The Thing of Mine I have Loved Best

"This book studies forty-six pieces of European jewelry-pendants, reliquaries, amulets, and talismans-from the eighth to the eighteenth century. The engaging title "The thing of mine I have loved the best" comes from the medieval will of an English duchess who bequeaths a reliquary jewel to her son. It expresses the sentiment that jewels appealed (then, as well as now) to the truest and strongest emotions."--Front jacket flap.