The Alfred Jewel. Earle John

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       John Earle

      The Alfred Jewel

      An Historical Essay

      Published by Good Press, 2019

       [email protected]

      EAN 4064066166151

Table of Contents

       PREFACE

       CHAPTER I DESCRIPTION OF THE ALFRED JEWEL

       CHAPTER II THE EPIGRAPH OR LEGEND

       CHAPTER III EARLY SPECULATIONS ABOUT ITS DESIGN AND MANNER OF USE

       CHAPTER IV BISHOP CLIFFORD’S THEORY [10]

       CHAPTER V A JEWEL IN THE CROWN

       CHAPTER VI THE BOAR’S HEAD

       CHAPTER VII THE FIGURE IN ENAMEL AND THE ENGRAVED PLATE AT THE BACK OF IT

       I The Enamel as an Artistic Product

       II The Inward Signification of the Figure, and of the Engraving at the back of it

       III A Constructive Inference

       CHAPTER VIII ALFRED IN SOMERSET BEYOND PEDRIDA

       CHAPTER IX NEWTON PARK AND FAIRFIELD HOUSE

       CHAPTER X GOLD RINGS CONTEMPORANEOUS

       CHAPTER XI SOME CLOSING REFLECTIONS

       APPENDIX A THE FIRST PUBLISHED NOTICE OF THE ALFRED JEWEL (pp. 25 and 144)

       APPENDIX B ST. NEOT AND ST. CUTHBERT (pp. 29 and 74)

       APPENDIX C THE TWO-SCEPTERED FIGURE IN THE BOOK OF KELLS (p. 78)

       APPENDIX D THE BRITISH ORIGIN OF THE ENAMELLED FIGURE (p. 91)

       APPENDIX E ATHELNEY ABBEY (p. 115)

       APPENDIX F NORTH NEWTON CHURCH (p. 139)

       APPENDIX G THE PRESENTATION OF THE ALFRED JEWEL TO THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD (pp. 140 and 145.)

PREFACE

       Table of Contents

      IT is full fifty years since I began to contemplate the Alfred Jewel with a wonder and curiosity which became a habit. At length, in the latter half of that period, the vague attitude of enquiry began to point in a definite direction, and to exhibit susceptibility of development suggesting promise of possible discovery. Prompted by such anticipations, I one day ventured to express a wish to the Principal of Hertford College that he would exercise his well-known graphic talent upon the Alfred Jewel, and make some enlarged drawings of it suitable for a Public Lecture. The result was that he gave me a beautiful set of coloured drawings of the Jewel in various aspects admirably calculated for exhibition in the Lecture Room. Thus equipped, I was able to make the subject more intelligible and more attractive, and I lectured upon it the oftener. As it has not been my wont to write my lectures out in full, it was all the more necessary for me on every new occasion to make a fresh study of the Jewel. In this recurring process new lights rose at wide intervals of time, and drew me on to devote more thought to the object and to the times associated with it; and I found more than I had looked for in the design, and more (I think) than I should have found, but for the generous aid so readily extended to me by Dr. Boyd.

      It was after such a lecture delivered in May, 1899, that I had the great and unexpected pleasure of a proposal from the Delegates of the Press to make a book of it. I was able to accept this proposal without misgiving, because I was satisfied that I had a solid interpretation to offer—one which had been slowly matured and scrupulously tested by every means in my power. All the old theories had come to nothing: there was not one of them that could be seriously advocated as resting upon evidence either in history or in common sense and the natural reason of things. In saying so much as this, I am only accounting for my readiness to accept the task, and not by any means prejudging the general verdict upon the validity of my argument. In this argument I seek to establish the intimate relation of the Jewel with the history and the mind and the person of Alfred of Wessex, not indeed as a scientifically demonstrated fact, but as a well-founded and abundantly supported probability. I have no desire that this conclusion should be admitted without a complete and rigid scrutiny.

      In the carrying out of this undertaking I have received welcome and much-needed help from many quarters. The subject is one that calls for illustration by maps and drawings and I desire to express my sincere acknowledgements to Mr. Alfred A. Clarke of Wells for his four drawings, among which I will particularly mention his characteristic landscape of the Isle of Athelney.

      The map of Athelney and the lands adjacent is very ingeniously devised for exhibiting the contrast between the low level of the moorland and the contours of the rising country around; it is expressive and intelligible at a glance: and for this excellent illustration my acknowledgements are due to Mr. Bernhard V. Darbishire.

      My hearty thanks are due to Mr. Charles H. Read of the British Museum for the ample information he kindly afforded me concerning the gold rings of the Saxon period which are in his department. Also for the permission which he gave (as Secretary of the Society of Antiquaries) to transfer to these pages their engraving from the Book of Kells, and also their three figures of the gold ring of queen Æthelswith.

      To those gentlemen of Somerset who have aided me with local information and hospitality and personal guidance, I have good cause to be always grateful. Major Barrett, junior, of Moredon, the owner of the Isle of Athelney, took me over the ground in a manner that is very agreeable to remember, and caused me to see the historical sites of his country with every advantage. It was under his auspices that I first realized the full import of Alfred’s fort at Borough Bridge, and what a speaking object-lesson it certainly is. I had seen it in 1856, but I had not adequately appreciated it.

      From Mr. Cely Trevelian of Midelney Place I learnt much that was useful