the alfred jewel is so made as to require a small stem or ‘stert’ for its fixture when in use. it tapers off to a socket, which is adapted to receive a small stem, and it is only when erected on such a stem that the figure in enamel will appear in a natural position. how can we accommodate it with such a function as will correspond to these indications of design? evidently not on the top of a standard-bearer’s pole, nor on the top of a stilus, nor at the butt-end of a music-master’s wand. it is moreover evident that the stem was a permanent fixture in the socket, for although the socket is now empty, this is due to the perishing of the stem, as appears from the fact that the cross-pin is riveted. the stem was therefore not metallic,45 but of some hard organic substance, perhaps walrus ivory. our problem then is to discover a place in which this jewel, permanently furnished with such a stem, could be so erected as to discharge some appropriate function. that function can hardly be other than personal decoration, and the place in which it might be erected is the helmet of the warrior.
i imagine then that a hollow bead ran round the king’s helmet, along the rim next the forehead, and that over the very centre of the brow there was a round orifice in the upper slope of the bead, fitted to receive the ivory stem of the jewel, and that when fixed in this position it would have minor jewels similarly fixed on either side, but that this one would be the central piece and the richest jewel in the crown or coronet. for this magnificent jewel would have the effect of converting the helmet into a crown, transforming the most vital piece of defensive armour into the chief of royal insignia for public occasions of state.
that the rudiment of the crown was derived from the helmet, at least among our people, seems to be indicated by the anglo-saxon46 word that preceded ‘crown,’ namely, cyne-helm, which means regal helmet. this word is the only english representative of the idea before the romanic word was domesticated among us. the term ‘crown’ made its entrance after the norman conquest, at first in its original latin form corona, as may be seen in the contemporary chronicle of peterborough. thus we read under the date 1085: her se cyng b?r his corona and heold his hired on winceastre to tam eastran, ‘this year the king wore his crown and held his court at winchester for the eastertide.’ but the native word was not quickly superseded. in the next annal, 1086, we are informed that the king wore his crown three times every year:—‘triwa he b?r his cyne-helm ?lce geare.’
the minster lovel jewel
the explanation now offered of the use and function of the alfred jewel is confirmed by comparison with a minor jewel in the same glass case, which for its illustrative value has been placed by the keeper of the ashmolean museum near the alfred jewel. in workmanship it is so similar that it might well be (as bp. clifford said) from the hand of the same47 maker. in design it is as much alike as it is possible for a simple and rudimentary pattern to resemble one that is highly elaborate and developed. no one can doubt that these two objects are fully analogous to each other, and that the service for which they were intended was of the same nature. this minor jewel has, like the alfred jewel, an obverse and a reverse; the obverse presents a cross in opaque enamel cloisonnée; the reverse has a gold plate, not engraved—as in the greater work—but equally with it suggestive of the back of a framed picture which is to lean against a vertical surface of some kind. as in the other, the area of the obverse is more contracted than the reverse, and the sloping sides are covered with a delicate filigree of gold. lastly, this also has its projecting socket, with a cross-pin in its place riveted. it is in all respects adapted to be either the front and central jewel of a minor coronet, or else a lateral and subordinate jewel in the circlet whose front place was filled by a superior piece such as the alfred jewel.
this minor jewel was found at minster lovel in oxfordshire about the middle of the present48 century. the finder brought it to a jeweller in oxford, who, apprehending that the object was one of more than ordinary curiosity, carried it to dr. wilson, then president of trinity college, an eminent arch?ologist, and the man who of all men in oxford at that time was the most capable of estimating a find of this nature[12]. the interest which he took in it was shared with dr. griffiths, who was afterwards warden of wadham college, and (whether by one or both) it was presented to the ashmolean museum. the date of this event does not appear to be recorded, but i suppose it must have happened in the fifties.
that gold ornaments were proper for the helmet, we gather from a passage in the beowulf, a poem which is now, i think, among critics of proved competency, allowed to belong to the eighth century. when beowulf, after slaying the dragon, lies fatally wounded, he puts off the chief pieces of his armour with the insignia 49 of royalty, and bestows them upon wiglaf, his faithful thane and the natural heir to his throne. in the poetic description we perceive that the insignia are largely blended with the body-armour, and that the helmet is characterized by its golden decoration:
2810
2810
dyde him of healse
ungearing his neck
hring gyldenne
of the golden ring
tióden tr?st-h?dig
the courageous captain
tegne gesealde,
on his thane conferred it,
geongum gar-wigan;
on the gallant youth;
gold-fahne helm,
the gold-prankt helm also,
beáh ond byrnan;
the collar and the byrnie;
hêt hine br?can well.
saying: ‘brook them well!’
it would be easy to collect examples from later romances, but i will add only one, taken from la?amon’s description (a.d. 1200) of king arthur putting his armour on:
helm he set on hafde
helm he set on head,
h?h of stele:
high of steel:
t?r on wes moni ?imston,
thereon was many a gem-stone
al mid golde bigon.
all encircled with gold[13].
the position which i have imagined for the alfred jewel would represent the cumulative effect of the two chief and central gems in the crown of queen victoria, namely, the great sapphire of charles ii and the great ruby of edward the black prince[14].
[12] speaking of the arch?ologists in oxford fifty years ago, i am not forgetting, indeed i could not forget, john henry parker, c.b., the guide and teacher of his time in much antiquarian knowledge of great value to the historian; more especially in whatever concerned ecclesiastical or domestic architecture. he was for many years keeper of the ashmolean museum.
[13] la?amon’s brut, ed. madden, vol. ii, p. 464.
[14] the english regalia, by cyril davenport, p. 51.
