A HISTORY OF SUFFOLK 



to be ultimately derived from Italy, but adapted and transformed by native 

 artists. 



That the Blythburgh tablet served another purpose when no longer used 

 for writing on wax is deduced from the fact that the decorative panel was 

 pierced by seven (now six) bronze rivets placed symmetrically, and apparently 

 intended to hold a metal cross outside, as there are marks on the interlacing 

 that would agree with the equal-armed cross then in use among the Anglo- 

 Saxons.'"^ On this theory, however, there would be no use for the rivet at 

 the ano-le and the corresponding one (if it ever existed) on the corner broken 



away. 



A bone draughtsman now in the Bury Museum was found at Fin- 

 borough ; and may, like several found in London,"^^ date from the Viking 

 period, but contemporary finds are scarce in the county ; and special men- 

 tion may be made of a trefoil brooch ornamented with conventional foliage 

 in Carlovingian type found at Lakenheath Warren and now preserved at 

 Cambridge. It resembles one in the British Museum from Roskilde, Zea- 

 land, though the latter is ornamented in a different style, and its locality 

 explains the presence of this type in England during the Danish period. 



Among Anglo-Saxon remains of the later period seals are perhaps the 

 rarest, and at the same time the most interesting from the historical point of 

 view. The series is very limited, but Suffolk is, as usual, represented. The 

 seal-matrix is of bronze, 2| in. in height, and in the form of a cone, 

 with two tiers of pierced arches, each containing an animal head, and at the 

 apex of the cone a terminal something like a fleur-de-lys. The eyes of the 

 animal heads were originally represented by garnets, of which only one 

 remains, and their loss is easily explained. After being dug up in a garden 

 by a labourer, about 200 yds. from the site of the monastery at Eye, the seal 

 was given as a plaything to a child, who threw it on the fire. The effect of 

 this treatment may still be seen on the bronze, which was luckily rescued by 

 the child's mother, and presented to the British Museum in 1822 by 

 Mr. Hudson Gurney."* The legend of the seal is : + sig. eoilwaldi ep. — , 

 which shows that it belonged to Ethilwald, Bishop of Dunwich, in the 

 middle of the 9th century. This prelate addressed the Profession of Faith to 

 Ceolnoth, Archbishop of Canterbury (830-70), and cannot have resided at 

 Dunwich after 870, when the see, created by St. Felix in the 7th century, 

 was ravaged by the Danes. The East Anglian bishopric had been divided 

 about 673, and while Dunwich remained the see of Suffolk, that of Norfolk 

 was removed to Elmham. The monks of Eye possessed the site of the 

 bishopric at Dunwich till it was swallowed by the sea, and had a cell there 

 till the Dissolution, hence the discovery of the seal near the monastery is 

 easily explained. The lettering is an abbreviation of sigillvm ethilwaldi 

 EPiscoPi, and surrounds a star, of which four points have floral additions, 

 much in the style of the coinage.'"'^ 



In the abbey grounds at Bury an interesting relic was found more than 

 sixty years ago by a labourer, and subsequently passed into the collection of 



"" Besides the jewelled crosses from Norfolk and Suffolk, compare the Gravesend and Canterbury examples 

 {F.C.H. Kent, i, 381, 382) and that found in the coffin of St. Cuthbert, who died 687 {KC.H. Dur. i, 254). 

 ""' r.C.H. London, i, 166. 



"* This account is published with illustrations and the text of the Profession in ^rch. xx, 479. 

 ^"'^ Cat. Jngi'o-Saxon Coins (Brit. Mus.), ii, pi. viii, 16 (penny of Edward the Elder). 



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