Fast facts
Name: Eagle brooches
What they are: Decorative pins made of gold, bronze, precious stones and colored glass
Where do they come from: Alover, Spain
When they were made: About 501 to 533
These two pins in the form of an eagle were discovered in the central part of Spain and dated the beginning of the sixth century when The Wisgotsky Kingdom He controlled the regions. The popular symbol among Visigots, a predatory bird representing the strength – and the eagle pins are often found in the female graves of Visigoth.
These brooches are currently in the collection National Archaeological Museum In Madrid, they are made of gold with bronze and measure about 4.6 inches (11.8 centimeters) high. The cells in the Eagle circuit are inlaid using the Cloisonné technique with red and blue-green glass, as well as with white stones. The eyes of the eagles are blue precious stones. On the back there are pieces of the spring mechanism and fasteners.
During the period of migration in Europe (the fourth in the eighth century), the power of the Roman Empire has decreased, and groups such as Navy (Western Goths) moved west from Central Europe to the Iberian Peninsula. They created the kingdom based in Toledo, Spain, and art and letters that flourished in the kingdom of Vigot in the sixth and seventh centuries.
The repeating theme in the art of Vicigot was an eagle – a symbol of the supreme being and embodied power, according to Katherine Reynolds BrownArt in the Metro -Museum of Arts in New York. And these pins with eagles are often Found in pairs In female graves, authors of the textbook “Art and architecture of the Middle Ages“(Press Cornell University Press, 2023). Art Museum of WaltersField
More amazing artifacts
In the middle of the seventh century, the King of Visigot ordered to create ” Visigothic Code“A set of laws that were rather progressive for a while. Women were allowed According to the historian Suzanne, the Fires of Wemple, in order to inherit the land and titles and can make his own marriages. Nevertheless, only a few names of the powerful women of the Vicigote – mainly conjugal kings of the Vicigote – are known from historical records.
Although the eagle brooches suggest that their owner was an influential woman, Lack of strict excavations In the cemetery, a century ago, a century ago means that we will never know whether they were actually the property of Queen Visigot.
