Royal celebrations in Sweden

This past week has seen a great gathering of members of Royal families from Europe and beyond in Stockholm to join in the celebration of the eightieth birthday of King Carl XVI Gustaf on April 30th.

The King is the longest reigning monarch in Swedish history and in his fifty third year in the throne. I recall his accession in 1973 and how some newspaper pundits were writing off the future of the Swedish monarch. The age gap between his almost ninety one year old grandfather and his youth at only twenty seven  were presented as hindering the chances of the institution.

Shortly before his death King Gustaf VI Adolf had accepted the new version of the Instrument of Government revising the 1809 constitution. The new form removed from the monarch the formal powers to appoint the prime minister or signing legislation into law, whilst retaining a national representative and ceremonial role. This came into effect in 1975.

If constitutional change was in the public sphere for discussion the Royal family faced anther problem. Because of the very strict regulation of royal marriages,  which could not be contracted with commoners the formal Royal family coomprised just the  unmarried King and his unmarried uncle Prince Bertil. The other two surviving sons of the late King had renounced their rights to marry commoners. This was a policy which had been very strongly maintained by King Gustaf VI Adolf  whilst Crown Prince.The new King’s four sisters were also married to commoners, and there was no provision for female succession to the Crown. 

In 1976 the King married Queen Silvia, and this year will also see the public celebration of their Golden Wedding. Here there was a youthful monarch and his consort who were blessed with three children, and women admitted to full rights of succession. A Royal house that for decades was, and appeared, middle aged and indeed elderly now had a youthful image, and which has continued with the birth of grandchildren to the King and Queen.

The revision of the constitutional position of the Swedish monarch may have appeared alarming to those of us of a traditional outlook, but to the outside world has not diminished the public perception of the monarchy. I have seen it argued that in Sweden itself the changes actually increased support for the institution.

Interestingly one have alongside the others was suspending the bestowal of the various chivalric orders other than to the Royal Family itself, which in reality really meant the most senior one, the Order of the Seraphim. In the last two or three years this policy has been abandoned and the other orders given as in other realms as public recognition for service.  

 

Furthermore the public face of the Swedish monarchy is not, as so many unthinking commentators say, the tired out trope of an unceremonious bicycling royal house. On state occasions Sweden can put on a traditional ceremonial and military display to rival any other western monarchy.

The gloomy predictions of 1973 have, happily, not come to pass.

A friend and I were agreeing that one disappointment about the celebrations culminating in a gala banquet in Stockholm on the King’s birthday, complete with tiaras and orders and decorations, was that no member of our own Royal Family was present. The King and Queen were of course on their very successful state visit to the United States, and the Kings of Tge Netherlands and of Spain were committed to other events, but their families were present. One would have thought that a member of the House of Windsor could have attended. Not only are they related, several times over, but Sweden is now an ally through NATO - unthinkable in 1973 - and a country with close cultural connections. People in the UK expect foreign royalty to attend events here, yet here was a chance to reciprocate that was not taken up.

With congratulations and every good wish to the King of Sweden on his birthday and to the Swedish Royal Family.

St Helena and the Finding of the True Cross

The New Liturgical Movement website has an article today, the traditional feast of the Invention or Finding of the True Cross, about a cycle of paintings in the Franciscan church of Santa Croce in Florence. These are dated to about 1335 and a few years later, and depict the background to St Helena’s visit to the Holy Land in search of the True Cross and her successful recovery of it.

The illustrated article can be viewed at A Legend of St Helena, the Discoverer of the True Cross 

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of the Red Ark in York Minster

The third station on the Pilgrimage is the statue of Our Lady of the Red Ark in York Minster.

My post from last year, with links to previous pieces about the lost image in the south transept of the Minster can be seen at Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of the Red Ark in York Minster

The image of Our Lady of the Red Ark was probably just on the right of this picture

Image: Wikimedia

May Our Lady of the Red Ark intercede for us and our intentions 

Jesu mercy, Mary pray

For 

Anne Boleyn and facial recognition technology

The quest to find a contemporary portrait of Anne Boleyn, as opposed to posthumous, later sixteenth century portraits has taken a new turn with the publication of new research which has used current facial recognition techniques on portraits of her daughter and other relatives to seek common features. This evidence has then been applied to the unidentified portraits amongst the Holbein drawings in the Royal Collection.

The result has been to suggest one drawing in particular as a possible portrait of the controversial Queen.

Some art historians are highly sceptical about the methodology as blending two different types of image. This is all outlined in a report on the BBC News website, which can be seen at Scientists believe they have found previously unknown sketch of Anne Boleyn. There is also a short video about the research which can be viewed at Computing: Is this actually what Anne Boleyn looked like?

 

I would not claim expertise to pronounce either way about the proposed identification, but I would hesitate to dismiss it out of hand. I do not think the drawing long labelled as being of Anne very convincing, and the one suggested as being her does perhaps look more likely but that may be a consequence of the fact that it more closely resembles the well-known but posthumous portraits. 

One might wonder, adapting Marlowe, looking at any of these images of Anne Boleyn if this was the face that launched a revolution and displaced almost a thousand years of faith.

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady in the Undercroft Canterbury Cathedral

The second destination on the Pilgrimage is the shrine of Our Lady in the Undercroft in Canterbury Cathedral.

Situated in the Western Crypt it lies in the oldest part of the present cathedral. It was a major place of pilgrimage in the medieval period and would doubtless have been visited by pilgrims such as those described by Chaucer in addition to their primary object the shrine of St Thomas Becket in the main part of the cathedral.

  

My post from last year, with links to my previous articles about this fascinating survival, and its modern restoration, can be seen at Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of the Undercroft in Canterbury Cathedral

 

The Western Crypt and the Chapel of Our Lady in the Undercroft 

Image: Canterbury Cathedral 

May Our Lady in the Undercroft intercede for us and our intentions

Jesu mercy, Mary pray

Arthurian Legends - Sir Percival, Sir Marrok and Merlin

Before the Pilgrimage leaves Glastonbury I will share three recent online articles that relate to the Arthurian legends Many places have claims to participate in that vast corpus of poetry and prose, but Glastonbury is one of the central players, where history, legend and literature interweave so signally.

The first relates to the story of Sir Percival and is from The Collector. The article seeks to link the twelfth and thirteenth century stories of Chrétian of Troyes, Robert Borron and Wolfram von Eschenbach to earlier or contemporary Welsh tales and to actually place Perceval/Peredur as a real historical figure in the sixth century. 

