Garam Éva szerk.: Between East and West - History of the peoples living in hungarian lands (Guide to the Archaeological Exhibition of the Hungarian National Museum; Budapest, 2005)
HALL 7 - The early Migration period: the Huns and the Germanic peoples (c. 420-568 A.D.) (Ágnes B. Tóth)
96. Silver gilt mask brooch from Grave 18 of the Hegykő cemetery. First half of the 6th century crystal pendant suspended from a leather ribbon embellished with metal mounts; another magnificent piece was the large Byzantine bronze bowl from Grave 34. The archaeological heritage of the Langobards is known exclusively from cemeteries since no villages of this population have yet been identified and excavated. It would appear that the Langobards renovated a few dilapidated buildings of the Roman settlements. Most of the graves in the cemeteries were robbed, and thus reconstructions of their costume, their weapons and their tools are based on the few undisturbed burials. Most of the currently known finds come from nobles' and freemen's burials which were luckily overlooked by the grave robbers. The jewellery adorning wealthy Langobardic women reflect the far-flung contacts maintained by this Germanic people: many of the disc brooches were either direct imports from Alemannic-Frankish workshops or their local copies. In contrast, the radiate headed brooches, similarly worn in pairs, were made by local goldsmiths (e.g. the brooches from Grave 56 of the Szentendre cemetery), as were the small, S shaped brooches of two antithetic bird heads. Noblewomen's dresses were decorated with silver mounted leather straps with pendants of semi-precious stones, reflecting the fashion of the earlier 6th century. Langobard warriors were laid to rest with their weapons. Some of the long, double-edged swords were the products of weaponsmiths in the Rhine region, although we know that their own smiths too made excellent weapons. Similarly to their Gepidic counterparts, warriors went into battle outfitted with a long lance, a short dagger, a battle knife and a shield with an iron shield boss. Nobles fought on horses: the two silver harness sets from Veszkény were crafted in Pannónia and the grave itself most likely contained the burial of a Langobardic prince. The ceremonial helmet with bronze gilt bands (Fig. 97) had no doubt been worn by a high-ranking warrior. The written sources record that the first missionaries began converting the Langobards in the first half of the 6th century, while they were still living in Pannónia. They converted to Arianism, a branch of Christianity especially popular among the eastern Germanic peoples, which had been branded a heresy because it rejected the doctrine of Trinity. However, vestiges of their earlier pagan beliefs lingered on, especially the cult of Odin (Wotan), the Germanic chief god, whose sacred animals (deer, raven, wolf) appear on various jewellery articles. In the Szentendre cemetery the men were buried separately from the others, reflecting the widespread belief that after their death, warriors became members of Odin's heavenly army. Pyramidal bone pendants symbolising the mace of Donar (Thor) were believed to ward off evil. Vessels containing food and drink continued to be placed into burials according to the pagan custom. Langobardic
