Once I was a clever boy learning the arts of Oxford... is a quotation from the verses written by Bishop Richard Fleming (c.1385-1431) for his tomb in Lincoln Cathedral. Fleming, the founder of Lincoln College in Oxford, is the subject of my research for a D. Phil., and, like me, a son of the West Riding. I have remarked in the past that I have a deeply meaningful on-going relationship with a dead fifteenth century bishop... it was Fleming who, in effect, enabled me to come to Oxford and to learn its arts, and for that I am immensely grateful.


Tuesday 31 January 2023

Early sixteenth century pendant with Court connections


The Historic England website reports today the discovery in Warwickshire of a gold heart shaped pendant linked by an enamelled hand to a substantial gold chain. The pendant itself is decorated in enamel with the English rose and the pomegranate and the linked initials H and K for King Henry VIII and his first wife Queen Katherine of Aragon. A suggested date for the piece is 1521. It has been acquired by the British Museum.


The Independent also has a report about the discovery with better and more detailed photographs, speculates as how it was lost and also suggests that the locket may be linked to the celebrations around the birth of the King and Queen’s son the very short-lived Henry, Duke of Cornwall in 1511. The article can be seen at Does a metal detectorist’s mystery discovery reveal Henry VIII’s soft side?

The BBC News website reports the find and had some more good photographs which give a better idea of its size and quality and it can be seen at Tudor pendant linked to Henry VIII among new finds

The Daily Express covers the find, again with good photographs and more about the actual discovery of the item in Metal detectorist unearths Tudor pendant linked to Henry VIII

The discovery is used to highlight the Portable Antiquities Scheme for small finds by metal detectorists and others.


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