In the year 516, King Hygelac of the Geats, a tribe in – probably – the southeast of Sweden, raided Frisia. Back then, this part of the Netherlands was an impenetrable land with big rivers, little streams, swamps, peat bogs, and damp forests covered with moss and mould. Hygelac's expedition into Frisia was less fortunate, as he was killed and not one of the other Geatish raiders made it home with booty.

From the Old English epic poem Beowulf, we know that King Hygelac was wearing the famous Brosing neck-ring, better known as Brōsinga mene or Brísingamen. After he was killed, his body was stripped of weapons, armour, and jewellery. His bones were piled up on an island in the River Rhine to ward off future intruders. A different, creative version of the scarecrow. Besides this Apocalypse Now-esque story and – more importantly – what happened to the beautiful Brísingamen? Well, after fifteen centuries most parts of the collar have been found and the collar is nearly reassembled. Only a few pieces are still missing. Coordinates of the find location are 53.19664N, 5.4701E. Please, do not tell! Except for Frisia Coast Trail readers, we keep it a secret. But, before you rush off with your GPS, shovel, boots and metal detector, please read the information below first. It is not free of danger.

Beowulf (verses 1201-1208)

þone hring hæfde - Higelác Géata

nefa Swertinges - nýhstan síðe

siðþan hé under segne - sinc ealgode

wælréaf werede - hyne wyrd fornam

syþðan hé for wlenco - wéan áhsode

faéhðe tó Frýsum - hé þá frætwe wæg

eorclanstánas - ofer ýða ful

ríce þéoden - hé under rande gecranc.

That ring [i.e. Brísingamen] had - Hygelac of the Geats,

grandson of Swerting, - on his last adventure,

when under the banner he - defended riches,

warded slaughter-spoils; - him Fate took away

after he from pride - sought misery,

feud with the Frisians; - he then wore the ornament,

the mysterious stone - over the waves’ cup [viz. the sea],

the mighty prince; - he fell under the rimmed-shield.

It must be noted that the epic poem Beowulf is ambiguous concerning who owned the Brísingamen when. Not only does the poem mention it in relation to the death of King Hygelac, but it also states that the Brísingamen was given to the warrior Beowulf by Queen Wealhtheow, the wife of King Hrothgar, also written as Hroðgar, while Hygelac was still alive. When Queen Wealtheow gave it to Beowulf, she asked him to be dreamhealdende, a preserver of joy, and to be good to her four sons because she feels great danger is at hand (Shippey 2022).

Not only does the epic poem Beowulf testify to the faéhðe tó Frýsum ('feud to the Frisians') undertaken by Beowulf's nephew Hygelac, but the raid and the seeking of misery in Frisia by King Hygelac are mentioned in other early-medieval sources as well. These include the Historia Francorum ('history of the Franks'), written by the generously quoted Gregory of Tours in the sixth century, and the anonymous Liber Historiae Francorum, also known as Gesta Francorum ('deeds of the Franks'), written in the first quarter of the eighth century. Hygelac is called Chlochiliach by Gregory of Tours, by the way. Lastly, Hygelac is mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Liber Monstrorum de diversis generibus ('book of different kinds of monsters'), written around the year 800. In much younger, high-medieval Icelandic sagas, Hygelac is known as Hugleikr.

The common thread of the early-medieval texts is: after having raided Frisia somewhere in the Lower River Rhine area, King Hygelac was killed just after his ships had set out to deep sea and silly Hygelac was still ashore, pretty much unprotected. Ships loaded with booty and slaves taken from the Frisians and/or Chatuarii. It is the Franks or the Frisians who killed the king of the Geats and even got their goods and captives back from the ships. The conclusion must be that it was an ill-prepared raid. Pity warlord Hygelac was not able to learn from his mistakes. Read our blog post The Raider’s Portrait of Appels to see how a raid back then was executed properly.

