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Description: | a copper alloy medieval harness pendant. It is an elaborate quatrefoil with angle projections and the top loop turned at 90 degrees. It measures 38.62mm in length, 30.3mm in width and weighs 12.4gEdward Martin writes: In the centre is an heraldic shield with probable 'dimidiated' arms ('dimidiation' was an early way of showing the arms of a husband and wife together on one shield (basically, the shields of the two people are cut in half and a half from each is put together to make a new 'whole' shield; dimidiation was less common after about 1300-1310, but the quatrefoil shape suggests a date towards the mid 1300s):Dexter [husband's] side: [Recesses suggesting former enamel inlay, therefore 'colour'] 3 bars [raised, so probably 'metal' - or/argent] on a chief a lion passant [in relief, so probably a metal]Sinister [wife's] side: [metal - or/argent] a fess [recessed so probably a colour] between two [halved] chevrons [recessed, so probably a colour].There is no exact parallel for these arms, but these are similar:DENARDESTON of Balsdon in Acton, Bures and Milden: Azure, two bars argent, on a chief gules a lion passant (guardant) or.A Sir Peter de Denardeston is recorded 1283-1327. He married Margaret (?de Hodebovile - this family's arms were: per pale or and azure, a saltire counterchanged). Sons: Laurence (became a monk at Bury), Arthur and John. The family seems to have survived into the 15th century as there is a will of a William Denardeston, citizen and draper of London, 1413, who had interests in Milden.TREGOZ(E) or Tregos(s)e of Aspall: Or, 3 bars azure, on a chief of the last, a lion passant of the first.This family are also credited with these arms: Azure, two bars gemel and in chief a lion passant or and Or, two bars gemel and in chief a leopard passant gulesA large baronial family of Norman origin, however most of the evidence for this Suffolk branch of the family seems to belong to the 13th century (i.e. too early for the pendant).The suggested wife's arms (a fess between two chevrons) belongs to a substantial 'family' of arms used by the relatives and feudal allies of the powerful FITZWALTER family, Barons of Woodham Walter in Essex (themselves a junior branch of the great DE CLARE family).A very similar example from Bishop Burton, E Yorks, is illustrated in the Searcher, p76, fig 5.
Original Image | Publisher: | http://finds.org.uk | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Identifier: | http://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/r... | Go to resource |
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