This paper discusses two objects once owned by the antiquary Thomas Lyte (1568–1638). The Lyte Genealogy, now in the British Library, is an illustrated pedigree of Britain’s monarchs, tracing the royal succession through multiple lines of descent from the Trojan prince Brute. It demonstrates the importance of antiquarianism, and the continuing relevance of the traditional British history derived from Geoffrey of Monmouth, in supporting the legitimacy of the Stuart succession. The Lyte Jewel, now in the British Museum, is a tablet miniature containing a portrait of James i by Nicholas Hilliard, presented to Thomas Lyte by the king as a reward for his work on the Genealogy. New evidence points to the king’s jeweller, George Heriot, as its likely designer. Together, the Lyte Genealogy and the Lyte Jewel offer new insights into the antiquarian pursuits of the early Stuart gentry and the intellectual and material culture of the Jacobean court.

This paper presents a new assessment of the hoard of five gold finger rings and ten silver groats found together near the River Thame, in Oxfordshire, in 1940. It proposes a refined date of manufacture for the exquisite reliquary ring and reports newly identified elements of its design, suggesting that it held a second relic. A holistic understanding of the landscape, topography, contemporary institutions, places and events is used to interpret the hoarded material. It is advocated that the hoarded rings and coins were probably the property of Notley Abbey, not Thame Abbey as has been thought, and that they were rescued from Thomas Cromwell’s Commissioners in 1538 for burial at a place of cultural significance. The paper also draws attention to some of the problems of interpreting and dating hoards and it emphasises the continuity of hoarding practice from prehistory into the later- and post-medieval periods.

In England, crosses on commemorative carvings are unusual in the two centuries after the Reformation. In south-east Wales, however, there are numerous examples, in a range of styles, suggesting the work of several groups of stonemasons. A number have the IHS trigram, in the square capitals format popularised by Ignatius Loyola as the emblem of the Jesuits. Some of these memorials commemorate known recusants, but most seem to exemplify the characteristic Welsh combination of traditionalism and loyalism. There is plenty of other evidence for Welsh communities in the early modern period continuing with traditional ‘Catholic’ practices (pilgrimage, veneration of relics and wells) while still regarding themselves as members of the Established Church. Some similar stones are found over the border into Herefordshire, but there are very few in north and west Wales, suggesting that this was a purely local fashion.

The ‘Isenbüttel gold necklace’, now in the Lower Saxony State Museum in Hanover, was found almost a century ago in Lower Saxony, an area with no history of early medieval gold finds or richly furnished burials. As no parallels are known for the object, scholars have long debated the dating, provenance and function of this unique loop-in-loop chain, with its animal-head terminals and garnet cloisonné. Recent excavations of Anglo-Saxon cemeteries dating to the seventh century have, however, added new finds to the small corpus of objects known as ‘pin suites’, consisting of comparatively short pins perhaps designed to fix a veil or a light shawl in the collar area, with ornate pinheads, linked by chains. This paper focuses on Anglo-Saxon pin suites from high-status burials of the second half of the seventh century and seeks to set the finds group in its wider social and historical context, revealing the far-reaching relationships that existed between early medieval elites.

The surviving fabric of the house at Moor Park, near Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, built in 1679–84 for the Duke and Duchess of Monmouth on the site of an older house, is hidden inside the present stone casing by James Thornhill of c 1725. Its design is attributed to Hugh May, and it was constructed by a team of Office of Works craftsmen, many of whom were working with May at Windsor Castle, Berkshire. Analysis of the remaining structure, together with new research into the documentary evidence, has permitted a reconstruction of the roof along with partly conjectural reconstructions of the elevations and of some interior features. The study throws light on the process of commissioning, building and interior finishing of the house, the materials used, the close-knit circle of architects and craftsmen involved and the possible intervention of the clients. It illustrates the originality of the designs and is compared to May’s other works and other houses of the period.

The discovery of the wreck of the brig Mercurio, which sank in 1812 in the waters of the north Adriatic, is of major significance for the study of Italic Kingdom vessels from the Napoleonic era. The underwater excavations carried out in 2004–11 led to the recovery of many small finds, among which are several gunflints of different size and shape. The Mercurio gunflints were produced mainly from blades using a technique in use in Britain and France, but also in the workshops of the Lessini Hills around Ceredo (Verona province, northern Italy). We suggest that the flint employed for their manufacture probably came from Monte Baldo, in the Trentino, or perhaps from the River Tagliamento, in Friuli. We can exclude the possibility that the specimens recovered from the shipwreck were made from French flint because of the typically north Italian manufacturing technique and the character of the grey Treveti-derived flint. Given the complexity of the period during which the Grado (or Pirano) battle took place, the study of even such small items can contribute to a better interpretation of the dramatic events that characterised the beginning of the nineteenth century in that part of the Mediterranean.