Although some sources explicitly say it was the Franks who killed King Hygelac, confusion is caused by the epic poem Beowulf. The warrior Beowulf, namely, killed with his bare hands the warrior named Daeġhrefn – hero of the Hugas. Because Daeġhrefn was killed by Beowulf, he could not present the Brísingamen to the Frēscyning ('king of the Frisians'). The Hugas are a (sub-)tribe from the region of the Hugamarchi ('mark of the Hugas'), a territory in the present-day province of Groningen in the northeast of the Netherlands. Thus, this episode of the epic poem Beowulf points to an armed confrontation between the Geats and the Frisians, or at least an alliance of Frisians and Franks.

The scene of the crime must have been near the mouth of the River (Old) Rhine (Porck 2014). Therefore, near the former Roman castellum Lugdunum Batavorum, a fortress that has been swallowed by the North Sea in the meantime. Locally, the fortress is still known by the Dutch as Brittenburg ('Britons-burh'). Fortress Brittenburg was located near the settlement of Hrothaluashem, also written as Rothulfuashem, meaning 'Radulf’s homestead'. Hrothaluashem was located near the present-day towns of Rijnsburg ('Rhine-burh') and Katwijk in the province of Zuid-Holland. The island in the River Rhine where the remains of King Hygelac were 'exhibited' to deter future raiders might have been Waardeiland near the town of Leiden (Lugt 2021).

Hrothaluashem is also the location where possibly the great pharus (‘lighthouse’) of Caligula once stood in the Roman period, often named the Tower of Kalla in ancient literature (Dhaeze 2019). It was Roman Emperor Caligula (AD 12-41) who ordered the construction of an impressive lighthouse comparable to the famous Lighthouse of Alexandria in Egypt. Sightings of the remains of the fortress Brittenburg at exceptionally low tide continued until the eighteenth century. Hence, at the time of King Hygelac, the ruins of the Roman fortress and of Kala's Tower must have still been there.

From all this, we can conclude that the Brísingamen neck-ring or necklace was on Frisian territory in 516 when King Hygelac, wearing gemstones and well-wrought gold, met his demise. A date of death, by the way, generally assumed by scholars, which is also based on the text Historia Francorum, mentioned earlier.

The looting of Frisia by King Hygelac is also considered to be the last twitch of five centuries of endemic piracy in the region. Check our blog post Our civilization – It all began with piracy to get an image of this crucial period for bringing forth a common southern North Sea culture and to understand what and who set the example for the Vikings many centuries later.

Battle of Finnsburh – In our blog post Tolkien pleaded in favour of king Finn. An immortalized royal tragedy we told a bit about King Hygelac already and, of course, we told about the legendary Battle at Finnsburh leading to the Freswæle (‘Frisian slaughter’) that took place in that same era, too.

Besides the famous Brísingamen necklace mentioned in the epic poem Beowulf, the Edda does too. The Edda is a medieval compilation of Icelandic poems, poetics, and mythical stories written in the Old Norse language in the thirteenth century. The Brísingamen is mentioned several times and described as the necklace of the goddess Freyja. In Norse mythology, Freyja is the goddess of beauty and fertility, and – relevant for this blog post – also of war and death. In one of the stories, the god Heimdallr – who can do without sleep and sees in the dark – is portrayed as the recoverer of Freyja’s necklace; the one who finds back the beautiful ornament after it was lost. Besides the Edda, the Flateyjarbók, an Icelandic manuscript or yearbook written in the fourteenth century, also makes a reference to the Brísingamen.

Part of most stories is that the beautiful and coveted Freyja, and other women, receive beautiful jewellery in exchange for favours. When promises were broken or, for example, a candidate for marriage was unsuitable, they would break or smash the jewellery, elegantly giving expression to their pent-up disappointment and anger. Etymologically, the word brísingamen can be explained as ‘red-fire/shining neck-ring’. We will come back to that later. Keep it in mind, though.

Folk tradition among the Frisians of today wants Freyja to be the goddess after whom the Frisians are named. Although there is not much actual support for this oral tradition (read also our blog post A severe case of inattentional blindness: the Frisian tribe’s name), graceful Freyja does come into play regarding the Brísingamen. There is, namely, an image preserved of the neck-ring that goddess Freyja wore. This image concerns a silver pendant found at the tiny village of Aska in the province of Östergötland in Sweden. Indeed, more or less where the Geats of King Hygelac probably lived, as mentioned at the beginning of this blog post. The silver pendant is dated between 800 and 1050. Below are images of the pendant we are talking about, which can be admired in real life in Historiska Museet ('the Swedish History Museum').