The illustrated article can be viewed at The Real Historical Background of Sir Percival's Arthurian Legends 

I do not claim sufficient expertise in Arthurian studies to give an author at I’ve comment but the pieces does appear to be coherent and considered. Percival is usually suggested, because the early stories come from there, to have come from Wales. This interpretation makes him come from the area around York. As a Yorkshireman myself the thought that Percival was, so to speak, a Yorkshire lad is intriguing.

Wikipedia has an account of the various strands of the story of Percival which can be accessed at Perceval

Sir Marrok is not one of the well-known Knights of the Round Table and gets only a tantalising mention by Malory. Socially he was disadvantaged, having been made into a werewolf by his wife, but then, these things happen ….

What is known of his story and later variants on it is outlined in a post from Historic Mysteries at Sir Marrok: The Werewolf at the Court of King Arthur 

The reputed grave, or place of entrapment, of Merlin, is claimed for several places. Atlas Obscura has a piece about a site in Brittany which has been associated with Arthurian stories since the middle ages and more particularly since the nineteenth century. The article can be seen at Merlin's Tomb

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Glastonbury

The Pilgrimage begins at Glastonbury and wends its way to Walsingham.

Glastonbury is a place of beginnings, many of them so shrouded in myth and mystery as to have become impenetrable, yet ever intriguing. As one distinguished historian wrote the Glastonbury legends may not be fact but their existence is a very great fact.

My post about Glastonbury as a centre of Marian, and related, devotion, from last year, together with links to previous posts from other years, about the abbey as a focus of prayer and history can be read at Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Glastonbury

Glastonbury, its legends and history have fascinated me since I was a boy, and as a younger man I had the opportunity to stay at the adjoining Diocesan Retreat House in preparation for the Anglo-Catholic Pilgrimage each year from 1987 until 1993. I also stayed there for retreats or as a holiday base in those years, and have been on other occasions to the actual Pilgrimage. My annual week, or weeks, at Glastonbury enabled me to soak up the historic atmosphere and Christian - but hopefully not the non-Christian - spirituality of the town and abbey ruins nestling beneath the distinctive profile of the Tot with its legends and story of martyrdom in 1539. I came to sense and see just how extraordinary and exceptional this charming little market town really is as a source of so much art and literature, of myth and legend. It is a holy place, a graced place, where the time-space continuum wears this, where time becomes space.

At its heart.are the remains of the abbey. One can be awed, as at Cluny, by the horrific scale of destruction, but then realise, and marvel, that from the fragments of stonework that survive most of the monastic church could be accurately recreated. 

The one portion that survives more or less completely save for vault and roof is the Lady Chapel at the western extremity

This, with its distinctive angle turrets, was built after the devastating fire of 1184 and stands on the site of the Old Church of Glastonbury. This was the venerable timber church built, it was claimed, by Joseph of Arimathea in honour of Our Lady. A later version of the legend had the structure actually created by Our Lord on a visit with Joseph of Arimathea whilst engaged in the tin trade before His public ministry. That version is, as far as I can tell, a post-reformation reworking to enhance the case for English exceptionalism. Just to the south of the chapel is the cemetery site where the monks found at this time of rebuilding what they believed, or claimed, to be the remains of King Arthur and Queen Guinevere.

The chapel as rebuilt after 1184 is, unlike the main monastic church with its early Gothic style, consciously  more old-fashioned in a confident earlier twelfth century Romanesque and rich with carved decoration. In places, even today, remains of the painted decoration can be found on the sculpture of the doorways.  

The Lady Chapel at Glastonbury Abbey

Image: Britain Express

May Our Lady of Glastonbury intercede for us and our intentions,

Jesu mercy, Mary pray  

A Marian Pilgrimage in May

Tomorrow is May Day and the beginning of Mary’s Month.

As I have done since 2020 I am going to post the itinerary day by day of a virtual Pilgrimage around the Marian shrines of medieval England, together with something of their  history.

Rather than write out again the background to this pilgrim journey I will link to my introduction to last year’s peregrination, which can be seen at May Marian Pilgrimage

I am also reposting the equivalent article from the previous year which gives more about the origins of this convoluted route and the historical evidence behind it. That can be seen at May Marian Pilgrimage

The daily posts will include the consolidated posts and links as I published them last year, together with any additional facts or reflections, plus one new addition to the itinerary. 

As I write each year I always intend to rewrite the posts, but never seem to find the time to consolidate them. However their existing discursive style is very much how I speak when with friends, so you will get a flavour of my own verbal presentation as we ramble in spirit through the landscape and along the roads of later medieval England. Whether we are like Chaucer’s fellow pilgrims to Canterbury in their variety and idiosyncrasy I will leave to readers to decide.

May Our Lady accompany us on this journey and ever assist us with her prayers. 

Jesu mercy Mary pray

How many people did you need to build a medieval cathedral?

The answer to the question I posed in the title of this post is, according to the author of a recent article on Medievalists.net, not what you might expect.

The evidence comes from the civic records of the city of Girona in Catalonia, and relates to the building in the fifteenth century of the nave of the cathedral. This was in itself a radical departure in its design from the choir and ambulatory erected at an earlier date.

The article can be read at How Many Workers Built a Medieval Cathedral?

Identifying the Picts

Questions such as “Who were the Picts?” and “What happened to the Picts?” have dominated the historiography of early Scotland for certainly decades, and in many ways, for centuries. As a result the Picts have been left in a historical Highland mist, a group who intrigue, but continued to elude us.

Recent sequencing of some Pictish DNA does appear to have answered these questions. This research is presented in a short video from The Helix Report which can be seen here 

There is more about this new view of the Picts and their true place in the history of Scotland in another video, from Origin Decoder which can be seen here

Anne Boleyn sat here?

I continue to be surprised by the number of people - mainly women I think - who have a sentimental fascination with Anne Boleyn. Whilst not on a par with the extremes of Ricardian enthusiasts it is somewhere in the same part of the field.

Personally I am more inclined to see her as one of, if not the, most evil women in English history. 

The current exhibition about her at Hever Castle includes a substantial chair which appears to have been made for her in the years she was at the French Court and before she returned to England. If it really did belong to her then it is a rare survival and link to her.

Artnet reports on the chair and what can be deduced about its history in an illustrated article which can be seen at Was This Anne Boleyn's Seat? Rare 500-Year-Old Chair Linked to the Tudor Queen

Seeking to identify the ‘Persian Lady’

Amongst the Elizabethan era paintings in the Royal Collection one that has attracted considerable speculation is what is often known as the ‘Persian Lady’. The lady herself is obviously western, not Persian, but clad in a voluminous robe in a style identified as being Persian. She is obviously wealthy and also expecting a child. The great question is her identity.

