[MR] medieval finger rings

Sat Dec 18 13:39:27 PST 2004

Greetings, my faithful readers!

Recently I and a few other  ladies at a small Schola were given the ultimate
treat: We were allowed to  pick up, try on, admire and goggle at some real
medieval jewelry artifacts.  The owners of these artifacts were a pair of
rather infamous SCAdian  brothers and merchants who rarely teach but were
happy to show their  genuine medieval models and their modern medieval
replicas for a small  class on historical jewelry. I was in heaven! At one
point I had six  genuine historical rings on one hand, and I rapidly came to
several  conclusions:

1) Medieval fingers were much smaller than mine. I was  lucky to get these
adult rings onto my first finger joints, and though I am  a tall woman, I
have medium-sized hands.
2) Much of what jewelry is sold  as medieval out in the real world is
actually more fantasy or the dreaded  "medieval inspired".
3) I love medieval rings.

Therefore, this Links  List is dedicated to the Medieval finger-ring and
related items. As always,  feel free to pass this Links List along to those
who will find it  interesting!

Cheers

Aoife

Dame Aoife Finn of Ynos Mon,  CL,CP
Riverouge
Endless Hills
Aethelmearc

Medieval Bronze  Rings (Note slow loading due to looping music  tract)
http://www.thehonourablecompany.com/medieval/med.htm
A merchant's  site, with six images of extant medieval rings

Glitz Queen:  Medieval Room
http://worldzone.net/art/glitzqueen/medieval.html
(Site  Excerpt) Medieval Gold & Cabochon Ruby Ring. It must've been  brand-new
when someone dropped it, for this ring was recovered from English  earth in
perfect condition centuries later. At least five centuries later,  since it
was made before goldmarking began.

Cronaca: Sixth Grader  Fins Viking Ring
http://www.cronaca.com/archives/001048.html

Viking  Ring,  Gold/Silver
http://www.northerner.com/products/behvs1-19.html
(Site  Excerpt) Reduplicate of jewelry from the Viking Age found at
excavations in  Nar (Gotland Island, Southeast Sweden). The item weighs about
6.4 g (0.225  oz.).

Mirabilis.ca : Mystery of Biggest Viking Gold  Ring
http://www.mirabilis.ca/archives/002082.html
(Site Excerpt) The  biggest Viking gold ring ever found in the British Isles
has been  discovered among the belongings of a York man following his death.
Mystery  surrounds the origins of the 324.6 gram arm ring, which has  excited
experts, one of whom called the find "fantastic".

Saxon  Rings for  Sale:
http://www.time-line.co.uk/erol.html#4033x0&&http%3A%252F%252Fwww.dogpile.com%
252Finfo.dogpl%252Fsearch%252Fweb%252FSaxon%252BRing

Builder  Finds Anglo-Saxon Gold Ring During Tea  Break
http://www.24hourmuseum.org.uk/nwh_txo_en/ART15047.html
An  Oxfordshire builder went to a friend's house to help dig a patio and  came
away having uncovered a 1,400-year-old gold ring. Decorated with a  cross and
four glass beads, the Anglo-Saxon ring has now been declared as  Treasure by
an Oxfordshire coroner and is awaiting valuation by the  Department for
Culture, Media and Sport.

An Anglo-Saxon Runic  Ring
http://ariadne.uio.no/runenews/nor_1997/engl96p1.htm
(Site Excerpt)  A finger-ring with an inscription in English runes was
uncovered, according  to the only available report, in August/September 1993,
during the digging  of a foundation trench for a house at Wheatley Hill, some
14 kilometres  east of Durham. The ring had apparently been cleaned, and
this, together  with certain curiosities in its design and legend, encouraged
the British  Museum authorities to have it carefully examined by their
Department of  Scientific Research. The conclusion was that the ring and text
were  genuine, and the piece is now the property of the British Museum,
accession  no. 1995,9-2,1.

Anglo-Saxon Braided Gold  Ring
http://www.lesenluminures.com/enluminures/rings/ntext/mtwisted.htm
(Site  Excerpt) Of utmost simplicity and surprising modernity, this Saxon
ring  consists of two twisted wires plaited together and hammered at the
back.  The gold content is extremely high, and the ring is very soft.

Medieval  Jewelry
http://www.ceu.hu/medstud/manual/SRM/jewel1.htm
(Site Excerpt) A  large proportion of gold used in late medieval production
was recycled  gold: goldsmiths used ancient coins, jewelry, or other gold
objects as  their raw material. In the High Middle Ages, the previously
produced gold  stock of Europe was primarily accumulated in the court of the
Byzantine  emperors; consequently, little gold was circulated in the  Western
world.

