When earlier this year archaeologists made the discovery of the true location of the Battle of Bosworth public, they showed various artefacts that led to the discovery.  One of them, and for me the most fascinating and poignant one, was a small silver boar badge.  The White Boar was Richard’s emblem and badges like this would have been worn by his knights.  They were primarily awarded at ceremonies like Richard’s coronation or the investiture of his son as Prince of Wales.  It is believed that this one was lost from the tunic of one his knights as he fought alongside his rightful king against the usurper Henry Tudor.

Leicestershire Museums reported yesterday that the small badge, it is only 29 mm long, has been officially classified a national treasure.  The Treasure Act of 1996 states the requirements for what constitutes treasure:  the object must be made of a precious metal and be at least 300 years old.  The Coroner for North Leicestershire and Rutland has declared that the boar badge fulfils these requirements.

The next step is for the Treasure Registrar at the British Museum to formally ask the Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Centre, owned by Leicestershire County Council, whether they would like to display the badge in their collection, where it can be admired at present.

It now needs to be independently evaluated by a committee in London (during it absence it will be replaced by an exact replica).  Once this committee has established a value for the badge the Centre has the opportunity to purchase it from the Treasure department.  Normally the value of treasure is split between the finder and the landowner.  In this case the treasure was found during an archaeological survey commissioned by the County Council and the finder has waived his rights to half the value.  This means that the Centre will only need to pay the landowner’s half.  To do so they will probably apply a contribution from the Purchase Grant Fund.  This is a government fund, managed by the Victoria and Albert Museum, which assists in the acquisition of important works of art and other significant literary and historical artefacts for the museums, galleries and libraries throughout England and Wales.

We hope that the Battlefield Centre is successful in its endeavour to make this important artefact accessible to the public.  And maybe in due course, we might be able to buy little replicas, which would surely be a treasure to any Ricardian.

Note: This article is based on “Badge dropped by Knight at Battle of Bosworth is declared treasure” by Leicestershire Museums.  (accessed 27 May 2010)

Tags: Battles, Contemporaries, Richard III