Attempts to answer that have included several distinctly eccentric theories over the years. However the Daily Telegraph recently reported on what appears a much more likely theory that the Subject was Penelope Lady Rich, later Lady Mountjoy and briefly Countess of Devonshire. A very well connected and significant figure at the Elizabethan and Jacobean Court, as the daughter of Lettice Knollys and sister of the ill-fated Earl of Essex, and thus step-daughter of the Earl of Leicester, she was an ultimately scandalous one.

 

The article about the suggested identification can be seen at Mystery of ‘Persian Lady’ in Elizabethan masterpiece solved

  

Wikipedia has biographies of Penelope at Penelope_Blount,_Countess_of_Devonshire

and of her two husbands Robert_Rich,_1st_Earl_of_Warwick and at Charles_Blount,_8th_Baron_Mountjoy

.

The article on Charles Mountjoy mentions that his marriage to the divorced Penelope was solemnised by his chaplain, William Laud. It does not refer to the fact that for the rest of his life the future Archbishop observed the anniversary by fasting in repentance for conducting the marriage service.

Render unto your parish church

 

I have written before in Render unto God … about the fact that many medieval English  parish churches, as well as castles and town walls, were originally rendered and painted to seal the walls against damp ingress. With ashlar built churches this was not necessary, but in areas lacking good building stone it was a practical necessity. Where ashlar was used in architectural details such as quoins and other details that masonry was left exposed to provide contrast.

 

This is a topic which is not discussed much in books on parish church architecture, and overly enthusiastic nineteenth century restores often stripped surviving rendering off medieval churches along with the internal plaster. The exterior may now look pleasantly rural and traditional, but it is not what the builders intended.

I came by chance upon a video about this subject, and looks at several examples. The practical need to protect the fabric against the weather is shown, and some of the comments make interesting points. It can be accessed at Thundridge Old Church

The history of the church and parish at Thundridge is introduced on Wikipedia in articles which can be seen at Thundridge and in another about a hamlet within the parish at Cold_Christmas

The website of a voluntary trust which seeks to preserve the tower can be accessed at Protect and Share Thundridge Bury History

Amongst its illustrations is a charming view of the church before its demolition in 1853. Its loss appears to be very regrettable indeed.

There is now a new video online about the tower which, despite its eye-catching title, as actually very optimistic about future plans. It can be viewed at Thundridge Old Church

The church of St Curig at Porthkerry in the Vale of Glamorgan is an example of a medieval church that is still a striking white building in the landscape.

Porthkerry Church 

Image: N.Kaye on Flickr

Examples of surviving medieval rendering on castles can be seen at Conwy and on the shell keep of Totnes. These were castles that were meant to be seen with their gleaming white walls, not structures that blended into the landscape. A later twelfth century reference to a newly built castle within the Angevin lands in France lays stress on its white walls. 

A gown belonging to Bess of Hardwick

Hardwick Hall and its contents in Derbyshire offers a unique insight into the life of its formidable creator, Elizabeth, Countess of Shrewsbury, better known as Bess of Hardwick. From a minor gentry background at Hardwick through four marriages, each one raising her status, and through shrewd estate management, she was the central figure in establishing the Cavendish children from her second marriage as the Devonshire ducal family and their place in the political and social history of succeeding centuries.

I have visited Hardwick on several occasions and never failed to be impressed by what the building is, and the collection of portraits and furniture from the Countess’s time. Amongst these are embroidered pieces created both by the Countess and also by Mary Queen of Scots whilst she was lodged with the Earl of Shrewsbury and his wife, together with her royal household-in-exile, in the 1570s and early 1580s.

A new exhibition about Bess of Hardwick promises another remarkable survival in the form of a violet dress listed in a 1601 inventory as one of her possessions. The gown is illustrated and placed in its context in a BBC News report which can be seen at Rare gown dating back to 1600s to go on display at Hardwick Hall

Shakespeare was here

St George’s Day on April 23rd is also, apparently, the date of both Shakespeare’s birth in 1564 and of his death in 1616. He is a writer who, not surprisingly, is still frequently in the news. 

His most recent appearance is in connection with a property he bought in the last years of his life, close to one of the theatres he acted in and wrote for. This had been created in part of the remains of the dissolved monastery of Blackfriars close to the Thames and in the western part of the City of London. The fact of him having a house in the vicinity was known but a recent discovery has revealed a plan of the house and its precise location.

The discovery is set out in a recent BBC News article which can be seen at Shakespeare's 'missing' Blackfriars home mapped with discovery

St George’s Day

 

St George and the Dragon

Rogier van der Weyden

1432-35

National Gallery of Art, Washington 

Looking online I came upon a blog post by Professor Sarah Peverley about the cult of St George in later medieval England. It is quite short but includes a range of themes and insights, as well as some good illustrations. It can accessed at Saint George

May St George ever pray for England, its people and institutions, and for all who seek his intercession.

 

St George, Pray for us!

The continuing saga of the Sigena murals

 The Art Newspaper reported recently on the latest falling out over the twelfth century ceiling paintings from the chapter house of the monastery at Sijena/Sigena in Aragon. This is but part of a story that could be said to begin with the painting of the ceiling around 1200, but which really becomes active with the burning of the monastery - clearly an historic monument - by fanatical anti-clerical Republicans in the summer of 1936 at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. What survived of this great cycle of paintings was transferred to Barcelona, but now there is strong pressure to relocate them in their original setting, and equally pressure to keep the surviving portions in Barcelona.

The article can be read at Barcelona museum refuse to return Sijena murals to monastery

The Wikipedia articles about the monastery and its history are not that detailed, but do show how the murals belonged to the shared artistic culture that linked Aragon to both England and Sicily in the period. This was no doubt a consequence of the diplomatic and dynastic alliances forged by King Henry II. As the article mentions the artists who worked at Sijena were, or were linked to, the artists who illuminated the Winchester Bible.

 

The articles can be viewed at Villanueva_de_Sigena

andRoyal_Monastery_of_Santa_Maria_de_Sigena

It is good to read that not only are the monastery buildings being restored, but that a community of nuns has been restablished at Sigena. The story of the destruction of so much at Sigena is a continuing reminder of the forces of hatred and evil the Nationalists were fighting against in the Spanish Civil War and why we should be grateful that they prevailed.

The Paschal Candle in Milan Cathedral

The distinctive customs of the Ambrosian Rite and the usages of the cathedral in Milan include a very striking positioning of the Pascal Candle.

