Staffordshire Hoard is wanted by the Pope and The Vatican

Dec 20 2009 by Adam Aspinall, Sunday Mercury

IT has been described as the “stuff of dreams”. It brought one archaeologist to tears at the very sight of it.

But the awe-inspiring Staffordshire Hoard, one of the most important discoveries of Anglo-Saxon treasure in British history, may be whisked away by the Vatican.

That is the fear of experts who believe the haul of 1,500 artefacts, made of gold and silver and decorated with precious stones, could be the lost treasure of King Edwin, a seventh century Christian monarch.

Edwin ruled Northumbria from about 616 AD until his death in 633 AD.

At the time of his death, he was one of the most powerful Kings in Saxon England and had also conquered large parts of the ancient Mercian kingdom.

And it is here that the £3.3 million hoard was discovered in a field almost 1,370 years later.

The former pagan monarch had converted to Christianity in 627 AD and set about converting the rest of England by force with the backing of Pope Boniface V and the wealthy Roman Catholic Church.

The two traded letters and Boniface showered Edwin – who later became a saint – with gifts of gold and silver from Rome to keep him loyal.

Edwin died at the Battle of Hatfield Chase in 633 AD when he was killed by the forces of pagan warrior King Penda, who had his royal court in Tamworth. His treasure was never found, lost in the mists of time.

Until, that is, the hoard was discovered in July on farmland near Burntwood, less than 15 miles away from Tamworth, by metal detector user Terry Herbert.

The treasure, which included hundreds of bejewelled battlefield items, added up to around 5kg of the purest of gold and 2.5kg of silver.

But it was the Christian significance of some of the relics, including a folded cross and a bracelet with a Biblical inscription, that led to a significant phone call to Midland archaeologists from the Vatican.

Deb Klemperer, from the Potteries Museum in Stoke-on-Trent, was one of the first archaeologists at the scene when the hoard was discovered. She is now among Midland groups trying to raise the £3.3 million needed to buy the treasure – to keep it in the region.

“I’ve been told that the Vatican think it may be the lost treasure of St Edwin,” she told the Sunday Mercury.

“There is some suggestion that because St Edwin became a Christian, the Pope sent him gifts to try and keep him on board.

“This is what we may have found in Staffordshire.

Continued...