Stefan's Florilegium: Medieval  Jewelry
http://www.florilegium.org/files/ACCESS/jewelry-msg.html
(Site  Excerpt from ONE message in the file) ...First I would point out that
there  were times
in some cultures where no one but the royal family could wear  gold or silver
jewelry (France for a while or two comes to mind, see "7000  Years of
Jewelry").

Personal Ornaments of Ancient  Ireland
http://www.alia.ie/tirnanog/sochis/xviiic.html
(Site Excerpt)  Among the high classes the custom of wearing rings and
bracelets of gold,  silver, and findruine (white bronze) on the fore-arm,
wrist, and fingers -  including the thumb - was universal, and is mentioned
everywhere in ancient  Irish literature.

Ashmole Museum: The Thame  Hoard
http://www.ashmol.ox.ac.uk/ash/objectofmonth/2001-10/theobject.htm
(Site  Excerpt) The five rings contained within the Thame Hoard are all made
of  gold. Three of them include stones believed to have magical  properties.
Ring b is set with a peridot, ring c with a toadstone and ring  d with
turquoise.

Jewelry from the Thetford Treasure--Late 17th  Century  England
http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/compass/ixbin/hixclient.exe?_IXDB_=compass&_
IXSR_=kd1&_IXSS_=_IXFPFX_%3dgraphical%252ffull%252f%26_IXsearchterm%3dthet
ford%252520treasure%26%257bUPPER%257d%253av2_free_text_tindex%3dthetford%2bt
reasure%26_IXDB_%3dcompass%26_IXNOMATCHES_%3dgraphical%252fno_matches%252eht
ml%26_IXspage%3dsearch%26%2524%2b%2528with%2bv2_searchable_index%2529%2bsort
%3d%252e&_IXFIRST_=5&_IXMAXHITS_=1&_IXSPFX_=graphical/full/lg&_IXimg=ps12604
8.jpg&submit-button=summary  (Apologies for the excessively long URL--please
copy-paste to be sure you  get it all))

6,000 Years of Helenic  Jewelry
http://www.culture.gr/2/22/225/22501/225013/e01300.html
Click on  a menuitem to view a photo and description

Victoria and Albert Museum:  William Wytlesey's  ring
http://images.vam.ac.uk/ixbin/hixclient.exe?_IXSS_=%2asform=search_form%26_IXM
AXHITS_=15%26_IXDB_=default%26%24%3dIXALL=medieval+ring%26_IXSESSION_=&_IXSR_=
ro1&_IXSPFX_=full/t&_IXMAXHITS_=1&_IXFIRST_=3&submit-button=summary&_IXSESSION
_=
(Site  Excerpt) This ring belonged to William Wytlesey, Archbishop of
Canterbury  between 1362 and 1374. It is said to have been found in his  tomb.

Jewelry as a messanger of culture between  people
http://www.goldsmith.it/us/culturale/storia/index.html
A  selective history of goldsmithing

ww.historiska.se (Stockholm) : The  Burge  Hoard
http://www.historiska.se/collections/treasures/medel/Burge-e.html

Historical  Museum of Gotland: Hoards from the Medieval Period and later (See
also late  and early viking  eras)
http://www.gotmus.i.se/fornsalen/skatter/engelska/hoards_from_the_medieval_per
iod_and_later.htm
(Site  Excerpt) The Dune hoard is the largest and most opulent medieval hoard
ever  unearthed in northern Europe. The number of objects is no less than
122,  some of which display an exceptionally high quality of craftsmanship.
The  hoard contains characteristic objects from more or less every decade
from  appr. 1100 to 1382. The latter date is marked by a small brooch made
out of  a coin minted for the Teutonic Order's Grand Master Winrich von
Kniprode,  1351-1382.

If you wish to correspond with Aoife directly, please send  mail to: mtnlion
at ptd dot net as she is unable to respond in this  account

------------------------------

Message:  2
Date: Sat, 18 Dec 2004 10:23:28 -0500
From: "Aoife"  <aoife at scatoday.net>
Subject: [Aoife-Links] Bling Deux: another good  one!
To: <aoife-links at scatoday.net>
Message-ID:  <000f01c4e515$87894250$0b75bacc at pcbz6mpmt4r04r>
Content-Type:  text/plain;    charset="iso-8859-1"

Hi all, apparently I  missed a terrific florilegium message on finger rings. 
Stefan forwarded me the  file a short while ago and I had to share:

finger-rings-msg   (23K)  7/10/02    Medieval finger  rings.
www.florilegium.org
(click accessories on the right and then  finger-rings on the left. Site 
Excerpt from one message) ...Being a  professional jeweler, I get asked this 
question frequently.  I usually  give people  a short extract on love and marriage 
rings from an excellent  book called "An Introduction to Rings" by Shirley 
Bury, who is the Keeper,  Department of Metalwork for the Victoria and Albert 
Museum.  

Cheers!

Aoife