The Liturgical Arts Journal recently had an article about this tradition which can be accessed at The Monumental, Suspended Paschal Candlestick of the Duomo of Milan

In 2020 I wrote about the cathedral Pascal Candlestick in connection with its part in the ceremonies of Ascension Day in Milanese Ascension Spectacle

More about Papal Agnus Deis

Following on from my last post here are two more articles from the New Liturgical Movement about the rite of blessing of these wax medallions. 

The first is about the rite as used in recent centuries, and the second an earlier form from the late fifteenth century. How far back the latter form dates is not clear.

They can be accessed at The Rite of Blessing of the Agnus Deis (Part 1) and at The Rite of Blessing of the Agnus Deis (Part 2)

Rediscovering the seal of King Edward the Confessor

There is a particular nightmare that affects archivists And research as in respect of historic manuscript collections.

That is that material gets misfiled - returned to the wrong box, or the file misplaced in the stacks, whatever - and when it goes missing, no one knows when, if ever, it will come to light. The next person who wants to consult the file may not come along for a year, or for a decade, or for a century. Virtually anonymous boxes in amongst so many others that look almost identical are far less easy to monitor than books in a library store, and that is no easy matter in itself.

The phys.org website reports the happy and fortuitous rediscovery in 2021 in the Archives Nationales in Paris of the best surviving example of the seal of King Edward the Confessor. Dated to the years 1053 to 1057 and authorising a grant to the abbey of St Denis it has become detached from the original charter, and disappeared without trace into the depths of the Archives Nationales some forty years ago.

The article discusses the emergence of this, the first English Great Seal, and what it reveals about St Edward’s concept of his kingship as well as what it indicates about his chancery.

It is the prototype of all its successors as the ultimate authentication of the Sovereign’s will and authority down to that created the other year for King Charles III.

The article, which has photographs of the recovered seal, can be accessed at Lost seal of Edward the Confessor resurfaces after going missing for 40 years

The Papal Blessing of Agni Dei

  

Six years ago I wrote a post about the traditional blessing by Popes in their first Eastertide of the wax Agni Dei made from the wax of the previous year’s Paschal Candles in the churches of Rome, and their distribution as sacramentals. That article linked to one on the Liturgical Arts Journal website and can be viewed at The Paschal Blessing of the “Agnus Dei”

 

The tradition was cast aside in the wake of Vatican II, but had it survived, or been revived, last week would have witnessed the ritual being celebrated by the Pope in his first year. Maybe if he had he could have sent one to Mr Trump. 

The New Liturgical Movement website now has an article with archive film about the Agnus Dei which can be seen at Pope St John XXIII Blessing the <i>Agnus Deis</i>

The journal Catholic History has a detailed, and well illustrated, article from 2018 about the place of the Agnus Dei in the devotional life of English Catholics in the Elizabethan persecution - their import was prohibited and possessing one could cost someone their life on the scaffold - and it can be accessed at The agnus dei, Catholic devotion, and confessional politics in early modern England

It will be no surprise to my readers to add that I cannot in all conscience see why this ancient tradition was jettisoned, and would very much like to see it revived.

Remembering Evelyn Waugh

April 10th was the sixtieth anniversary of the death, on Easter Day 1966, of Evelyn Waugh.

I recall the news at the time and from what little I knew of him had a vague sense of loss of a figure in the landscape. Over succeeding years and decades I came to know his works by reading and viewing adaptations, and to appreciate his literary skill, his brilliant humour and his Catholic insight. Apart from the obvious and easily accessible ones, his is the only literary grave I have sought out and visited. In my opinion, for what it is worth, he is not only a master craftsman of the language but also the greatest English novelist of the twentieth century.

Most writers of fiction go, to some extent, out of fashion very soon after their deaths. Waugh however, who had been seen as unfashionable in his last years, was suddenly rediscovered and his reputation and popularity have continued to grow. This has been aided by the publication of his letters and diaries, by television and to a lesser extent film, but also by 

an awareness of his consummate literary skills on the printed page.

The Daily Telegraph has had two quite short articles about Waugh and his place as a Catholic literary figure which can be seen at Sixty years on, it’s time to revive Evelyn Waugh’s lost Catholic civilisation

and To understand the world today, read books from 100 years ago

Finally an impish, but also serious suggestion. I have referred before to my, shall we say, lack of appreciation of G.K.Chesterton and his extensive literary outpourings. I cannot see why anyone would want him canonised, good Catholic that he doubtless was.

Now, if people want an English man of letters who came to a deep devotion to the Catholic faith, wrote about it, and continues to provide great entertainment in his novels, as a canonised saint, then in Evelyn Waugh there is indeed a candidate. 

Never mind about youthful follies ( ask St Augustine, de Rancé, Charles de Foucauld and many others about those), scoffing the children’s bananas, the sharp tongue, but remember the loyal friend, the loving father whose own father had probably made him inhibited in expressing paternal affection, and the author of prose in the service of Catholicism. There you have a real candidate for raising to the altars. Think about it, pray about it.

Medieval Parisian Vespers

The New Liturgical Movement has an article and video on its website reporting upon the celebration of the Solemn Vespers of Easter Day - and thus the Octave of Easter Week - according to the Gallican Parisian Use. The article explains that despite its abandonment in 1871 one church, St Eugène, was given the privilege of still using this form.

The singers are from the splendid Schola Ste Cecile, whom I had the good fortune to hear a few years ago when they spent a week in Oxford whilst on a tour of England.

The report and video can be accessed at Video of Medieval Vespers of Easter in Paris

The Turin Shroud in the news again

The Holy Shroud of Turin is back in the news with the publication of a new scientific study of the DNA contaminants on its surface. The hope is that such microscopic details will help reveal where it has been and what it has been exposed to.

The results show a vast variety of material, some of which are clearly from the last five or so centuries as they are from plant varieties introduced from the New World. Other material might well suggest that the shroud was in the Middle East, or indeed that it might originate in India. It is rather a case of “you pays your money and takes your choice”.

The first report I saw was from the Vatican centred website Zenit which tends to take a favourable view of the evidence as indicative of the authenticity of the Shroud. The article can be read at New Study Reopens the Case of the Turin Shroud’s Origins: what the DNA says

The second report is from Live Science which seems very anxious to stress the results of the 1980s Carbon 14 dating to the later medieval centuries.This dating is a matter of considerable academic debate. I rather regret the way the article is written, if not indeed skewed, to support the case for the Shroud being a forgery. However, in the interests of impartiality I am giving the link, which is accessible at Shroud of Turin, claimed to be Jesus' burial cloth, contaminated with carrot and red coral DNA

As I have written before on this subject I am definitely inclined to believe the Shroud is genuine, but accept that we shall probably never know with certainty this side of Judgement Day.

