The 800-Year-Old Heraldic Badge That Reveals a Secret About England and Scotland_

We're here at the British Museum where every year you, the British public, record over 70,000 of the precious objects that you found with the Portable Antiquities Scheme and each and every one of those objects has a story to tell. Things don't have to be gold and silver to be precious. We all have objects that are dear to us because of their sentimental value. Tonight we have treasures from history that celebrate or commemorate a moment in someone's life and that reveal a common connection between us and the lives of our ancestors. In tonight's show, an 18th century ring with a tragic tale. So she's only a day old when she dies. She is, yes. Horoscopes, Roman style. He was told that he would become the most powerful leader the world had ever known. And a pendant that unlocks love across conflict. These are the only two that we Now our first item is an 800 year old badge. It was found in Scotland but it's got a design that could be seen right across Britain today. Today the question of an independent Scotland, breaking the ties that have united Britain for hundreds of years, is back. Now it's going to be answered by a vote, a referendum to be held here next year. In the past it was answered by battle, with warriors like William Wallace and Robert the Bruce passing into Scottish legend. Today I'm investigating a treasure that sheds a new light on the turbulent relationship between these two great nations. Here in Galloway a chance discovery was made in the ruins of an old monastery. Fraser Richardson is a postman but he spends his free time looking for artifacts. It was while searching near Kirkcudbright that he found what looked like a small badge. Put my shovel in, dug it out. It was about six inches down. When I cleaned it a wee bit and I seen the red enamel in and I thought this must be pretty good find this one. So I didn't clean it anymore, put it back in my pouch and went to museum that day and they found out it was about 800 years old and probably the best find ever. When the experts had a look at it they found something truly remarkable beneath the dirt. I've come to the Stuart Museum to take a look for myself. Well David what is it? Well Michael it is a little heraldic badge and it's the three lions of the Royal Arms of England. It would originally have had a nice deep red background you can see some traces of the red enamel. The lions themselves would probably have been gilded so imagine a yellow or gold on red. As a panel it would be fitted to a perhaps a leather bag, a leather satchel and it would be clearly identify that object as part of the Royal And it tells us something extraordinary about Edward I. Richard Oram has a theory. He's here, he's moving about, he's on horseback and things like that can easily detach. It could come off his own personal harness. This is enemy territory at the time of a war. What might he have been doing? Right from the beginning of the war he has been trying to detach people from loyalty to one side and bring them across to his side. This was a dangerous and daring tactic. It seems that Edward I may well have been risking his own life to try and negotiate with the Scots. It'd be a bit like Barack Obama personally talking to the Taliban in Afghanistan. The badge that Fraser found is the only physical evidence in existence that strongly suggests King Edward I may have risked his life to enter enemy territory and talk to the Scots. Unfortunately the war continued even after his death. What does it mean to you as a medieval historian to actually be able to see maybe even hold something like this? Getting something like that out of this particular period, out of a war where this is raging over a huge territory and yet you know here is an object that one of the leading figures in that war dropped. This is a truly amazing find. It really is one of the great discoveries of the last few years and our finder Fraser Richardson is rightly proud. It's quite something to find an object in a field that just might have belonged to a king and if it did what it tells us about Edward I's bravery. Fascinating too to find out why three lions became the national symbol. Our next item also reveals the deep roots of much of modern day life only this time it's astrology which as Russell Grant reveals played a key part in the life of this Roman emperor. One day over 2,000 years ago a teenager went to have his horoscope read. He was told that he would become the most powerful leader the world had ever known. In 2011 husband and wife Peter and Elizabeth Andrews were walking on the Mendip Hills in Somerset when they found something very beautiful but very strange. A small figure made of bronze and perfectly preserved. One end depicted a goat the other a fish's tail. I'm going to the Museum of Somerset to have a look. Oh goodness this is it's fabulous nothing's been broken no nothing nothing at all it looks it looks complete look at the cloven yes we've got the cloven feet that's incredible we've got the scales on the fish part of the body we've got the the fur down his neck. Now I am one of those astrologers for whom the goat and fish combination is very familiar. Capricorn is the the best sign you could possibly be if you want to rule and you want to be a politician if you want to be a smooth operator but of course negative Capricorn could be an autocrat a dictator as well you've got to look at people perhaps like with strong Capricorn influences Mao Tse Tung, Stalin, Richard Nixon and perhaps the greatest of them all the first emperor of Rome Augustus. Augustus was the founder of the Roman Empire and its very first emperor. He ruled for almost 40 years from 31 BC to 14 AD. Single-handedly he transformed Rome from a republic into a de facto dictatorship and his belief in his horoscope played an important role in his achievements. The sign of Capricorn he puts it on his coins he puts it on jewelry that's commissioned to commemorate his his reign and from his use of it the sign travels out through Roman art other people put it on their houses on their tombs as an auspicious symbol so it has that imperial connection. But there was just one slight problem Augustus was not a Capricorn at all his actual sun sign was Libra known to epitomize balance harmony and a sense of fair play. These qualities were not exactly in keeping with being a ruthless Roman emperor so Augustus had done what every dictator could do he simply swapped signs but how did our figurine end up in Britain? Enthusiast and expert Dave Richardson who loves wearing a toga almost as much as the Romans thinks he has the answer. Every legion formed or reformed by the emperor Augustus has somewhere in its iconography a Capricorn and you'll find as an emblem on the second Augustus shields we find a Capricorn emblazoned on it. What about then the Capricorn here would that have been something that the ordinary Roman soldier would have looked up at and seen as a good luck symbol? With its connection to to Augustus himself yes these emblems these images were revered to the point of