Let’s zoom-in at her neck (and please do not stare at her little belly too much):

"What the ...?" Indeed, a big disc-on-bow fibula!

Indeed, a big disc-on-bow fibula! An early-medieval type of fibula found along the south-eastern coast of the North Sea. Thus also in former Frisia, which was the northwest of modern Germany and the Netherlands. Frisia then roughly included the coastal zone stretching from sea-inlet Sincfala in the west of the region of Flanders (Belgium), up to the Lower River Weser in the region of Ostfriesland (Germany,) including the central river area in the Netherlands.

These big fibulas were high-end status jewellery and, in contrast to other types of (smaller) fibulae, were not worn in pairs on, for example, shoulders, but as a single priceless item. The big disc-on-bow fibulas probably closed a beaded string around the neck (Schoneveld & Zijlstra 1999). In Frisia, disc-on-bow fibulas have been found especially in the central river area of the Lower River Rhine, in the region called Kennemerland, or Kinnlimasiðe in the Old Icelandic language, and, above all, in the old pagi 'territories' Austrachia '(eastern island'), which is the current region of Oostergo, and Uuistrachia ('western island'), which is the current region of Westergo, both in the province of Friesland. All these archaeology-wise productive sites were part of Frisia during the Early Middle Ages. These types of fibulas are generally dated to the first half of the sixth century.

"Hold on! Wait a minute!" we hear the reader think, "That's exactly the time when King Hygelac found his unforeseen peace near the town of Rijnsburg after his plunder-blunder travels in Frisia!"

Indeed, it is. The plot thickens.

The most exquisite, cloisonné disc-on-bow fibula of the Vendel Period ever found, is the one found in the Wijnaldum-Tjitsma terp. A terp being an artificial settlement mound made of clay and/or dung; read our DIY manual Making a Terp in only 12 Steps to learn more about these earthworks. The location is near the small village of Wijnaldum in the old pagus 'territory' Uuistrachia. The terp itself has been continuously occupied from the second century AD all through the Early Middle Ages, until around the year 950 (Kaspers 2016). It was a terp of a single household. In a failed effort of Romanticism to connect the fibulae with the famous Finn son of Folcwald, king of Frisia, the fibula was nicknamed Finn's Fibula for a while.

When looking at the level of detail and the density of inlays, experts agree it is even more detailed than the jewellery found at Sutton Hoo in England. More than an amazing 300 individual pieces of almandine garnet have been used. This makes it also the largest early-medieval inlaid piece of jewellery found in Europe, as far as we know. The red almandines originate from the state of Rajasthan in India. The mysterious stone from overseas 'eorclanstánas ofer ýða ful,' as the epic poem Beowulf aptly described it. Underneath each tiny piece of almandine, foil of gold was laid. The highly qualified craftsmanship is evident from the very fine spacing of the grid on the foil, too. That way reflecting light even stronger. Therefore – when sun rays touch it – it becomes a true fire-red, shining neck-ring. Even the bronze stencil to stamp the foil has been found. Lastly, the gold content is outstandingly high, with 97% nearly the maximum, and significantly higher than most objects found at Sutton Hoo, for example.

All in all, a Freyja-worthy ornament.

Even archaeologist Bruce-Mitford, who researched the immeasurably impressive Sutton Hoo material, was impressed. The fibula was excavated in parts over different years and still is not complete. First, in the year 1953, the footplate was found by a farmer. The farmer put the fibula footplate in his barn. Later, it ended up on a windowsill at his sister's house in the hamlet of Hatzum in the province of Friesland. But it was too shiny and too impressive to stay unnoticed. It was 're-discovered' by a family doctor. The footplate, thought to be a buckle back then, was exhibited for the first time in the autumn of 1959 in the Fries Museum ('Frisian Museum') in the town of Leeuwarden, as part of the exposition named 'Van Friezen, Franken en Saksen' ('of Frisians, Franks, and Saxons').

