Love Is All Around: A Brief History of Posy Rings

Discover the messages of love concealed within these intriguing rings.  

A posy ring is one that is inscribed with a short, sentimental expression, or ‘posy’, derived from the Middle English word for poetry.  Most often about love, friendship and faithfulness, rings of this type were often used as engagement and wedding rings.  Though some Classical examples are known, posy rings experienced a surge in popularity in Medieval England, making apropos love tokens in the age of chivalry. The dating of posy rings is largely based on the style of script and the placement of the inscription, since most lack any other form of ornamentation.  The inscriptions on posy rings of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries are oftentimes in French, the language of love, and found on the exterior of the loop, while examples from the seventeenth century forward typically bear English inscriptions on the interior of the band.  The rarest are posy rings with ornamented exteriors, examples of which are often enamelled and with repeating floral and foliate decoration or, rarer still, with gemstones. Though many of the same poems appear on various examples, others are unique and were composed specially by the patron for their partner.   By the late eighteenth century the posy ring fell out of fashion, however today there seems to be resurgence in popularity of the antique rings, as well as the tradition of inscribing modern wedding bands with messages of love.

REFERENCES

Harold Newman, An Illustrated Dictionary of Jewelry, Thames and Hudson, 1981.

Diana Scarisbrick, Rings:  Jewelry of Power, Love and Loyalty, Thames and Hudson, 2007.