THE MYSTERY OF PRECIOUS STONES
One of the most curious and interesting facts in connection with the
jewellery of the Middle Ages is the peculiar respect which seems to have
been paid to precious stones. "In a scientific age," says Mr. Paton, "it
is difficult to apprehend and sympathise with the state of mind which
endowed natural objects with the properties of charms and fetiches.
Before it was the habit to trace phenomena to natural causes, faith in
occult powers was strong, and credulity exercised a marked influence on
the habits and actions of the people."[41] Precious stones, on account
of the mystery and romance attaching to most things of Eastern origin,
had long attracted to themselves a superstitious reverence; so that
their choice and arrangement, which appear to us merely arbitrary
nowadays, had in the Middle Ages a distinct meaning consecrated by
traditions dating back from very ancient times. Every stone, like those
which enriched the breast-plate of the High Priest, and those which in
St. John's vision formed the foundations of the Heavenly Jerusalem, was
supposed to possess special powers and virtues. Abundant proof of this
is exhibited in the mediæval inventories, where the beauty or rarity of
a stone counted for infinitely less in the estimation of its value than
the reputed talismanic virtue, such as the toadstone, for example, was
supposed to possess. The mediæval literature of precious stones,[42]
wherein is expounded their medicinal virtues or their supernatural
powers in baffling evil spirits, is based on a classical poem of about
the fourth century A.D., entitled _Lithica_, which claims to be a
statement of their magic properties made by the seer Theodamas to the
poet Orpheus. Similar belief in the virtues of precious stones was still
in existence in the sixteenth century, and finds an exponent in Camillus
Leonardus, physician to Cæsar Borgia, in his work entitled _Speculum
Lapidum_, published at Venice in 1502. Even as late as the following
century the use of precious stones as charms was more than half
sanctioned by the learned, and in his _Natural History_ Bacon lays it
down as credible that "precious stones may work by consent upon the
spirits of men to comfort and exhilarate them." The learned lawyer and
philosopher, indeed, was not in this much superior to the plain and
simple folk who still imagined that every precious stone had some mystic
value communicable to the wearer. About the same time De Boot, or
Boethius, the learned physician to the Emperor Rudolf II, published his
famous Lapidary, which Mr. C. W. King recommends as a work worthy of
especial study for the properties of stones, and mentions how it "draws
a distinction that curiously illustrates the struggle then going on
between traditional superstition and common sense."[43]
[41] Paton (J.), _Scottish national memorials_, p. 337.
[42] The foremost interpreter of their mysteries in the Middle Ages
was Marbode, Bishop of Rennes (1095-1123), in his _De Lapidibus
Pretiosis Enchiridion_.
[43] King, _Precious stones_, p. 12.
Treatises on precious stones frequently find a place in
sixteenth-century Herbals, and are often accompanied by very
spirited woodcuts representing the working of precious stones and
the process of adapting them to personal ornaments, together with
designs of actual articles of jewellery in which they are set. Two
of the finest books of the kind are--an _Ortus Sanitatis_ (Strasburg,
_circa_ 1497), and a _Kreuterbuch_ printed at Frankfort in 1536.
With the advance of Christianity the representation of the subjects of
pagan mythology was forbidden by law; but the old ideas were retained
for many years, and small objects like cameos or intaglios were carried
about concealed upon the person. Later on, when all knowledge of
classical art had sunk into oblivion, such stones became prized not only
for the subjects engraved on them, which their mediæval owner seldom
understood, but also for the fact that they were supposed to possess
special talismanic virtues. The majority of these gems were mounted as
rings or as seals of secular and ecclesiastical personages of rank.
Preserved among the Harleian MSS. in the British Museum is a
thirteenth-century MS. (quoted by Mr. Wright in _Archæologia_, Vol.
XXX), which contains instructions for the wearing of various stones, and
for the composition of the different metals of the rings in which they
were to be set. A proof of the firm establishment of the Romans in
Britain is afforded by the number of their gems brought to light in
mediæval times; while the decay of the art of gem-engraving in the
Middle Ages is shown by the fact that the Harleian MS. always refers to
these gems as objects "to be found and not made.... A stone engraved in
one manner you should suspend about the neck, as it enables you to find
treasures, the impression in wax of another stone will cause men to
speak well of you." The engraving of a dove with a branch of olive in
its mouth should be mounted in a silver ring, and another gem should be
placed in a ring of lead.
