Held by the British Museum, who acquired it in 1897, is this late medieval gold signet-ring. It is engraved with a lion and a scroll with the motto 'Now ys Thus' or Now is Thus.
The ring was found in a field in Yorkshire in 1798, an article placed in The Gentleman's Magazine asked
"If any of your correspondence could favour the public with an interpretation it would oblige many of your readers here"
"If any of your correspondence could favour the public with an interpretation it would oblige many of your readers here"
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The ring was once considered to have been the property of Henry Percy, the 3rd Earl of Northumberland. One of the reasons for this assumption was because it was found on the site of the Battle of Towton and many of you will know that Henry Percy met his death. A second reason has to do with the image of the lion on the face of the ring.
Henry Percy's seal did indeed depict a lion, three of them in fact, over a shield and plumed helmet. The Percy Arms, as shown on the seal of Henry de Percy 1st Baron Percy who died in 1314, does show one lion rampant. With all this evidence it is understandable why its associated with the Percy's.
However, it probably did not belong to Henry Percy as we can dismiss the lion, many medieval families used it on their insignia, after all its a Plantagenet icon, Henry II and his son John probably used it and we know it was on the Great Seal of Richard I. Also, there is no evidence that the motto "Now is Thus" was ever used by the Percy family.
Whoever owned this ring was a high-status individual who, not only lost his ring but probably his life, along with twenty-eight thousand other men, on that day at Towton in 1461.
Henry Percy's seal did indeed depict a lion, three of them in fact, over a shield and plumed helmet. The Percy Arms, as shown on the seal of Henry de Percy 1st Baron Percy who died in 1314, does show one lion rampant. With all this evidence it is understandable why its associated with the Percy's.
However, it probably did not belong to Henry Percy as we can dismiss the lion, many medieval families used it on their insignia, after all its a Plantagenet icon, Henry II and his son John probably used it and we know it was on the Great Seal of Richard I. Also, there is no evidence that the motto "Now is Thus" was ever used by the Percy family.
Whoever owned this ring was a high-status individual who, not only lost his ring but probably his life, along with twenty-eight thousand other men, on that day at Towton in 1461.
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