In the years 1991-1993, a large-scale excavation took place at the terp of Tjitsma near the village of Wijnaldum, and more pieces of the fabulous fibula were recovered. The last piece – for now, that is – was found in the year 2009. Yes, this ornament has many Heimdallrs. The total length of the fibula is seventeen centimeters, and it can be admired in the Fries Museum. But stay away from it! Like the Hope Diamond, this treasure might bring bad luck too. It was the possession of the goddess of beauty, war, and death. Remember that the king, or pirate, depending on your perspective, who last wore it, died at the sandy shores of western Frisia, whose bones were disrespectfully piled up like a scarecrow on an island in the Lower River Rhine to deter future sea-born raiders.

Conclusion

Adding everything up, the fibula of the Wijnaldum-Tjitsma terp must be the famous and legendary Brísingamen neck-ring. Everybody, three times hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!

The fact that the fibula was broken must have been due to the unpredictable behaviour of goddess Freyja, not because of ploughing the clay, as archaeologists often blame local farmers. It's always easy to blame farmers for many things. No, Freyja must have smashed it after getting angry for some reason. Or, when King Hygelac was killed at the Lower River Rhine, not only was his skull damaged... In any case, a simple farmer's plough cannot hurt or break this divine ornament. Let that be clear once and for all.

We dare to go beyond imagination. Namely, the person who forged this divine piece of art is none other than the famous blacksmith Wayland, known from Germanic mythology. He is also mentioned in the epic poem Beowulf. Blacksmith Wayland revealed himself as the creator of the fibula through a golden solidus found near the village of Schweindorf in the region of Ostfriesland in 1948. The coin is dated to the late sixth century. On it is written in runes the name in the Frisian language 'Weladu'. Indeed, Wayland. The coin is kept in the Ostfriesische Landesmuseum Emden ('East-Frisian State Museum Emden'). Check out our blog post Weladu the flying blacksmith. Tracing the Origin of Wayland for more on this brilliant but devilish goldsmith.

Epilogue

Of course, our conclusion might be a bit firm. However, the many links and connections between this specific big-type fibula, the fire-shining treasure, the red-mysterious stone from overseas (viz. India), King Hygelac, his death at the mouth of the River Rhine in Frisia, the Norse mythology of Freyja, the pendant depicting her with the fibula, the Edda’s and the epic poem Beowulf's references to both the costly ornament and Frisia, the region southeast of Sweden of the Geats and, of course, Frisia itself; all together compose a fascinating early-medieval history.

All these elements come together in the first half of the sixth century, just like how the snake-like creatures are entwined on the footplate of the Wijnaldum-Tjitsma fibula. And, if it was not this specific fibula—albeit it is the most impressive big disc-on-bow fibula we know—they had something very similar in mind back then in the sixth century, in the Vendel Period, when kings, queens, warriors, bards, and audiences were talking, singing, and bragging about the Brísingamen.

Some might argue that it is difficult to reconcile the epic poem Beowulf and the Edda. The first text clearly states that it was men, i.e., King Hygelac and warrior Beowulf, who were wearing the Brísingamen. The latter text, the Edda, says it was a goddess, i.e., Freyja. Thus, a woman who was wearing it. Well, maybe that is because we project a modern-conservative and not overly inclusive way of thinking onto a sixth-century society.

The thing King Hygelac and goddess Freyja both had in common was that they were associated with war. These big type disc-on-bow fibulae might, therefore, have been ornaments (for leaders) of war and battle. King Hygelac wore it proudly on his chest when he went into battle against the Frisians and the Franks, as described in the epic poem Beowulf. And Freyja was the goddess of beauty and war. In addition, are we not gaining more and more archaeological evidence that early-medieval women played an important role in warfare, too? We also know that a neck-ring was worn by men. Lastly, we know that a disc-on-bow fibula was, or at least could be, part of a neck-ring. Yes, in the eyes of early- medieval people, war/danger and beauty/women were two sides of the same coin, like the three Morrigans: the Iron Age or Celtic goddesses of war and fate, and at the same time of fertility and sensuality (Clerinx 2023).