Christ is Risen Alleluia!

Christ is Risen, Alleluia!

He is Risen indeed, Alleluia!

 

Detail from The Resurrection 

Piero della Francesca

1463-65

Image: Finestre sull’ Arte

Looking back to my post for Easter Day last year and also to the fact that it was well received, I have done as I did last year and reproduced Pietro della Francesca’s depiction of The Resurrection, and an giving a link to last year’s article, which I definitely recommend because of its Patristic content, and which can be accessed at Christ is Risen Alleluia!

To supplement that and to provide some reflective and art historical reading about the painting and its survival as readers digest their Easter lunch, chocolate eggs, or relax on Easter Monday, here are three articles about it.

The first is a discussion of the work in its historical context and can be accessed at Piero della Francesca | The Resurrection, Museo Civico, Sansepolcro | Art in Tuscany

The second can be viewed at Travel Notebooks - Finestre sull'Arte

The third concentrates on the near miraculous survival of the fresco in 1944 and can be viewed at HOW ONE MAN SAVED THE "GREATEST PICTURE IN THE WORLD"

 I wish a holy, blessed, joyful and happy Easter to all my readers 

Alleluia!

Traditional Good Friday Chasubles

Yesterday the Liturgical Arts Journal had an article to mark Good Friday about traditional black vestments, as per the usage before Pope Pius XII’s changes in the 1950s. It has some splendid examples of the vestment maker and embroiderers arts in its illustrations. Some are antique, others from the later nineteenth and earlier twentieth centuries. It also includes a folded chasuble, which would only have been used on Good Friday.

The aricle can be seen at Historical Chasubles for Good Friday   

The medieval view of Judas

The always useful website Medievalists.net has an interesting article about how Judas and his fate, as well as an involved biography to shoe just how unsavoury he was, were presented by medieval writers.

Illustrated with illuminations from medieval books it can be accessed at Judas in the Middle Ages: The Making of an Anti-Hero 

Gethsemene by Giotto

Detail of the Kiss of Judas by Giotto, 

1304-6, in the Scrovegni Chapel, Padua

Image: Formae Divinae Wordpress

I think the fresco of the Kiss of Judas is the finest, or most powerful, of these early fourteenth century masterpieces in the Scrovegni Chapel, and one which commands attention and invites reflection and meditation.  

The way in which the lumpen figure of Judas envelops Jesus is striking, signifying the loss of personal autonomy of the Redeemer in the Passion - He is now in His enemies’ power. yet the serenity of expression points to the Divine self-surrender central to the Triduum. 

The website from where I found this image has a meditation on the painting and this central feature which can be read at “The Kiss of Judas” by Giotto

Twenty One Today

Today is the twenty first anniversary of my reception into the Church at the Oxford Oratory in 2005, two days before Pope John Paul II died.

Last year to mark the twentieth anniversary I wrote a long article on this blog about how I came to that decision, together with some reflections on my subsequent experiences. That can be viewed at Twenty years on. 

What I wrote then still holds good, but I think I am now a little more optimistic about the way the Church is going - which is not to deny that a lot needs to be done at parish, diocesan, national and, ultimately,Papal level to get it back properly on track.

On this twenty first anniversary I am not sure if I have come of age as a Catholic - faith is, after all a lifelong pilgrimage, and I did quite a bit of my pilgrimage years before I was received - but I remain sure that I made the right decision.

May St John the Baptist, St John the Evangelist, St Philip the Apostle, St Philip Neri, St Robert of Newminster, St Robert of Knaresborough, Bl. Robert Grosseteste, Bl. John of Dalderby, and St John Henry Newman continue to pray for me.

The Battle of Towton 565

Yesterday, Palm Sunday, was the 565th anniversary of the battle of Towton, fought in the date and feast day in 1461, and hence its fifteenth century name of Palm Sunday Field. It is normally accounted the bloodiest battle in English history, and one of the more momentous.

I have posted about Towton before, as a search on the blog will reveal.

Over the weekend the historian David Grummitt had two open access articles on SubStack about his latest research into the contemporary sources we have for the battles of the Wars of the Roses, and in this case, Towton.

They can be seen at Lord Clifford, the Battle of 'Dintingdale' and Palm Sunday 1461 and at Was the Battle of Towton Fought in a Blizzard?

His articles are well worth signing up to, and his book on the earlier battles of the Wars one I must get round to reading.

Folded Chasubles and Broad Stoles

This being this blog regular readers will expect during Lent at least one article about folded chasubles and B-road stoles, the traditional liturgical gesture for deacons and sub-deacons in this penitential season.

This week the Liturgical Arts Journal has an illustrated article showing three phases in the evolution of these vestments, together with illustrations of the different forms the chasuble and stole have taken. There is also a link to an older article - one I believe I have linked to before on this blog - about the history of these items.

The article can be accessed at Gothic, Neri and Roman: Variations of the Folded Chasuble and Broad Stole 

Reassembling the Altenburg altarpiece

Staying with the theme of statues of Our Lady on this Feast of the Annunciation the Städel Museum in Frankfort recently succeeded to bringing back together the component parts of the Altenburg altarpiece. This lovely piece is dated to the 1320s and originated in the Praenonstratensian monastery for canonesses at Altenburg in what is now western Hesse. It was broken up about a hundred years ago, but has now happily been reassembled and is on display in Frankfort.

 

There is an article about it from The Art Newspaper at Frankfurt’s Städel Museum announces ‘momentous’ acquisition of Altenberg Madonna

Medieval Histories has another account which can be viewed at The Altenberg Madonna

The website of the Städel itself about the altarpiece can be seen at Altenberg Madonna acquired for the Städel

Wikipedia has a brief note about the abbey at /Altenberg_Abbey,_Solms

Our Lady of Walsingham enthroned at Arundel Castle

Today being the Feast of the Annunciation seems a good occasion on which to share a post from the British website of EWTN about the creation and enthronement in the private chapel at Arundel Castle, the ancestral home of the Fitzalan-Howard family, Dukes of Norfolk and Earls of Arundel and premier Catholic family of the realm, of a statue of Our Lady of Walsingham.

Walsingham itself is, of course in the county of Norfolk, and the article cites the verses on the Wracks of Walsingham, attributed to St Philip Howard, in whom the Howards and Fitzalans were united, lamenting the loss of the shrine, and of devotion, at Walsingham.

