"I Desire To Love You": Engraved Medieval Ring Found In UK By Metal Detectorist

In an ordinary field in the United Kingdom, a metal detectorist made an exciting discovery dating back to the Middle Ages. According to the BBC, the detectorist discovered a gold mediaeval ring engraved with a beautiful declaration of love in an ordinary field in North Essex. "Je desir vous Ceruir," reads the ring in French. It translates to "I desire to serve you," said historian Lori Rogerson.

According to the outlet, the ring was found within 50 meters of a Tudor silver-gilt hooked tag by the same detectorist near Frinton, Essex. Ms Rogerson, who is the county's finds liaison officer, believes that both items were probably lost at the same time.

The gold ring was found in a cracked condition and is pretty small, with a diameter of merely 9.4 millimetres, and a width of 3.9 millimetres. Ms Rogerson said that despite being so "tiny it only fits my little finger," it was probably worn by a man. "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.

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Rings engraved with French chivalric mottos were fashionable between 1400 and 1500, the BBC reported. It added that descriptions such as "I desire to serve you" and "I wish to obey you" were often used by men wishing to serve their ladies as part of a courtly love tradition that swept across medieval Europe. The outlet also reported that the inscription is written in a type of French that was used in England at the time. 

According to Ms Rogerson, anyone who could afford a fold ring at this time would have been among the elite who knew French. 

The ring and the silver tag were discovered by the same detectorist, although on two separate occasions. Ms Rogerson said as the ring was battered and cracked and the hooked tag damaged, it 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 outlet reported. 

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