Mold Cope



In 1736, landowner Nehemiah Griffiths, who lived near Mold, built an obelisk in one of his fields. The stone monument he erected included a Latin inscription and was built to commemorate one of the strangest battles having been recorded as taking place in Wales. Legends of the battle dated back centuries and local stories told of a gold-clad warrior who took part in it and haunted a nearby mound. In 1833 the mound was excavated and revealed a golden cope or cloak of fantastic workmanship. While the cope dates from prehistoric times, its story can be told with a starting point in the last years of Roman Britain and the early years of what would be known as the Dark Ages.

The Collapse of Rome
The Germanic tribes had undergone massive technological, social, and economic changes after four centuries of contact with the Roman Empire. From the first to fourth centuries, Germanic populations, economic production, and tribal confederations grew, and their ability to conduct warfare increased to the point of challenging Rome. The Goths, one of the Germanic tribes, had invaded the Roman empire on and off since 238, but in the late 4th century, the Huns began to invade the lands of the Germanic tribes, and pushed many of them into the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire could no longer defend itself against either internal rebellion or the external threats. In 383, the usurper Magnus Maximus withdrew troops from northern and western Britain, posibly at that stage leaving local warlords in charge. As explained in the article on Elen of the Hosts his story was converted into the confused legend of Macsen Wledig. Maximus's ambitions led him to invade Italy, resulting in his defeat by Theodosius I at the Battle of the Save in 388. He was then executed by Theodosius. In the view of some historians, his death marked the end of direct imperial presence in Northern Gaul and Britain. However, coins dated later than 383 have been excavated along Hadrian's Wall, suggesting that troops were not all stripped from it.

Britain was suffering raids by the Scoti, Saxons, and Picts and, sometime between 396 and 398, Stilicho allegedly ordered a campaign against the Picts, likely a naval campaign intended to end their seaborne raids on the east coast of Britain. He may also have ordered campaigns against the Scoti and Saxons at the same time, but either way this would be the last Roman campaign in Britain of which there is any record. By around the year 400 the provinces of Britain were certainly isolated, lacking support from the failing Roman Empire, and the local military forces set-up and pulled-down a series of emperors as the soldiers supported each in turn. Constantine III was a British common soldier who was declared Western Emperor and invaded Gaul in 407, eventually occupying Arles, but in the process probably drained Britain of the last of it's Roman legions. Constantine gained the upper hand after several battles with the forces of the Western Roman Emperor Honorius. As a result, Honorius recognised Constantine as co-emperor in 409. The activities of the invading tribes, raids by Saxons on the near-defenseless Britain and desertions by some of his top commanders led to a collapse of support. After further military setbacks he abdicated in 411. He was either assassinated or captured and executed shortly afterwards. An appeal for help by the British communities was, according to Zosimus, rejected by the Emperor Honorius in 410 AD. In the text called the Rescript of Honorius of 411, the Western Emperor Honorius tells the British civitates to look to their own defence as his regime was still fighting usurpers in the south of Gaul and trying to deal with the Visigoths who were in the very south of Italy.

The Mold Cope
The cape is one of the finest examples of prehistoric sheet-gold working and is quite unique in form and design. It was laboriously beaten out of a single ingot of gold, and then embellished with intense decoration of ribs and bosses to mimic multiple strings of beads amid folds of cloth. Perforations along the upper and lower edges indicate that it was once attached to a lining, perhaps of leather, which has decayed. The bronze strips founded with the cape may have served to strengthen the adornment further.