Costume Groups in Hampshire and Their Bearing on the Question of Jutish Settlement in the Later 5th and 6th Centuries AD

Abstract

Bede’s account of the arrival of Germanic migrants provides the clearest evidence for Jutish settlement in Britain during the early Anglo-Saxon period. He tells how the Jutes settled in Kent, the Isle of Wight and that part of the mainland opposite Wight (Bede HE i.15). Archaeological evidence for the Jutes is however not as extensive as it is for the Angles and Saxons.1 Indeed, if it were not for Bede, scholars may never have held the Jutes responsible for the appearance of artefacts of South Scandinavian derivation in East Kent. It is not surprising therefore that in recent years the idea of a Jutish migration has come under critical scrutiny, especially from scholars who are wary of relying too heavily on the written sources.2 Further away from East Kent, archaeological evidence for Jutish settlement is weaker. The Isle of Wight has a modest collection of finds linking it to East Kent and Jutland, while southern Hampshire has produced very few such artefacts. This essay will re-examine the question of Jutish settlement in Hampshire, but rather than focusing on individual artefacts it places the emphasis on female dress. Folk costume provided an important way to mark out group identity in early medieval society and it will be argued that variations in costume in Hampshire have the potential to reveal a group that claimed Jutish ethnicity. This identity was deliberately created in the later 5th and 6th century; the motive behind this ethnogenesis coming from an external force.