The illustrated article can be seen at Our Lady of Walsingham in Arundel Castle

An atlas that belonged to Queen Mary I

Artnet recently had an article about a copy of the third volume of Polydore Vergil’s Anglica Historia. This was the last part of his account of English history and finally completed in the year of his death in1555.

The book was printed in Basel, but for this presentation copy for Queen Mary I there was the addition of a number of maps which were without precedent in an English book.

The illustrated account of the volume can be seen at Rare Atlas Owned by Queen Mary I Could Sell for $1.6 Million

As the writer points out there are export prohibitions in place so the book will remain in this country.

Reinterpreting the battles of Stamford Bridge and Hastings

 

There are reports online today stemming from the work of Professor Tim Licence from UEA which proposes a radical reappraisal of the military events of October 1066.

I have heard Prof. Licence lecture online about the battle of Hastings and his detailed knowledge both of the sources and of the archaeology and topography of the battlefield was extremely impressive, and presented with elegance and moderation. He is currently working on the Yale biography of King Harold II.

The new interpretation is set out with maps on the website of the Daily Telegraph at We’ve got the Battle of Hastings all wrong, academics find

The argument can also be found on the website of BBC News at Victorians got Battle of Hastings wrong, professor says

Traditional Austrian Passiontide veils in Carinthia

Today, being the eve of Passion Sunday, is the day for veiling statues and images in churches as we move into Passiontide and draw closer to Holy Week and the Triduum.

Since the 1960s veiling is less universal than it once was in both Catholic and Anglo-Catholic parishes. A friend once opined that it tended to follow diocesan liturgical cultures in the Catholic Church in England. When I was churchwarden at St Thomas’ in Oxford I pushed a little at the envelope of Anglican Canon Law

( there’s a joke in there somewhere I think) by reintroducing the practice during the vacancy in the living. This meant a morning of clambering around the church and fixing the purple cloths. My vertigo meant I was unable to veil the reredos, which had to wait for the assistant priest on the Sunday morning. We carried on with the restored practice and I even went back to help the new acting priest, the late, great Fr John Hunwicke, after I had left the C of E, to keep the tradition going.

This came back to my mind when I saw an article yesterday on the Liturgical Arts Journal about the nineteenth century decorated veils which have been rediscovered and brought back into use at the church at Kaning in Carinthia. These are not plain cloth but painted boards that depict the Passion against a sombre background.

The illustrated article can be viewed at Rediscovered and Revived Lenten Veils in Austria

There is a short discussion of the history of such veiling on the Zenit website which can be found at Questions about liturgy: Should the cross be veiled during Lent

I would add to What the author of the article says that practice does very from one country to another and that veiling the altar and processional crosses and their crucifixes appears quite common in England.

I heard the point this week that such veiling was a northern European tradition deriving apparently from the German hungertuch. Such a veil for the whole altar as certainly known in medieval England, and images were veiled for all of Lent. Some statues, of which original examples survive as well as modern versions, occupied wooden housings with doors gat could be closed in Lent. In 1471 one such pair of doors sprang open during Mass to reveal St Anne to King Edward IV on his journey to reclaim the crown, and was seen as an augury.

Medieval Roman practice was different, and it was the publication of the 1570 Missal, officially only for that diocese, which only veiled from Passion Sunday came to be copied across the wider Church. This seems also to have been the way in which rose coloured vestments spread from the specific rite of blessing the Golden Rose to the city and diocese of Rome, and thence though St Pius’ Missal to the Universal Church.

Sumer is icumen in

The British Library has lent for exhibition until May to the Reading Museum the manuscript produced at the great Benedictine abbey which once dominated the town, and which contains the mid-thirteenth century musical round - or canon - Sumer is icumen in.

This appears to be the earliest English song with music to survive. It is also interesting in that the words are in English from a time when it is often claimed that French was the dominant language of culture and music.

RdgToday has a report in the loan at Centuries-old manuscript returning to Reading after half a millennium away

Wikipedia has a lengthy and informative article about the piece at Sumer_is_icumen_in. It also includes some modern parodies which make for a little light relief.

Reinterpreting Chess in the Middle Ages

Medievalist.net has an online article drawing upon recent research into how we should understand the role and function of chess as a means of contact between different racial groups during the medieval centuries.   

The article makes some excellent points using evidence from medieval texts on chess, but maybe one feels the emphasis on “diversity” as an end in itself is becoming too overplayed in this and similar academic studies…

The handsomely illustrated article may be seen at Medieval Chess Reveals a More Diverse Middle Ages, Study Finds

The Cardinal of Utrecht celebrates a Traditional High Mass

Life Site News has a report about the High Mass according to the 1962 edition celebrated by Cardinal Eijk of Utrecht this past weekend. This was the first time His Eminence had publicly celebrated the Traditional Rite. 

It was also the first time such a celebration was performed by a Cardinal Archbishop in the Netherlands since 1969. This seems to be a further indication from senior figures in the Sacred College and elsewhere in the Church of support for the Traditional Rite which we have seen in recent months.

The illustrated article can be seen at Dutch Cardinal Eijk celebrates first public Traditional Latin Mass 

Re-ordering the Catholic Cathedral in Aberdeen

The New Liturgical Movement has a very enthusiastic article about the plan commissioned by the Bishop of Aberdeen to re-order his cathedral in a way that blends a  contemporary layout with a traditional, mystical, aesthetic and theology. 

On the basis of the illustrations in the report this does look to be a scheme using quality materials and designed to lighten what appears to be a rather dull interior at present. This looks to be a re-ordering to watch, and hopefully see.

The article is available at A Model Schema for Liturgical Art for All Catholic Churches

The Dungeness Wreck

Popular Mechanics has an article about the quite substantial remains of a ship dating from the 1530s to 1540s, the era of the ‘Mary Rose’, which was repaired after 1561, but then wrecked ir abandoned alongside the coastal gravel bank which gradually expanded, and preserved its remains until they were uncovered in 2022. 

As the article argues it was constructed at a time of significant development in English shipbuilding. 

 

The ship is discussed in some detail in Archaeologists Unearthed a 500-Year-Old Ship That Helped Make England a World Power

Even given the concern about the state of readiness of the present Royal Navy I do not think this particular vessel is quite in a state to be despatched to the Mediterranean…

Prosopography of the Peasants Revolt

The academic website The Conversation has an article which introduces the prosopography that has been created of everyone named in the records of the 1381 uprising, and seeing how their previous, and subsequent ( if they had one) lives reveal them as individuals, and not just “the peasants”, revolting or otherwise.