of them almost being a religious icon the legion followed the standards to the very death. And that's probably how our Capricorn figurine got here it is a star exhibit at the Museum of Somerset who raised the 16,000 pounds It's not surprising that our lovely Capricorn has survived because it would have been greatly cherished. So next time you read your horoscope in the paper and hope for good news remember that your Roman ancestors were doing exactly the same thing over 2,000 years ago the only difference is that you don't get to choose your own sun sign. Welcome back to Britain's Secret Treasures. This is the Fishpool hoard currently on display here at the British Museum it's a spectacular set of medieval treasure with a curious link to our next story. Historian Susanna Lipscomb investigates. This is Rolleston, Nottinghamshire. Five years ago in these fields Darren Hoyle found an unexpected and beautiful treasure. What did you think when you saw it? Did you know what it was? I didn't at all I'd never seen anything like it to be honest just saw a glint of gold and I'd never found gold before and it was just amazing. What did it look like? It's a small square oblong slightly smaller than the new five pence piece. Once I'd rubbed the dirt off it and had a look I didn't really know what it was. What Darren had found was a small gold locket with some intriguing writing on it. I want to see it for myself so I'm going This is the locket that was found in Rolleston. Isn't it beautiful it's so delicate? It's very tiny yes it's very beautiful. And exactly how would this have been worn? It would have been suspended on a chain much as we would wear a locket on a chain today. It is inscribed on both sides in French with the inscription sans repentir without regret or without repentance. The experts dated this unusual locket to the 15th century and the time of the war of the roses but at first it was a bit of a mystery. That was until it was compared to an older find the so-called fishpool hoard discovered 50 years before. The fishpool hoard is one of the greatest treasure finds ever made in Britain and it was discovered just around the corner from Rolleston by workmen on a building site. Consisting of 1,237 gold coins four gold rings and two lengths of gold chain which in today's money would be worth over 300,000 pounds. It also contained a single gold locket. This is from the fishpool hoard and it's the same form but slightly larger and it still has its key attached and it also has a French inscription on both sides which reads with all my heart or of all my heart. How wonderful it's so romantic. Could these two lockets found in different places have once belonged to the same lovers? The great thing about the fishpool hoard is that the dates on the coins mean we know almost exactly when it was buried and it's these dates that may hold the answer. We think it was buried early in the year 1464 either before or after the battle of Hexham which was part of the wars of the roses and it's thought to possibly belong to a member of the Lancastrian faction. Lockets like these were one way of keeping a forbidden love affair secret. Is there any scenario in which these two might be tokens of love that were exchanged? There are inventories and wills which show that people bequeathed or gave them as gifts to their husbands and wives. It is intriguing that they were found so close together and they're the only two that survive. These are the only two that we have in this country? Yes. We can't be sure that they come from two lovers but they were found 10 miles apart. They look so similar perhaps worked by the same goldsmith and then of course for those romantic messages perhaps they make up one sentence with all my heart without regret. It just goes to show that despite everything else that changes through the ages the power of love remains a constant thing. Until relatively recently childbirth was incredibly risky and if you became pregnant then you diced with death. Our next item reveals one family's heartbreaking story. In 2005 in Bridgnorth, Shropshire, local enthusiast Tony Baker uncovered a very beautiful and mysterious ring. What made you decide to come and look around here? Well I was actually living and working in the area and Oldbury is also mentioned in the Doomsday Book. There's history in the fields. It's a tiny thing though a ring so how hard was it to find? Gold, it doesn't tarnish or anything so as soon as it came out of the grain covered in dirt I knew it was gold. When I got home and cleaned it up it was really quite special. Tony could then read the letters around the band. Mary and Sarah Littleton. O.B. died 7th of June 1735. Two names on a ring is unusual unless they're husband and wife. Tony was intrigued and decided to try to find out who Sarah and Mary Littleton might be. I went on the internet as most people do and came across a marriage of a Mary Phillips and a Thomas Littleton married in 1731 and from that I found out that the church behind us he was actually rector there for 50 years. But what about Sarah? Well that was the next step in the research to try and find out exactly what had happened and why the ring was made. Tony then spent weeks searching through the church records for June 1735 to see if he could find any mention of the name Sarah Littleton and eventually he found the names of both Mary and Sarah in the births and deaths register. This is a copy from the church records dated 1735 and then down here we've got the entries confirming the death of his wife and daughter and it reads Sarah the daughter of Thomas Littleton Clark and Mary his wife baptized the 7th of June and then underneath Mary his wife and Sarah his daughter of Thomas Littleton Clark buried the 8th of June 1735. So Mary's died in childbirth and this little baby Sarah hasn't made it either. Terrible. In 24 hours he lost his wife and his daughter. In the 18th century one in five women died in childbirth and over 12% of all newborns would die within the year. At this time male doctors weren't allowed to attend. Midwives and friends helped to deliver babies. There were no anesthetics available. It all took place at home and if there were complications at birth there was very little that could be done. Tragedies were common. When you see it in writing like that it's uh it's very tragic it really is. I mean so these are the records from from Thomas's own church aren't they? Yes yeah he's down as a minister down there. I'm just wondering whether he's actually done the entry of his own wife and daughter which would be quite uh quite moving if he did if he did. This little ring was made so that Thomas's wife and his day-old daughter would never be forgotten. Today we have wedding rings to commemorate the day we exchange marriage vows but from the middle ages it was also customary for relatives to remember the day someone had died by wearing a mourning ring inscribed with the name and date of death. By finding it Tony's shed light on a heart-rending tradition and also in fact 300 years on he's also ensured that Mary and little Sarah will always be remembered.