Many years back, "Prince" Louis Napoleon was stated to be in possesion
of the talisman of Charlemagne;--"a small nut, in a gold filigree
envelopment, found round the neck of that monarch on the opening of his
tomb, and given by the town of Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle) to Buonaparte,
and by him to his favourite Hortense, _ci-de-vant_ Queen of Holland, at
whose death it descended to her son," the present President of the
French Republic. {141}
The Germans have a curious legend connected with this talisman. It was
framed by some of the magi in the train of the ambassadors of
Aaroun-al-Raschid to the mighty Emperor of the West, at the instance of
his spouse Fastrada, with the virtue that her husband should be always
fascinated towards the person or thing on which it was. The constant
love of Charles to this his spouse was the consequence; but, as it was
not taken from her finger after death, the affection of the emperor was
continued unchanging to the corpse, which he would on no account allow
to be interred, even when it became offensive. His confessor, having
some knowledge of the occult sciences, at last drew off the amulet from
the inanimate body, which was then permitted to be buried; but he
retained possession of it himself, and thence became Charles's chief
favourite and prime minister, till he had been promoted to the highest
ecclesiastical dignity, as Archbishop of Mainz and Chancellor of the
Empire. At this pitch of power, whether he thought he could rise no
higher, or scruples of conscience were awakened by the hierarchical vow,
he would hold the heathen charm no longer, and he threw it into a lake
not far from his metropolitan seat, where the town of Ingethüm now
stands. The regard and affection of the monarch were immediately
diverted from the monk, and all men, to the country surrounding the
lake; and he determined on building there a magnificent palace for his
constant residence, and robbed all the ancient royal and imperial
residences, even to the distance of Ravenna, in Italy, to adorn it. Here
he subsequently resided and died: but it seems the charm had a passive
as well as an active power; his throes of death were long and violent;
and though dissolution seemed every moment impending, still he lingered
in ceaseless agony, till the Archbishop, who was called to his bed-side
to administer the last sacred rites, perceiving the cause, caused the
lake to be dragged, and, silently restoring the talisman to the person
of the dying monarch, his struggling soul parted quietly away. The grave
was opened by the third Otto in 997, and possibly the town of Aachen may
have been thought the proper depository of the powerful drug, to be by
them surrendered to one who was believed by many, as he believed himself
to be, a second Charlemagne.
So much for the introduction to the following Queries:--1. Can any of
your readers say whether this amulet is still in possession of the
President of the French Republic? 2. If so, might not the believers in
the doctrines of Sympathy attribute the votes of the six millions who,
in Dec. 1848, voted in favour of his election, to the sympathetic
influence of his "nut in gold filigree," and be justified in looking
upon those who voted for his rivals as no true Franks? It was originally
concocted for a Frankish monarch of pure blood, and may be supposed to
exercise its potency only on those of genuine descent and untainted
lineage.
WILLIAM BELL, Phil. Dr.
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