Auction Catalogue
Create new list15th Century, ‘Boy Bishop’ Lead Tokens
In England, the custom of choosing a ‘Boy Bishop’ from the Cathedral’s choir school each year on 6th December, during the feast of St. Nicholas, patron Saint of children, dates back to the 13th Century. The chosen boy was to act as Bishop for a term of office which usually extended to Holy Innocents’ Day (28th December). During that period he would assume the title and insignia of a Bishop, and with the help of his companions, who acted as priests, he would perform all episcopal duties of the office, except celebrations of mass. If he died during his tenure of office, he would be buried with full episcopal honour.
In 1279, the custom was limited to just one day, which was abolished by Henry VIII in 1542. Twelve years later, the custom was restored by Mary Tudor, who named the boys “Queen Mary’s Children”. It was finally abolished during the reign of Elizabeth I.
The fascinating series of Boy Bishop Tokens has been classified by S.E. Rigold, “The St. Nicholas or ‘Boy Bishop’ tokens, and vicinity”, proceedings of the Suffolk Inst. of Arch. Hist. 35 (1982). Here we use some of his classification. Most extant ‘Boy Bishop’ tokens are from the Abbey at Bury St. Edmunds and Ely in Cambridgeshire and date from the late 15th to the mid 16th Century.
The following seven lots were collected over a period of twenty years, mostly from metal detectorists in East Anglia.
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