Tea at Trianon: A Medieval Ring in Sherwood Forest

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Saturday, October 22, 2022

A Medieval Ring in Sherwood Forest

From The Archaeologist:

Mark discovered the ring, engraved with images of St Elizabeth of Hungary and the infant Christ, in 2016. Mark Thompson, who spray paints fork lift trucks, was in the famous Nottinghamshire woodland for just 20 minutes when his metal detector sounded. The 34-year-old, who had only taken up the hobby 18 months ago, was expecting to find something innocuous. But as he shovelled the dirt, a glint of gold emerged on ornate piece of jewellery with a precious sapphire.
Mr Thompson said: "I had been out metal detecting with a group for about 20 minutes when I heard the signal...I was really excited when I saw that it was gold, but I didn't realise at that point just how significant it might be." It is believed the ring, which is engraved with an infant Christ on one side and a female saint on the other, dates from the 14th century. (Read more.)