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Medieval 'love motto' gold ring found near Frinton

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IMAGE SOURCE,COLCHESTER AND IPSWICH MUSEUM SERVICE

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The ring, found in March, is engraved with sprigs of leaves as well as the rhyming motto in French, "Je desir vous Ceruir"

By Katy Prickett

BBC News, Essex

A late medieval gold ring engraved with a declaration of love has been found by a metal detectorist.

The motto was written in French, the language of courtly love. Translated it means "I desire to serve you", said historian Lori Rogerson.

It was found within 50m (164ft) of a Tudor silver gilt hooked tag by the same detectorist near Frinton, Essex.

Miss Rogerson, the county's finds liaison officer, believes the items were probably lost at the same time.

IMAGE SOURCE,COLCHESTER AND IPSWICH MUSEUM SERVICE

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The battered and damaged ring has a diameter of 19.4mm (0.7in) and it is 3.9mm (0.15in) wide and was found in a field near Frinton and Walton

Despite being so "tiny it only fits on my little finger", it was probably worn by a man, according to Miss Rogerson.

"At this period rings were worn on all the joints of all the fingers, so it could have been worn on the upper joint," she said.

Rings engraved with French chivalric mottos were fashionable between 1400 and 1500.

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Mottos such as "I desire to serve you" and "I wish to obey" were often used by men wishing to serve their ladies as part of a courtly love tradition that swept across medieval Europe.

The inscription reads "Je desir vous Ceruir" in the type of French used in England at the time - and it also rhymes.

Anyone who could afford a gold ring at this time would have been among the elite who knew French, said Miss Rogerson.

IMAGE SOURCE,COLCHESTER AND IPSWICH MUSEUM SERVICE

Image caption,

The hooked tag, discovered in October, would have been a dress ornament, probably used by women to hold their upper skirt up above their lower skirt

The ring and tag were discovered by the same detectorist in fields within 50m (164ft) of each on either side of a road, although on two separate occasions.

As the ring is battered and cracked and the hooked tag damaged, Miss Rogerson believes they may have belonged to the same person who was taking them to be recycled at the time they were lost.

The tags were probably used in the Tudor era by women to hold up one layer of skirt from another so both can be seen.

The finds are subject to a coroner's inquest at Chelmsford. An Essex museum is interested in acquiring them.