Now go go go! Check out waypoint 53.19664N, 5.4701E, and who knows you will find some of the still missing bits. If you are a real Heimdallr, who knows you even step on the still missing disc.

Go with one last word of advice. If you are a man, do not mingle with Wijnaldum beautiful women! Dangerous too. Read our blog post Expelled from regal grounds to understand why.

Note 1 - Famous scholar and writer, Tolkien, was inspired by the mythology of pre- and early-medieval mythology surrounding beautiful crafted ornaments. In his book The Silmarillions, it was Fëanor, son of King Finwë, who crafted the three shining Silmarils. It is not without reason Tolkien created the name Finwë based on the name Finn, the king of the Frisians as among others mentioned in the epic poem Beowulf too. Read also our blog post Tolkien pleaded in favour of King Finn. An immortalized royal tragedy to learn more about this all.

Note 2 – Although nearly everyone regards the Wijnaldum-Tjitsma fibula as a disc-on-bow, there is a minority report doubting it and arguing that this fibula originally might have had no disc at all (Olsen 2006). This is mainly because the splendid filigree decoration on the bow would justify not being covered by a disc. Well, who knows how much more beautiful the disc might have been, or still is? I guess the bow would not have been covered with a cheap plate of tin.

Note 3 – At the village of Hallum in the province of Friesland, twenty-five kilometers from the spot where the Wijnaldum-Tjitsma fibula has been found, parts of a so-called Vendel helmet have also been found, dated to the sixth or seventh century. Furthermore, near the town of Dokkum, another fifteen kilometers from Hallum, a sword ring was discovered, again dated to the sixth or seventh century. Similar sword rings indicating prestige, i.e., two rings clinging together and attached to the pommel of the sword, have been found in a large area stretching from southwest Finland, Uppland and Gotland in Sweden, Denmark, mid and southern Germany, northern France, and southeast England.

Note 4 – According to sources other than the epic poem Beowulf, the anonymous eighth-century Liber Historiae Francorum states that Hygelac raided the pagus 'territory' Hetware or Hattuaria a bit more upstream the River Rhine, east of the town of Nijmegen. Unaware that he is being chased by a Frankish army, Hygelac sends his fleet with the booty out to sea at the mouth of the River Rhine in Frisia, and is then killed. Also, the year the raid took place was not 516 but 526 (Lugt 2021).

Furthermore, according to Lugt (2021), the mouth of the River Rhine was not inhabited by Frisians, but by the Warini, who originated from the region of Thuringia in the center of modern Germany. We dedicated a separate blog post to the obscure Warini: The Chronicles of Warnia. When history seems a fantasy story. Sadly, Lugt prefers to speak of North Sea Germanics and Rhinelanders, and where possible avoids, just like historian Willemsen, speaking of Frisians too much. Check our blog post Three books (and a comic) reviewed ‘on Frisia’: Is history evidence based? to learn how Willemsen avoids the terms 'Frisia' and 'Frisian' just a bit too evidently. Historian Dijkstra (2011), however, compared the material culture of the province of Zuid Holland with that of the coastal north and concluded it was similar to that of the Frisians.

Recommended music

Marilyn Monroe, Diamonds are a girl's best friend (1953)

The Beatles, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds (1967)

Further reading

Alexander, M., Beowulf. A verse Translation (1973)

Besteman, J.C., Bos, J.M. & Heidinga, H.A., Graven naar Friese koningen. De opgravingen in Wijnaldum (1992)

Besteman, J.C., Bos, J.M., Gerrets, D.A. & Koning, de J. (eds.), The Excavations at Wijnaldum. Reports on Frisia in Roman and Medieval times (1999); Schoneveld, J. & Zijlstra, J., The Wijnaldum brooch (1999)

Buijtendorp, T., De gouden eeuw van de Romeinen in de Lage Landen (2021)

Bremmer, J.H., Frisians in ‘Beowulf’ — ‘Beowulf’ in Frisia: The Vicissitudes of Time (2004)

Broome, R., The Lost Conference Papers II: Religion and Conversion in Early Medieval Frisia (2019)