The article can be read at Who were the ‘peasants’ of the 1381 Peasants’ Revolt? New database has answers  

The state of Medieval Teeth

 

The website of..Medievalists net this week has an article about  dental care in the medieval centuries, and the various powders used to clean and whiten teeth, and also to freshen the breath. The study can be seen at Did Medieval People Have Bad Teeth and Bad Breath?

Looking, by coincidence, at an article in a ‘serious’ newspaper we do not seem anything as far advanced over the past five centuries as we no doubt like to think.

The Coal Exchange

Country Life has an article on a lost part of London’s urban heritage, the Coal Exchange, which was destroyed in 1962, when any Victorian building was liable to be demolished, basically for being Victorian.

The article has fine photographs of this pioneering iron frame building and tells the story of its building and the attempts to save it. The loss of the Euston Arch and of the Coal Exchange were the tragedies that brought to birth the conservation movement that has gone on to both save buildings and to make people appreciate Victorian design and craftsmanship.

I remember something of the efforts to save the Coal Exchange as well as the Euston Arch. Those were bad times to live through as historic city and town centres were ripped apart in the name of ‘progress’ and ‘redevelopment’. I think I still bear the psychological scars.

The article can be accessed at One of the first substantial buildings constructed from cast iron lives on only in the Country Life Archive  

Tying a temporary knot on the Roman thread

  

Having finished threading my collection of links to discoveries from Roman Britain I will now pause the thread for a short while before resuming with discoveries on the continent and Near East. This will enable me to share some other stories whilst they are relatively new, and to return to the normal mix of material.

What is striking is how much survives from Roman Britain, either as foundations and burials just below the surface or random metal objects still being found by agricultural works or by responsible metal detectorists.

A carriage fitting from Roman Britain

A discovery from near Harlow gives an insight into the world of Roman carriages in Britannia. The find is described in an article from ZME Science which can be seen at Rare Roman Panther Figurine with Its Paws on a Severed Head Is a Propaganda Tool Used in Britain

A villa or cult site at Grove

The discovery of a Roman villa - or possibly a cult centre - at Grove, north of Wantage in the historic county of Berkshire, has yielded some interesting finds and some tantalising questions for archaeologists and historians of the era.

 

ZME Science reported on the site almost two years ago in Ancient 'curse scrolls' unearthed in luxurious 1,800-year-old Roman villa in the UK

The Oxborough Hoard

Norfolk is the county that is the most productive of archaeological finds under the Portable Antiquities Scheme. The Oxborough Hoard recently found in south-west Norfolk is not especially small but it does appear to be unique - at least for the moment. These domestic utensils are without parallel in Britain and give further insight into life in Britannia.

The discovery is reported by the Eastern Daily Press

at 'Nationally significant' hoard of Roman treasure found in Norfolk countryside

A Roman soldier’s pay packet from Norfolk

Fox News reported last summer in another Roman coin hoard from Norfolk. This was discovered m in 2023 at 

Great Ellingham in southern central Norfolk.

It was also analysed by Dr Marsden, and he thinks it represents the contents of a soldier’s monthly pay packet of twenty five silver denarii. The coins are well preserved and had been issued by several Emperors. Their loss was dated to the period of the 160s to 170s

  

The article about the find can be accessed at Ancient Roman soldier's monthly paycheck unearthed in pristine condition in countryside

A Roman coin hoard from Norfolk

A year ago the BBC News reported on a hoard of Roman silver coins found in west Norfolk. They were identified by my old friend from Oxford, Dr Adrian Marsden, who is the numismatist with the Norfolk Museums service.

As Adrian explains the coins point to a time of  economic stability, and the presence of coins minted generations before they were deposited. The earliest is datable to 57BC and the latest to the reign of Marcus Aurelius in 175-6 AD.

The article can be seen at Barton Bendish detectorist finds Roman silver coin hoard

Wikipedia has a quite detailed account of the extended village and its history, including reference to the Roman era at Barton_Bendish

The return of pieces of a mosaic to Cirencester

Several websites have recently reported upon the return to Cirencester - Corinium to the Romans - of a piece of mosaic removed from a Roman site at Withington there in 1812 and given to the British Museum. It has now been reunited with the majority of the mosaic on a long term loan from the BM. This seems to be an excellent outcome. 

 

The story is set out in a BBC News report at 'incredible' Roman mosaic returns home after 200 years

The story is also set out in an article from the Oxford Mail here

The Corinium Museum has a relevant video about another mosaic which can be watched at Orpheus Mosaic Cirencester and a history of its 1825 discovery at Stories across the centuries found buried in a mosaic - Corinium Museum

  

The Withington project came about as a consequence of the celebration of the bicentenary of the discovery of the Orphaeus mosaic nearby at Barton in 1825 

In 1971 a mosaic which included a hare was uncovered in Beeches Road in the town. The hare motif was copied for a new development in the town, and this has now been renovated, as described in a BBC News article at Roman hare mosaic restored in Cirencester's Brewery Court

Cirencester has some significant and striking Roman remains in the town centre. The Roman town was the seat of the financial administration of Britannia and a focus for the road system. Today significant Roman remains are tucked away alongside its handsome Cotswold townscape and, of course, one of the great late medieval urban parish churches of the country.

There are also important villa sites in the nearby Cotswolds - a pleasant place to live in Roman times or now.

Roman lead ingots from Wales

 

The discovery in Ceredigion of lead ingots that can be dated precisely to 87AD and the reign of the Emperor Domitian has been reported by BBC News at Rare Roman lead ingots found by metal detectorists in Ceredigion and by Artnet at Rare Roman Ingots Discovered by Metal Detectorists Declared Treasure

The ingots may appear prosaic alongside other archaeological finds but they are an indicator of an important industry in Roman Britain.

The Hallaton Helmet

I have posted before about the spectacular Hallaton helmet that was discovered in 2000 in south-east Leicestershire. A truly splendid example of first century parade armour it has now been conserved and can be seen in the Museum in Market Harborough. Alongside it are two skilled modern reconstructions of how it may have looked originally.

The helmet is described by Wikipedia in their article 

/Hallaton_Helmet

The work is reported upon by BBC News at Unlocking the secrets of the 'bling' Roman helmet found in a field

It can also be seen in an illustrated online feature from Leicestershire County Council at Harborough Museum celebrates return of Hallaton Helmet

There is full length lecture about the excavation of the l helmet and other items in the hoard from Leicester University Archaeology at 🔎 hallaton helmet

 

Repairing the Newport Arch in Lincoln

The Newport Arch in Lincoln is a unique survival. A Roman archway that still spans a working road. It was the norther gate of the Colonia on the top of Lindum Hill. The west gate lies buried in the earthworks of the castle, and the east gate, having served as a temporary headquarters for the Norman bishops survives as foundations by a modern hotel. The south gate at the top of the well-named Steep Hill was only destroyed in the 1770s. The Newport arch, named after a twelfth century laid out along Ermine Street as a New Port ( ie market), is a treasure the city is rightly proud of.

