The Alfred Jewel

The Alfred Jewel is probably the single most famous archaeological object in England and one of the greatest treasures of the University of Oxford. This handbook describes the Jewel and discusses the many questions it raises, not least whether it was made for King Alfred the Great (871-99). The jewel has received much attention from scholars since its discovery in 1693. The Ashmolean Museum also houses many of the objects that belong to the same late Anglo-Saxon period, and they help to set the Jewel in context. Some material in other collections is included for comparison; in particular, pictures are brought together for the first time of recent discoveries that have particular relevance to the Jewel. The handbook's text has been written by David A. Hinton, formerly an Assistant Keeper in the Department of Antiquities in the Ashmolean, now a Professor of Archaeology at the University of Southampton.