Compelling new research from the University of Oxford argues that early medieval soldiers were recruited from Britain into the Byzantine army in 575AD and fought against the Sasanians in modern-day Armenia and Syria. This offers a viewpoint with significant implications for our understanding of the early medieval period in England.
Remarkable metalwork and other rare goods found across England, including within graves at the world-renowned Sutton Hoo burial site in Suffolk, have typically been seen as a result of trade or gifting - however Dr Helen Gittos has now offered a fresh narrative connecting soldiers of early medieval England with the Byzantine Empire.
People in the early Middle Ages were so much more connected than we tend to think and these objects must have been prized not only for being exotic but also for the stories they evoked.
Dr Helen Gittos, Associate Professor of Early Medieval History
Her paper, published in the English Historical Review , argues soldiers were enlisted to fight against the Sasanians in what is now Armenia and Syria as part of a major recruiting campaign in western Europe in 575AD. Dr Gittos suggests that these troops included men from Britain who may have been attracted by the allure of adventure and reward.
Dr Gittos proposes that rare objects from the Eastern Mediterranean, including items found at Sutton Hoo were likely acquired by recruited Anglo-Saxon soldiers. Those who returned brought back with them goods which were current, and distinctive, and unlike the type of objects typically found in normal trading networks.
For example, at Prittlewell (Essex), a man was buried in a wood-panelled chamber with a copper flagon from the shrine of St Sergius in Sergiopolis (Syria); the man buried in a ship at Sutton Hoo (Suffolk) had not only silver and copper dishes from the east Mediterranean, but also lumps of bitumen and textiles from Syria; and at Taplow (Berkshire), a man was buried with a pedestal bowl so rare only three comparable examples are known - all from Egypt.
Dr Helen GittosDr Helen Gittos, Associate Professor of Early Medieval History, commented: 'People in the early Middle Ages were so much more connected than we tend to think and these objects must have been prized not only for being exotic but also for the stories they evoked.'
This research underscores the complex web of cultural and military connections that linked early medieval England with regions such as Byzantium and the Middle East, challenging preconceptions about the extent of Anglo-Saxon interactions with the wider world and suggesting a more cosmopolitan and interconnected early medieval society than often thought.
Dr Helen Gittos's paper, 'Sutton Hoo and Syria: The Anglo-Saxons Who Served in the Byzantine Army?', has been published in the English Historical Review .
