Heiligenfibeln in the Netherlands: a Provisional Check-List

Abstract

Heiligenfibeln in the Netherlands: a Provisional Check-List

In the Carolingian period, a specific type of disc brooch emerged in what is now Germany and the Netherlands. Its material is copper alloy with enamel, although recent research has included disc fibulas without enamel in the discussion of these Heiligenfibeln. This latter designation was derived from the alleged nimbuses above the heads of the human figures depicted on the brooches. At the beginning of the twenty-first century about 100 Heiligenfibeln were known. Their number has increased considerably in the last decades, and this calls for a new inventory to provide a basis for revising the picture of their distribution and evaluating the received opinions on this unique phenomenon of early medieval personal decoration.