British and continental archaeologists alike have long been beholden to J. D. Cowen for his interpretation of the bronze sword in Europe. His identification in 1951 of Hemigkofen and Erbenheim types among South German Griffzungenschwerter, his recognition that these forms were basic to all subsequent sword development in the British Isles, and his dating of them to the Hallstatt A (Ha A) Urnfield phase have remained crucial in any interpretation of the British Late Bronze Age. All will regret that his illness and death prevented his intended presentation of the complete sword series from this country, illuminated as it would have been by his perception. A corpus of British bronze swords is, however, known to be in preparation elsewhere. Meantime, an archive of Cowen papers and photographs has been deposited in the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. The present study based on these (though not always following Mr. Cowen's classifications) attempts a preliminary discussion of the earlier swords he assembled from Britain (excluding Ireland), about which relatively little has yet been published. The work stems from the generosity of Mr. Cowen and his family, in opening the archive for research.

During the three centuries following the fall of the Roman Empire the repertoire of the glass blowers in the north-west of Europe was mainly confined to simple shapes of drinking vessels, without the embellishment of handles and appliqués such as had adorned the more expensive Roman products. The only exception to this simplicity in production was the claw-beaker (Rüsselbecher), and this has therefore received a great deal of attention from archaeologists who were intrigued to discover when, where, and also why they were made. As a result of these studies a general system of typology and chronology has gradually been established, but there are now reasons for re-opening the subject. First, new claw-beakers have come to light in recent excavations which add considerably to the facts so far assembled as to typology and chronology; secondly, only a small proportion of the work done on these glasses has appeared in English publications, and, thirdly, the claw-beakers found in Anglo-Saxon England have not been subjected to an examination focused on them as an insular group (rather than as a peripheral phenomenon of the continental series) with particular attention to dating by association. It is hoped that each of the aspects of the subject developed here will produce fresh evidence of vital interest.

The term button brooch has been used to describe a variety of different types of small circular Anglo-Saxon brooches. In the past, these have been generally dated to the period beginning in the late fifth century and continuing through to the middle of the sixth. In this paper the term will have a rather more restricted use and apply only to those small saucer-shaped brooches whose main area of ornament consists of a representation of the human face and any other brooches which seem to be derived from this main type. One hundred and eighteen brooches fit into this definition although it has only been possible to examine personally one hundred and six of these. One brooch from Mucking (22.5) was cast in silver before being gilded, otherwise all the brooches were cast in bronze, presumably in a two-piece mould and, with one or two exceptions, were then gilded. The hinge-lug and catchplate were cast in one with the rest of the brooch and the majority of surviving pins indicate that these were made of iron, although six bronze examples have also survived. With the exception of one brooch, the catch section of the catchplate was always bent over in the same direction; to the right if the brooch is placed facedown and turned so that the catch is at the top and the hinge-lug at the bottom. The exception is a brooch from Collingbourne Ducis (11.1) where the turn is to the left.

The sanctuary ring on the north door of Durham Cathedral is one of the most striking achievements of Romanesque bronze casting. In 1977 concern for its safety was expressed by the cathedral authorities and the decision was eventually taken to remove the familiar animal head and replace it with a copy. There was no evidence on the door that the ring had ever been removed previously and so, for the first time, it was possible to give the ring a thorough examination in laboratory conditions. Preliminary metallurgical tests were carried out in the Victoria and Albert Museum while the British Museum was responsible for making the cast (see Appendix). The original is now displayed in the Durham Cathedral treasury while a copy hangs on the door.

Late medieval wooden caskets decorated with leather have attracted much greater attention in Germany and Belgium than in England. The Spitzer collection is one of the first that included examples of them, and the first major survey that mentioned them was that of Dr. H. Kohlhausen in 1926. His discussion of Minnekästchen, the romantic name given in the nineteenth century to caskets with secular subjects, included both caskets of wood alone and wood covered with leather. He discussed leather caskets now in the Deutsches Ledermuseum at Offenbach and in the Cluny Museum, Paris but, since he was solely concerned with secular iconography, he did not discuss other leather caskets whose style and technique indicated that they had a related origin. The whole group of leather caskets, including the two already mentioned and also caskets at Lucca and in the collection of Mr. Robert Martin on loan to the Cloisters, New York, was first discussed as a whole by Dr. G. Gall in his magisterial survey of European leatherwork. He assigned the Offenbach and Cloisters caskets to northern France or Flanders in the second half of the fourteenth century and the Lucca casket to Northern France or Flanders around 1400. Earlier in 1952 Mme A. M. Marien Dugardin reviewed the evidence for a number of leather caskets mainly in Belgium museums but including the example in the Cluny Museum and concluded from their use of Flemish for the inscriptions around their lids that they were Flemish in origin. In 1975 Mr. H. Bober discussed the Martin casket on loan to the Cloisters and concluded that it was of Flemish origin and dated to about 1400 or slightly earlier. In contradiction to the previously expressed views R. Didier in 1978, in the catalogue of the exhibition Die Parler und der Schöne Stil, discussing the lid of a casket preserved at Nivelles rejected a Flemish origin for the group and suggested that the caskets found an origin in the French sphere of influence, probably in Paris. This article will see how far the casket recently acquired by the British Museum (pis. xxviii-xxxin a) relates to these caskets and will review the evidence for its place of production.

