Our museum object in the spotlight this week is a Medieval gold signet ring with an engraved eagle.
There is an inscribed motto written in Medieval Anglo-Norman on both the outside and inside of the ring with an additional bird with crown motif on the inner side.
It was found in May 1823 on the northern outskirts of Thetford and the description on record for its findspot states it was discovered “in the nursery grounds on the northern side of Thetford in that part where the old road which crosses the Magdalen Fields”.
The ring was exhibited by John Bidwell in 1844 and published in the journal Archaeologia. The motto Deus me ouroye de vous seuir a cree moun couer desire means something like “may God arrange for me to be acceptable to you, in welcome fashion, as my heart desires’.
The ring dates from the 13th century.
It is on display in the museum’s medieval section of History Highlights.
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