedition that made the first ascent of Everest, in 1953. He died on Tuesday, February 9th, aged 96. His obituary was published yesterday in The Independent.

Eadgyth: the oldest remains of an English princess

by Kathryn Hadley

The University of Bristol announced today, January 20th, the recent discovery of the remains of the Saxon Princess Eadgyth, possibly the oldest member of the English royal family whose remains have survived. They were excavated from beneath an elaborate 16th-century monument bearing her name in Magdeburg Cathedral as part of a wider research project into the cathedral.

Eadgyth of Wessex was born in 910. She was the daughter of Edward the Elder, King of Wessex from 900 to 924, and his second wife Aelfflaed and was the granddaughter of Alfred the Great. She was given in marriage to Otto I by her step-brother Athelstan, who was king of Wessex from 929 to 939. Following his victory at the Battle of Brunanburgh in 937, Athelstan later became one of the first kings of a unified England comprising various Saxon and Celtic kingdoms. Otto I, also known as Otto the Great, succeeded his father Henry I as King of Germany in 936. He founded the Ottonian dynasty in Germany and, in 962, was crowned Holy Roman Emperor.

Eadgyth bore Otto at least two children before her death in 946, aged 36. The direct descendants of Otto and Eadgyth ruled Germany until 1254. Eadgyth was initially buried at the Monastery of Mauritius in Magdeburg. Her remains may thereafter have been transferred to Magdeburg Cathedral, but it was believed that the 16th-century tomb was most likely a cenotaph.

However, recent excavations of the tomb at Magdeburg Cathedral, directed by Professor Harald Meller and Dr Veit Dresely of the Landesmuseum fur Vorgeschichte in Saxony Anhalt, revealed a lead coffin bearing Eadgyth's name and recording the transfer of her remains in 1510. Inside the coffin, lay a female skeleton wrapped in silk, aged between 30 and 40.

Small samples from the tomb have been brought back to the University of Bristol for further analysis. A research group from the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology will measure the strontium and oxygen isotopes in the teeth and bone fragments in the hope that they will reveal where Eadgyth grew up and confirm the identity of the corpse.

Professor Mark Horton from the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology explained:

‘We know that Saxon royalty moved around quite a lot, and we hope to match the
isotope results with known locations around Wessex and Mercia, where she could
have spent her childhood. If we can prove this truly is Eadgyth, this will be
one of the most exciting historical discoveries in recent years’.

The findings will be announced at a conference entitled ‘Princess Eadgyth of Wessex and her World’ organised by the Centre of Medieval Studies at the University of Bristol this afternoon. Speakers will also present the current project to analyse the remains and place the discovery in the context of late ninth-century Mercia and Wessex.

Eadgyth is believed to be the oldest member of the English royal family whose remains have survived. The tomb of her brother Athelstan still exists in Malmesbury Abbey, Wiltshire, but is believed to be empty. Her sister Adiva was married to an unknown European ruler; the location of her tomb remains a mystery. However, with the recent discovery of Eadgyth's remains, 500 years after they were transferred to Magdeburg Cathedral, who knows what lies beneath Athelstan's tomb in Malmesbury Abbey?

For further information on Anglo-Saxon Britain, visit our Anglo-Saxon Britain focus page.

Images (Landesamt fur Denkmalpflege und Archaologie Sachsen-Anhalt, Juraj Liptak):

- the contents of the coffin

- excavation beneath the tomb

- inscription on the side of the sarcophagus, dated 1510

The Vikings: barbarian raiders?

by Kathryn Hadley

The Vale of York Viking Hoard, the most significant Viking treasure found in the UK in 150 years, went on display today, September 18th, at the Yorkshire Museum.

The hoard was discovered in North Yorkshire near Harrogate in January 2007 by two metal-detectorists, David and Andrew Whelan. The last time that a similar hoard was discovered was in 1840 in Cuerdale in Lancashire. The Vale of York Hoard was jointly acquired by the York Museums Trust and the British Museum last month. It will remain on display at the Yorkshire Museum until November 1st and will thereafter be transferred to the British Museum whilst the Yorkshire Museum is closed for a major refurbishment project.

The hoard has been valued at £1,082,000 by the independent Treasure Valuation Committee. It contains 67 precious metal objects, including a gold arm-ring, ingots and chopped-up fragments known as hack-silver, as well as 617 coins. The highlight of the display is a gilt silver vessel, which is believed to have been made in what is now France or western Germany around the middle of the ninth century. Most of the smaller objects were hidden inside the vessel, which was protected in another lead container.

The origins of the hoard are unclear, but it is believed that the silver vessel was used in church services. It may have been looted by the Vikings or given to them as a tribute. Were the Vikings really merely barbarian looters and raiders? Were the treasures all stolen trophies from aggressive raids in Anglo-Saxon kingdoms? Were some of the treasures, instead, of Viking origin and the product of a distinct skilled Viking craftsmanship? Some of the objects do have a distinct style which suggests that they may have been crafted by the Vikings themselves.

The hoard is certainly testimony to the widespread influence and impact of Viking campaigns and to the extensive trade links of the time. The objects originate from all over the medieval world, from Afghanistan and Uzbekistan to Ireland, as well as Russia, Scandinavia and continental Europe. The 617 coins include coins minted in York and coins relating to Islam, the pre-Christian religion of the Vikings and to Christianity.

In AD 927, the Anglo-Saxon king Athelstan (924-39) reconquered the Viking kingdom of Northumbria, which had been under Viking control since AD 869. Athelstan’s campaign was followed by a period of unrest and the hoard may have been buried for safety by a wealthy Viking leader in the mid-tenth century.

For further information on Anglo-Saxon and Viking Britain, visit our new Anglo-Saxon Britain focus page.

For further information on Anglo-Saxon art, read Mildred Budny’s article Striking Gold: The Golden Age of Anglo-Saxon Art, 966-1066 published in History Today in January 1985.

Yorkshire Museum & Gardens
Museum Gardens
York YO1 7FR
Telephone: 01904 687687
http://www.yorkshiremuseum.org.uk/

Pictures:

- objects from the Vale of York Hoard

- gold arm ring

- silver gilt vessel

(Copyright the Trustees of the British Museum)