

By David Sillito

BBC Arts Correspondent

It is a window on the birth of England and a reminder of the often overlooked first King of all of Britain, Athelstan. Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. It was buried as Viking nobility fled from Yorkshire at a key moment in British history and more than a thousand years later it was discovered by two men with metal detectors in a field near Harrogate in North Yorkshire. It is the greatest Viking hoard of treasure to be discovered in Britain for more than 150 years. And now it's been cleaned and prepared for display in York and London - it has revealed its stories. There are coins from Afghanistan and northern Russia. Britain in the tenth century was part of a globalised trading system. The hoard lay buried for more than 1000 years There is one coin featuring Athelstan, the King of England. Experts believe this means it was from 927-8. This was the time when Viking Northumbria was conquered and the birth of what was to be the Kingdom of England. Athelstan is also described as King of Britain. He was, it appears, claiming overlordship over Scotland and Wales as well as England. A matter that other Kings may well have disagreed with. A coin featuring St Peter but also the hammer of Thor. It's evidence that worshippers of Thor were being encouraged to Christianise their allegiance by switching the Scandanavian god for Peter. A selection of the coins and jewellery will be going on display in York and the British Museum in December.



Bookmark with: Delicious

Digg

reddit

Facebook

StumbleUpon What are these? E-mail this to a friend Printable version