In the book of Genesis we read of Pharaoh's ring being given by him to
Joseph, as a method of investing him with power: and thus the Persian
monarch Ahasuerus transferred his authority to Haman and to
Mordecai[24]. What is added in the Scripture narration of one of these
latter cases will illustrate the significancy of this mode of
investiture. "Then were the king's scribes called, on the thirteenth day
of the first month; and there was written according to all that Haman
commanded unto the king's lieutenants, and to the governors that were
over every province--to every people after their language; in the name
of king Ahasuerus was it written, and _sealed_ with the king's ring."
Of the golden ring with which our kings are invested, as "the ensign of
royal dignity, and of defence of the catholic faith," there is yet
another miracle of the coronation to relate. A certain "fayre old man"
having asked alms of St. Edward the Confessor, he had nothing at hand to
bestow upon him but his ring. Shortly after, two English pilgrims lost
their way in the Holy Land, when "there came to them a fayr ancient man,
wyth whyte heer for age. Thenne the olde man axed theym what they were,
and of what regyon. And they answerde that they were pylgryms of
England, and hadde lost theyr fellyshyp and way also. Thenne thys olde
man comforted theym goodly, and brought theym in to a fayre cytee; and
whanne they had well refreshed theym, and rested there alle nyhte, on
the morne, this fayre olde man went with theym, and brought theym in the
ryght waye agayne. And he was gladde to here theym talke of the welfare
and holynesse of theyr kynge Saynt Edward. And whan he shold depart fro
theym, thenne he tolde theym what he was, and sayd, 'I am JOHAN THE
EVANGELYST; and saye ye vnto Edward your kyng, that I grete him well by
the token that he gaff to me, thys _rynge_, with hys one handes[25].'"
By the exact mode that we have quoted from Scripture, do we find Offa,
king of the East Angles, appointing Edmund as his successor; and with
the ring, it is noticed, with which he had been invested at his own
promotion to the royal dignity[26].
On the detention of James II. by the fishermen of Sheerness, in his
first attempt at escape from this country, in 1688, it is particularly
noticed in his Memoirs, "The king kept the diamond bodkin which he had
of the queen's, and the _coronation ring_, which for more security he
put into his drawers." The captain, it appeared, was well acquainted
with the dispositions of his crew; (one of whom "cried out, 'It is
father Petre--I know him by his lantern jaws;' a second called him an
'old hatchet-faced Jesuit;' and a third, 'a cunning old rogue, he would
warrant him!') for, some time after he was gone, and probably by his
order, several seamen entered the king's cabin, saying they must search
him and the gentlemen, believing they had not given up all their money.
The king and his companions told them that they were at liberty to do
so, thinking that their readiness would induce them not to persist; but
they were mistaken; the sailors began their search with a roughness and
rudeness which proved they were accustomed to the employment: at last,
one of them, feeling about the king's knee, got hold of the diamond
bodkin, and cried out, with the usual oath, he had found a prize, but
the king boldly declared he was mistaken. He had, indeed, scissors, a
tooth-pick case, and little keys in his pocket, and what he felt was
undoubtedly one of those articles. The man still seemed incredulous, and
rudely thrust his hand into the king's pocket; but in his haste he lost
hold of the diamond bodkin, and finding the things the king mentioned,
remained satisfied it was so: by this means the bodkin and ring were
preserved[27]." Whatever may be our opinion of the conduct of the
monarch, we cannot follow him into these scenes without compassion for
the _exile_, whose family seems to have been born to demonstrate how
much of our pity unfortunate princes may claim, apart from their
personal worth.
This is said to have been originally a favourite ring of the beautiful
but unfortunate Mary queen of Scots; to have been sent by her, at her
death, to James I.; through whom it came into the possession of our
Charles I., and on _his_ execution, was transmitted by bishop Juxon to
his son. It lately came into the possession of his present Majesty,
through the channels by which he has obtained all the remaining papers
of the house of Stuart.
Richard II. resigned the crown to Henry IV. by transferring to him his
ring. A paper was put into Richard's hands, from which he read an
acknowledgment of being incapable of the royal office, and worthy, from
his past conduct, to be deposed; that he freely absolved his subjects
from their allegiance, and swore by the holy Gospels never to act in
opposition to this surrender: adding, that if it were left wholly to
him to name the future monarch, it should be Henry of Lancaster, to whom
he then gave his ring[28].
The SPURS are a very ancient emblem of knighthood; in later coronations,
the abundance of ceremonies has only allowed time for the king's heel to
be touched with them. At the battle of Crecy, when Edward III. was
requested to send reinforcements to his son, his reply was: "No; tell
Warwick he shall have no assistance. Let the boy win his spurs[29]."
The ORB, or MOUND (Fr. _monde_), is an emblem of sovereignty, said to be
derived from imperial Rome; and to have been first adorned with the
cross by Constantine, on his conversion to Christianity. It first
appears among the royal insignia of England on the coins of Edward the
Confessor; but Mr. Strutt authenticates a picture of Edgar, "made in the
year 996," which represents that prince kneeling between two saints, who
bear severally his sceptre and a globe surmounted by a cross[30]. This
part of the regalia being inductive of supreme political power, has
never been placed in the hands of any but kings or queens _regnant_. In
the anomalous case of the coronation of William and Mary as joint
sovereigns--the 'other world,' that Alexander wept for, was created; and
the spare orb is still to be seen amongst the royal jewels of England!
The only remaining member of the regalia now in use is St. EDWARD'S
Staff; but whether so called from any of the pilgrimages of the
Confessor--from its being designed to remind our monarchs of their being
but pilgrims on earth--or simply from its being offered with the other
regalia at that monarch's shrine, on the coronation of our kings, we
have not the means of determining. All the regalia are supposed, indeed,
to be in the custody of the Dean, as the successor of the Abbot of
Westminster, at the period of each coronation.