examples in that singular discovery were engraved with spiral lines in imitation of the twist.
My own opinion would incline to attribute the armilla to a later age, and to regard it as a work of the renowned artificers of Anglo-Saxon times; deposited, possibly, in the wild retreats of the Chiltern woodlands, by some lawless plunderer in the times of Alfred or the Confessor. Bracelets of gold, it will be remembered, were not uncommon in the Anglo-Saxon age: the “earm-beag” was an ornament much in vogue, and of great weight and value. The golden bracelets bequeathed to the King and Queen by Brihtric, one of the thanes of Archbishop Ælfric, may be cited; the bracelet of sixty mancuses, mentioned in the will of Wulfere;[1] and William of Malmsbury states, that Earl Godwin, desirous of propitiating Hardicanute, A.D. 1040, presented to him a ship decorated with gold, and containing eighty warriors gorgeously armed, “qui haberent in brachiis singulis armillas duas, unamquamque sedecim unciarum auri.” This historian even asserts that the inhabitants of Britain, at the arrival of the Conqueror, were—“armillis aureis brachiis onerati.”
I hope that antiquaries, more conversant than myself with foreign or other collections, may determine the date and the people to which Mr. Fox’s armilla should be assigned. The only sure guide in such inquiries would be supplied by facilities for comparison in a national collection; and, whilst regretting the deficiency of any sufficient series of British antiquities, available for public information, it is highly gratifying to be enabled to state the generous intention of Mr. Fox, to deposit this armilla in the British Museum, as a contribution towards the formation of a series, the urgent want of which is daily felt by English antiquaries.
It may be interesting to notice certain ornaments existing in Britain of analogous fashion with that found near Wendover. In the small collection of ancient British ornaments, preserved in the British Museum, a pair of armillæ may be seen, stated to have been discovered in this country. The cord is simple, formed of two threads, tapering considerably towards the extremities: the fastening is contrived by means of a hook and eye. A representation of one of these armlets has been
- ↑ Text. Roff. Hickes, Dissert. Epist. Two brachiolæ of gold, weighing forty-five mancuses, are mentioned in Heming. Chart, p. 86. The mancus is supposed to have been worth from 6s. to 7s. 6d. of our currency.
