A treasure hunter has unearthed a valuable silver ring that provides tantalising evidence that there were early Christians in Britain before St Augustine arrived on an official mission in 597AD.
Were there Christians in Britain BEFORE Augustine? Ring suggests Roman converts existed before first missionary arrived
- Ring dates back between 312 and 410 AD was found near Swaffham in Norfolk by an anonymous person using a metal detector
[*]Much older than Augustine's first mission to convert the Britons in 597AD
[*]Experts from Norwich Castle Museum said the disk constitutes important evidence for Christianity in late Roman Norfolk
A treasure hunter has unearthed a valuable silver ring that provides tantalising evidence that there were early Christians in Britain before St Augustine arrived on an official mission in 597AD.
The ring, found by an anonymous treasure hunter in Swaffham, Norfolk, is inscribed with words commonly found on converts' rings.
Experts have dated the ring between 312 and 410AD, long before Augustine's official mission to convert the Britons in 597AD.
A treasure-hunter unearthed this valuable silver ring which gives more evidence for early Christians in Britain. It bears a Latin inscription saying 'Antonius, may you live in God', a phrase commonly found on the rings of Roman converts
The ring, that was found using a metal detector to hunt for precious artefacts, adds further weight to an increasing body of evidence that more Christians existed in Roman Britain than has been traditionally thought.
It bears a Latin inscription saying 'Antonius, may you live in God', a phrase commonly found on the rings of Roman converts.
The finder, who has not been identified, stumbled upon the ring with his metal detector near Swaffham, Norfolk in February.
Only the top disc remains of the signet ring, which was declared treasure by an inquest in King's Lynn on yesterday on 19 August.
Finds officer Adrian Marsden, at Norwich Castle Museum, said: 'The disc that would have been set into the bezel from a signet ring constitutes important evidence for Christianity in late Roman Norfolk.'
Experts have dated the ring between 312 and 410AD, long before Augustine's official mission to convert the Britons in 597AD. The missionary monk (pictured, left, on a manuscript) is said to be buried in Canterbury (right)
The inquest also declared a Viking silver ingot and four Iron Age coins as treasure.
Historians have come to believe that Christianity arrived long before the arrival of Augustine and could have reached our island in the first century AD.
It is thought that Roman traders arriving in Britain spread stories about Jesus alongside other tales of Pagan deities.
However, Augustine, who was sent from the Pope in Rome to visit King Aethelbert of Kent (reigned 590-616AD), is credited with sowing the seed of the religion in Britain.
WHO WAS AUGUSTINE OF CANTERBURY?
Augustine of Canterbury was a Benedictine monk who became the first Archbishop of Canterbury in the year 597.
He is considered the 'Apostle to the English' and a founder of the English Church.
Augustine was the prior of a monastery in Rome when Pope Gregory the Great chose him in 595 to lead a mission, usually known as the Gregorian mission, to Britain to Christianize King Aethelbert and his Kingdom of Kent from their native Anglo-Saxon paganism.
Kent was probably chosen because the king had married a Christian princess, Bertha, daughter of Charibert I the King of Paris.
In 597 Augustine landed on the Isle of Thanet and proceeded to Aethelbert's main town of Canterbury.
King Æthelberht converted to Christianity and allowed the missionaries to preach freely, giving them land to found a monastery outside the city walls.
Augustine was consecrated as a bishop and converted many of the king's subjects.
Pope Gregory sent more missionaries in 601, along with encouraging letters and gifts for the churches.
Roman bishops were established at London and Rochester in 604, and a school was founded to train Anglo-Saxon priests and missionaries.
The archbishop probably died in 604 and was soon revered as a saint.