Among the few ensembles of stained glass which survive in this country from the early Renaissance the windows of the Chapel of the Vyne, near Sherborne St. John, Hampshire, are one of the most remarkable (pl. XL). Though much smaller in scale and extent than the glass in King's College Chapel, Cambridge, they are no less distinguished in quality, and their state of preservation is almost as good. Moreover, there are still in existence important fragments from a larger but closely related set which formerly stood in the Chapel of the Holy Ghost at Basingstoke. Both sets were evidently commissioned by Sir William, later Baron Sandys, a distinguished soldier and administrator who, without ever reaching the highest levels, served Henry VIII both at home and abroad from the beginning of the reign until his death in 1540. After campaigning in Guienne and Picardy early in the reign he was appointed Treasurer of Calais from 6th October 1517, and spent much of the next nine years there. Meanwhile he had married Margery, the niece and heiress of Sir Reginald Bray, one of Henry VII's most trusted administrators, and begun the reconstruction of the Vyne which had belonged to the Sandys family since the midfourteenth century. There had since the twelfth century been a chapel of the Virgin in the grounds, and this foundation he incorporated into the eastern end of the house itself. Sir William's chapel measures 35 ft. in length, 19 in width, and 25 in height (10·67 × 5·79 × 7·62 m.). The apsidal east end ie three-sided, and in the east wall and the two canted walls are three windows, each consisting of three transomed lights forming an upper and lower register. The lower lights represent donors at prayer supported by their patron saints: King Henry VIII can be recognised in the east window with St. Henry the Emperor; in the north-east Catherine of Aragon with St. Catherine of Alexandria; and in the south-east the king's sister, Margaret, Queen of Scots, with St. Margaret issuing from the dragon. In the upper register three Passion scenes proceed from south to north: in the south-east Christ carries his cross from right to left, assisted by Simon of Cyrene, while St. Veronica, the Virgin Mary and her attendant women move towards him from the left; in the east is a narrative Crucifixion animated by a large number of figures; and in the north-east the resurrected Christ scatters the astonished soldiers to either side.

Ightham Mote in Kent is one of the most beautiful of English country houses; it is also one of the most important. It stands at the foot of a steep hill, four-square and surrounded by the moat that gives it its name. Directly from the water rises the picturesquely irregular exterior. Most of the lower courses and the whole west or gatehouse front are of Kentish ragstone; much of the upper storey, however, is half-timbered. This mixture reveals the chief fact in the history of the house. It is a late medieval building, extensively remodelled in the early sixteenth century (pl. LII).

The works were carried out by Sir Richard Clement, a minor Tudor courtier (pl. LIII a), and they embody his political and social ambitions with remarkable faithfulness. At the same time, the clarity of Clement's statement reflects back on his own society and raises important questions about the nature of both early Tudor art and politics and the relationship between them. I begin by tracing Clement's career to the time of his purchase of Ightham Mote; then the rebuilding of the house is described and its decorations placed within the context of the early Tudor court style; finally, the possible political significance of the style is explored, partly in terms of its origins and partly through an account of Clement's later career as a Kentish gentleman.

The value of MS. 129 in the library of the Society of Antiquaries of London, bought by the Society in 17902 has already been brought to the attention of scholars and students by H. A. Dillon, who published in an earlier volume of Archaeologia the inventories of the ordnance, arms and armour at the Tower of London, Westminster and Greenwich (Dillon, 1888). The manuscript is an inventory of the effects of Henry VIII compiled in the reign of his successor, Edward VI. A large section (ff. 250–374r) is concerned with details of the ordnance and other munitions in castles and towns, and the artillery fortifications built by Henry VIII in response to the threat of an invasion by Emperor Charles V and Francis I of France in 1538–39. The English possessions in France are also included. It was originally planned to omit the inventory of the Tower of London from this article, but for the sake of completeness and as there are a few errors in Dillon's transcription it seemed fit to include it.