Skip to main content Accessibility statement

We use cookies on this site to enhance your user experience.

By clicking the Accept button, you agree to us doing so. More info on our cookie policy.

Histories of Northamptonshire
View in timeline

King Henry VI Gold Figurine

Medieval 1485 - 1538 Medieval to Tudor

Gold figurine depicting Henry VI as a saint which was possibly originally fixed to a larger vpprestigious object such as a crown.

Gold and enamelled figure depicting King Henry VI as a saint © The Trustees of the British Museum
Gold and enamelled figure depicting King Henry VI as a saint

This is a rare example of an object that explicitly represents King Henry VI as a saint, with the initials SH (Saint Henry) inscribed beneath his feet, rather than RH meaning King Henry (Rex Henricus).

The chained antelope represents his heraldic badge, while the orb and sceptre in each hand symbolises his regal authority. The figure is probably cast, with additional hand-worked elements constructed from multiple pieces. The gold is of extremely high purity, suggesting that the figure was attached to another prestigious object. The figure is covered with ronde-bosse enamelling, a time consuming and difficult process requiring several firings. The materials and quality suggest that the object’s owner was of the wealthiest in society and had connections to skilled craftspeople.

Although Henry VI was never officially made a saint, many people in England venerated him as one in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. There were churches dedicated to Henry VI in every county in England, and an abundance of material culture has been found, including pilgrim badges. Many questions remain as to who owned this object, who made it, and why it was discarded in a field in Little Oxendon.

Number 47 of the objects selected for the A History of Northamptonshire in 100 Objects exhibition 2025.

Main image: © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.

Little Oxendon
Contributed by NMAG

Explore related content (external site)

See our disclaimer

Previous object
Next object

Related objects

  • Bronze Age decorated gold strip or ribbon © NMAG
    Geologic to Prehistoric

    Early Bronze Age Ribbon

    A short piece of decorated gold strip or ribbon dating to the Bronze Age.

  • Discarded (partially worked) antler chess pieces © NMAG
    Medieval to Tudor

    Bishop and Queen Chess Pieces

    These two discarded 12th century antler chess pieces were made in a workshop and are evidence of Northampton as a bustling medieval centre.

  • Face of Silver-Gilt seal matrix (rhs) alongside mould of seal when pressed into wax © NMAG
    Medieval to Tudor

    Medieval Seal Matrix

    A medieval silver-gilt seal matrix. Used to create wax impressions on documents, this is a rare example in the name of a medieval woman.

  • Appliqued and embroidered table cloth made by members of the Weston Favell branch of the Women's Institute © NMAG
    Modern

    Tablecloth

    Made by members of the Weston Favell branch of the Women's Institute to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II's coronation, this tablecloth is still in weekly use.