Bruce Mitford, R.L.S., Gold and Silver Cloisonné Buckle from Wijnaldum, Friesland (1974)

Carmiggelt, A., De ‘Koningsterp’ van Wijnaldum. De Friese elite in de vroege Middeleeuwen (2000)

Clerinx, H., De god met de maretak. Kelten en de Lage Landen (2023)

Dhaeze, W., The Roman North Sea and Channel Coastal Defence. Germanic Seaborne Raids and the Roman Response (2019)

Dijkstra, M.F.P., Rondom de mondingen van de Rijn en Maas. Landschap en bewoning tussen de 3e en de 9e eeuw in Zuid-Holland, in het bijzonder de Oude Rijnstreek (2011)

Eerden, van R. & Nicolay, J.A.W., Wodans mythische vogels. Mythologische symbooltaal op een Domburg-fibula uit Heiloo (2021)

Görman, M., The Necklace as a Divine Symbol and as a Sign of Dignity in the Old Norse Conception (1996)

Heeren, S. & Feijst, van der L. (eds.), Fibulae uit de Lage Landen. Brooches from the Low Countries (2017)

Heeren, S. & Willemsen, A. (eds.), Fibula’s. Vondsten, vormen & mode (2017)

IJssennagger, N., Nicolay, J., Hattenberg, T. & Amsterdam, E., Gemeten goud. Een onderzoek naar goudgehaltes van vroegmiddeleeuwse objecten uit Friesland (2016)

Jørgensen, L., Manor and Market at Lake Tissø in the Sixth to Eleventh Centuries: The Danish ‘Productive’ Sites (2003)

Lasance, A., Wizo van Vlaanderen. Itinerarium Fresiae of Een rondreis door de Lage Landen (2012)

Kaspers, A., It all started with the pieces of one brooch. A new way of looking at the brooch of Wijnaldum-Tjitsma (2016)

Kramer, E., De Hada-runensolidus opnieuw bekeken: eremetaal voor moed, godsvrucht en smeedkunst? (2016)

Kramer, E. & Langen, de G., Van Vikingschat naar Finn en andere Friese koningen. Jan Zijlstra (1941-2018), oudheidkundige tussen eigenbelang en dienstbaarheid (2019)

Looijenga, T., Runica Francia (2018)

Lugt, F., Rijnland in de donkere eeuwen. Van de komst van de Kelten tot het ontstaan van het graafschap (2021)

Mitchell, S., Beowulf (2017)

Nieuwhof, A. (ed.), The excavations at Wijnaldum. Volume 2: Handmade and wheel -thrown pottery of the first millennium AD (2020)

Nicolay, J.A.W. & Aalbersberg, G., Wijnaldum; koningsterp aan de Ried (2018)

Nicolay, J.A.W., Odin in Friesland. Scandinavian influences in the southern North Sea area during the Migration and Early Merovingian Periods (2017)

Nicolay, J.A.W. & Boer, de J., Roem voor de eeuwigheid. Een vroegmiddeleeuwse zwaardknop uit Friesland (2019)

Nicolay, J.A.W., Oortmerssen, van G., Os, van B. & Nobles, G., Een Vendelhelm uit Hallum? Verslag van een archeologische zoektocht (2017)

Olsen, V.S., The development of (proto)-disc-on-bow brooches in England, Frisia and Scandinavia (2006)

Ottema-Kingma Stichting, Fibula from North East Frisia (2019)

Otten, M., Edda. De liederen uit de Codex Regius en verwante manuscripten (1994)

Porck, Th., The Oegstgeest bowl and the bones of a giant king mentioned in Beowulf (2014)

Russchen, A., New Light on Dark-Age Frisia (1967)

Shippey, T., Beowulf and the North before the Vikings (2022)

Tolkien, J.R.R., The Silmarillion (1977)

Tulp, C., Tjitsma, Wijnaldum: An Early Medieval Production Site in the Netherlands (2003)

Tuuk, van der L. & Mijderwijk, L., De middeleeuwers. Mannen en vrouwen uit de Lage Landen, 450-900 (2020)