Wedding-Knife Handle from Oxford:15th century

The decorative bone handle of a knife given as a love-token has elaborate pointille decoration (composed of sunken dots). The black-letter inscription reads LOVE. Presumably this was given by a woman to a man? It was found in excavations on the site of the Westgate Centre.

Personal ornaments and gifts with love mottoes were popular in later Medieval times - the Prioress in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales wears a brooch with the motto "Love conquers all".