THE ANGLO-SAXONS IN ENGLAND. By Nils Aberg. (Cambridge : Heffer.
12s. 6d.):-Hiatorians have slowly realized that the true story of the Anglo-Saxon settlement in England cannot be pieced out from the scanty literary evidence. The late J. R. Green's ingenious volume, among others, i, now seen to be mere guesswork. The written word must be supplemented and explained by the material remains which archaeologists are gradually collecting front Anglo-Saxon graves. Mr. R. A. Smith, Mr. Leeds, and Professor Baldwin Brown have done much in this direction. They have a valuable ally in Dr. Aberg of Upsala, whose exhaustive study of Anglo- Saxon brooches is now published in a good English translation with many plates. Dr. Aberg's analysis of successive styles of ornament is thorough and interesting. One of his con- clusions is that " the Kentish goldsmiths learnt their art from the Franks, but the Irish took over the heritage from the smiths in Kent." This is more plausible than the current theory that early Irish art was evolved quite independently ; self-determination, indeed, is rare in the history of art.
Previous page
