The condition of the pieces confirms that this hoard is battlefield plunder from a defeated army. The condition of the cross suggests the victors were heathens, because Christians would have taken it for themselves, not mutilated it. Penda, King of Mercia, whose capital was Tamworth, defeated and killed the Christian Oswald of Northumbria near Oswestry in 641. I think this hoard is spoil from that battle.
The condition of the pieces confirms that this hoard is battlefield plunder from a defeated army. The condition of the cross suggests the victors were heathens, because Christians would have taken it for themselves, not mutilated it. Penda, King of Mercia, whose capital was Tamworth, defeated and killed the Christian Oswald of Northumbria near Oswestry in 641. I think this hoard is spoil from that battle.
Oswulf1 1 month ago