And there is a fourth ring, of which we cannot assert that it belongs to this very select group, but which certainly must be assigned to the same general period, and claims association with the three. It is a simple hoop of gold, a good quarter of an inch wide, having its outer surface covered with the following engraved inscription nielloed[57]:
Æðred mec ah Eanred mec agrof: that is, Æðred me owns, Eanred me engraved.
Hickes described this ring in his Thesaurus (Preface, pp. viij and xiij) with a good figure: but in the interpretation he read the last word as agroft, taking an idle mark like an inverted T as part of the word; whereas it is there only to fill out the space. In the lettering there are five Runes: namely, the Æ in Æðred, the N in Eanred, and the A, G, and F in agrof. This is the ring which was alluded to above (p. 17), in connexion with the archaic pronoun mec, which occurs twice on it.
In 1705, when this ring was described by Hickes, it was in the possession of Dr. Hans Sloane: it is now in the British Museum.
The forms ‘Æthred’ and ‘Æthered’ are colloquial abbreviations of ‘Æthelred,’ which was the name of that one among the brothers of Alfred, with whom his relations were closest. But the frequency of the name forbids us to assert that this ring was made for king Æthelred. The names ‘Æthelwulf’ and ‘Æthelswith’ are in themselves exceptional, and when combined with the royal title are absolutely identifying: the name ‘Alhstan,’ combined with the peculiar aspect of the ring and the circumstances of its discovery, not much less so; but the name ‘Æthred,’ though forcibly aided by the noble aspect of the ring, only enables us to assert a degree of probability which every one must determine for himself.
Everything in the appearance of these rings declares them to be the work of Saxon artists, and on the Æðred ring the artist bears a good Saxon name. Such specimens must finally dissipate any lingering relics of the old prejudice, that the work of the Alfred Jewel is too good to have been produced in the England of the ninth century. We may rest assured that the excellence of the workmanship carries with it no presumption against its being English work of the time of king Alfred.
[53] See above, p. 7.