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Rings from the Earliest Period: Saxon

Among our British, Saxon, and Mediæval ancestors, rings were in common use. Pliny ('Hist. Nat.' lib. xxxiii. c. 6) mentions, that the Britons wore the ring on the middle finger. In the account of the gold, silver, and jewellery belonging to Edward the First is mentioned 'a gold ring with a sapphire, the workmanship of St. Dunstan' Aldhelm, 'De Laud. Virg.', describes a lady with bracelets, necklaces, and rings set with gems on her fingers. Rings are frequently mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon annals. They appear to have been worn then on the finger next to the little finger, and on the right hand-for a Saxon bard calls 00000 Anglo-Saxon. that the golden finger-and we find recorded that a right hand was once cut off on account of this ornament.

It was not uncommon for Saxon gold rings to have the name of the owner for a legend. Some of the rings of the Early British (?) ring, found at Malton.