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Description: | A medieval silver gilt ring, 15th century. The hoop is formed of two clasped hands and carries the inscription IHC+NAZARENU for 'Jesus Christ of Nazareth'. The ring weighs 5.38g and analysis conducted at the British Museum established the silver content at 93 per cent.Such rings known as 'fede' rings, from the Italian mani in fede ('hands in faith'), were given as tokens of love, engagement or marriage from Roman times up to the 19th century. A considerable number of 'fede' rings have magical inscriptions engraved on the hoop (Oman, C. C. 1993. Victoria and Albert Catalogue of Rings, pages 21-2). There are similar rings in both the Victoria and Albert and the British Museums; one in the Franks Bequest at the BM has a longer inscription, IHC NAZAREN' R UDEORUM, to which the Cranham inscription clearly refers (Dalton, O. M. 1912. Franks Bequest - Catalogue of the Finger Rings, page 163, ref. 1012). This full inscription is Pilate's charge against Christ which is given in all four gospels (see for example John 19.19). Its magical significance is explained in the 'Revelation of the Monk of Evesham', written in 1196, where the words are said to give protection against sudden death (Oman 1993, page 102).
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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