BBC News recently reported on its restoration in Work to start on repairing 'tired' historic Lincoln Roman arch

Alas not everyone appears to appreciate its significance as in this report, Man denies causing criminal damage to Lincoln Roman wall

In 1964 I was on a visit to Lincoln and in the city there was palpable anger at a bright-spark of a lorry driver who thought he could drive under the arch. He couldn’t. The upper part of the arch had to be removed to get the lorry out. Me - I’d have dismantled the lorry. His firm had to send a delegation to make a grovelling apology to the Lord Mayor.

Analysing gypsum burials from Roman Yorkshire

In my previous thread on Roman life I shared several pieces.about the gypsum burials that are to be found in underground York.

I have now come across a recent article which concentrates on the examination of child burials in this distinctive form, and what it may reveal about Roman attitudes towards their children.

The article, from Live Science, can be seen at Babies weren't supposed to be mourned in the Roman Empire. These rare liquid-gypsum burials prove otherwise.

Two early Greek visitors to Britain

I have posted in previous years about the subjects of this post but a recent article on the Greek Reporter website is I think worth sharing about these two Greek men, Demetrios of Tarsus in the first century AD and, before him, in the early third century BC, Pytheas of Massalia, who were the first Greeks to visit Britain - and in the case of Pytheas, to record and codify its name.

 

In the case of Demetrios a chance archaeological find in 1840 - appropriately enough for a traveller on the site of York’s first railway station - links him to the wider structure of Roman governance and to the wider world. Growing up when he must have done in Tarsus, I am always tempted to wonder if he ever met a Jewish contemporary called Saul?

The article can be viewed at Demetrios: The Ancient Greek Who Traveled to England - GreekReporter.com

A Roman cemetery at Brougham

At the beginning of this year Archaeology News reported on the excavation of a sizeable Roman cemetery at Brougham. Situated some miles south of Carlisle in the historic county of Westmoreland Brougham has both the site of a Roman camp, and a splendid, if ruined, medieval castle. It is well worth a visit.  

 

There is a detailed account of the history of the site from Roman times onwards on Wikipedia at Brougham_Castle

The discoveries at the Roman cemetery are described at a Large Roman cemetery excavation at Brougham reveals diverse burial practices on Britain’s northern frontier

Life in Luguvalium

The continuing excavations at the very productive Cricket club site in Carlisle - Luguvalium to the Romans - continues to yield a rich haul of Roman artefacts. The most recent - including a military diploma or discharge plaque -  are indicated in a report from BBC News at Finding personal Roman items in Carlisle a 'real connection'

Wikipedia gives a useful introduction to the Roman city - the furthermost in the Empire in the north-west, and almost at the end of Hadrian’s Wall  - at Luguvalium

Making ink on Hadrian’s Wall

Archaeonews recently reported on a study of the ink used in the letters and notes written on slivers of wood at Vindolanda, just behind Hadrian’s Wall. 

The results of the non-invasive scientific analysis can be read in Roman Soldiers at Vindolanda Secretly Made Their Own Ink — Using Techniques Forgotten in the Mediterranean

Sculpture from the barracks at Vindolanda

Almost a year ago The Independent reported the discovery at the site of Vindolanda of a portion of a Roman panel from the gateway to the barracks building. Dated to 213, after the end of the Severan Wars, it depicts the goddess Victoria ( Victory ). From the photograph it appears to have the rather chubby characteristics of Roman provincial culture rather than the high art of Rome in its Classical metropolitan heyday, but it has a rugged charm and is a link to the cultural life of its time and location.

 

The article can be seen at Ancient Roman statue found at Hadrian’s Wall by amateur archaeologists  

A terracotta female head from the fort at Magna

A recent story from BBC News reported the discovery of a striking Roman terracotta female head which was found during the excavation of the site of the Roman fort at Magna, near Haltwhistle.

The account can be seen ‘Wonderful' Roman terracotta head found during Magna Fort dig

Excavations at Bremenium Fort

The ongoing excavations at the site of the Roman fort of  Brenenium on the northern extension of Dere Street, linking Eboracum ( York ) to Hadrian’s Wall and then northwards to what is now southern Scotland were reported upon last autumn by Heritage Daily in Major discoveries at Bremenium Roman Fort

One find in particular was featured by Archaeology Magazine in Carved Jewel Uncovered at Roman Fort in Northern England

A gold coin linking East and West from Antonine Scotland

Another archaeological discovery from the Antonine era at Newstead in southern Scotland which links the area to the wider Roman world is a gold aureus of Trajan m, minted to commemorate his victory over the Parthians in the war of 114-117. Once again the reach of Roman military might can be seen linking Scotland to the Near East through the image and power of a the Emperor.

Archaeology News reported on the discovery last year. and the coin was about to go on display at the Trimontium Museum in the Scottish Borders. Tha article can be accessed at Rare Roman gold coin found in Scottish Borders to be displayed

Mithraism in second century Scotland

Excavations in 2010 at Inveresk, close to the northern coast of East Lothian uncovered two very handsome altars intended for the worship of Mithras. The Eastern mystery cult of Mithras was, of course, particularly popular with the Roman military. They date from the second century occupation of this part of Scotland, and are evidence for the most northerly Mithraiam known in Britain. 

The two altars have been acquired by the National Museum of Scotland and will feature in a forthcoming exhibition at the NMS in Edinburgh.

This is reported upon by BBC News in Ancient Roman altars to go on display in Edinburgh

There is a little more information in the Wikipedia entry for Inveresk

The Antonine Wall at Bearsden

Having constructed Hadrian’s Wall the Romans then moved north into what we now know as Northumberland and souther Scotland with a new frontier along the Antonine Wall. This second century acquisition was relatively soon abandoned, but still left a number of archaeological remains. This includes the evidence of stone buildings at Bearsden, north west of Glasgow.

This site is described on Wikipedia at Bearsden

 and in an article from The National at How archaeologists digging in a back garden near Glasgow found a historic fort

There is now also an article on Live Science which describes the site and places it in context. It can be accessed at Roman military fort discovered in Scotland far north of Hadrian's Wall