Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical History and the Chairman of the Theology Faculty Board in Oxford.

The Staffordshire Hoard, discovered in a field near Lichfield in 2009, is the largest hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold ever found. Most of the objects found are weapons and war gear, but among them are fragments of four or five Christian crosses including the strip of gold with a biblical inscription which is the sixth object in our series. Focusing on this object and the Latin text it bears (which means 'Rise up, O Lord, and may thy enemies be dispersed and those who hate thee be driven from thy face') enables us to reflect on the circumstances in which Christianity was introduced to the war-like Germanic peoples of Anglo-Saxon England. We shall consider how the English turned to the Christian God as a support in time of war, and the ways in which Christianity adapted itself to speak more effectively to the warrior aristocracy of Anglo-Saxon England.

Professor Sarah Foot presented our sixth object, a gold strip with inscription found in the Staffordshire Hoard, on 19th January 2012 in Deddington Parish Church.