Thinking man's treasure: the Alfred Jewel that signalled the end of the Dark Ages

King Alfred was a warrior and a thinker. Using guerrilla tactics he turned the tide against the Viking invaders of Britain. Yet he was also a man of culture. "Alfred caused me to be made", says the inscription in Latin on this brilliant object made in the late 9th century AD. It may have been a pointer for a monk to use while reading the Bible. Alfred is known to have had pointers like this made when he ordered Christian manuscripts to be copied and sent around his kingdom. He believed in literacy and the written word – the king who ended the Dark Ages. Illustration: Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford