Published: 2024-11-30

Some observations concerning the silver ring with an inscription found in Tum near Łęczyca

Miłosz Sosnowski
Kwartalnik Historii Kultury Materialnej
Section: Studies and Materials
DOI https://doi.org/10.23858/KHKM72.2024.3.001

Abstract

The article attempts a re-interpretation of the inscription on a silver Romanesque ring (“Tot vivas felix, quot vivit tempora fenix”), excavated at the stronghold in Tum near
Łęczyca in 2009. Previous interpretations highlighted the purportedly Christological overtones of the short text, and its uniqueness among ring inscriptions. Conversely, the
author of this article points to its close analogies in medieval writings, both in form and content, especially to salutation formulas in the period preceding the hypothetical
dating of the ring (i.e. in or before 11th–12th c.), but also in the later Middle Ages. These analogies enable the author to discuss not only the conjectured meaning of the inscription on the ring, but also its intended function and the intellectual milieu of the person who commissioned it.

Keywords:

finger-rings - Romanesque, finger-rings with inscription, salutation formulas, Łęczyca - medieval, medieval Latin poetry

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Sosnowski, M. (2024). Some observations concerning the silver ring with an inscription found in Tum near Łęczyca. Kwartalnik Historii Kultury Materialnej, 72(3), 283–300. https://doi.org/10.23858/KHKM72.2024.3.001

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