From these and similar writings it is clear that one of the objects
aimed at by the mediæval authors was to define the different virtues of
the sigils engraved upon precious stones. Such ideas, not previously
unknown, as, for example among the Gnostics, were no doubt stimulated by
the Crusades, whereby the study of alchemy and the interest in Oriental
mysteries became spread throughout Europe. Leonardus, as late as the
sixteenth century, observes that stones "if engraved by a skilful
person or under some particular influence, will receive a certain
virtue.... But if the effect intended by the figure engraved be the same
as that produced by the natural quality of the stone, its virtue will be
doubled, and its efficacy augmented." We see thus that the talismanic
ideas respecting precious stones were attached as much to their
engraving as to the stones themselves.
Owing to the complete decline of the glyptic art in the Middle Ages,
antique cameos and intaglios, on account of some fancied assimilation
in subject or idea to Christian symbolism, were occasionally used for
devout subjects. Together with the general ignorance of classical
art, and the consequent attempts that were made to give the pagan
representation upon antique gems a Christian signification--frequently
in a very forced and curious manner--there appears to have been a
certain appreciation of their beauty. When small relics, such as
particles of the wood of the cross, or larger relics, as bones of the
saints, were enclosed either in portable reliquaries or in costly
shrines, such receptacles were not infrequently encrusted with ancient
cameos and intaglios, as representing the very choicest objects which
the fervent devotion of the age could select for this sacred purpose.
The Shrine of the Three Kings at Cologne[44] and the Treasure of
Conques[45] are still enriched with many fine examples of the
gem-engraver's art, and the magnificent gold shrine of Edward the
Confessor in Westminster Abbey, long since despoiled, was formerly
mounted with numerous cameos, all probably antique.[46]
[44] Bock (F.), _Das heilige Köln._ _Schatzkammer des Kölner
Domes_, p. 27.
[45] The Abbey of Conques, near Rodez, in the Department of Aveyron.
See Darcel (A.) _Trésor de Conques_, p. 66.
[46] Rock (D.), _Church of our fathers_, III. 1, p. 393.
[Illustration: _PLATE XVI_ ANTIQUE CAMEOS IN MEDIÆVAL SETTINGS]
The history of the glyptic art has been sufficiently encroached upon
here to demonstrate the prominent place occupied by antique gems in
the personal ornaments of the Middle Ages. Their use for signet rings
will be referred to again; but attention must be drawn to the three
most remarkable examples of their application to other articles of
jewellery--the Jewel of St. Hilary and the Cameo of Charles V in the
Bibliothèque Nationale at Paris, and the Schaffhausen Onyx, preserved
among the archives of the town of Schaffhausen in Switzerland (Pl. XVI).
The Jewel of St. Hilary contains a fine cameo head in profile of the
Emperor Augustus on a sardonyx. It is enclosed in a frame of silver gilt
set with large rubies, sapphires, and pearls. The jewel was formerly
employed as a pectoral or breast-ornament upon a silver reliquary bust
of St. Hilary preserved in the Treasury of St. Denis. On the dispersal
of the Treasury in 1791, the jewel was removed to the Bibliothèque
Nationale. The framework dates from the twelfth century. It measures
3½ by 2½ inches.[47] The Cameo of Charles V of France, a sardonyx
of three layers, dating from Imperial Roman times, represents a full
length figure of Jupiter. It is mounted in the gold frame in which it
was presented to the Treasury at Chartres by the King. Such prophylactic
verses[48] as are found frequently side by side upon amulets and in
cabalistic formulæ of the Middle Ages, are inscribed round its edge on
a ground of blue and red enamel, together with the opening words of
St. John's Gospel, which were supposed to serve as a protection,
particularly against demons and thunder. The figure of Jupiter with the
eagle probably passed for a representation of the evangelist. At the
lower part is a crowned escutcheon bearing the arms of France, and on
the crown is an inscription recording the presentation of the jewel by
Charles V in the year 1367.[49] This beautiful example of French
jewellery of the fourteenth century is 6 inches in length and 3 in
width.
[47] Babelon (E. C. F.), _Catalogue des camées de la Bib. Nat._, p. 107.
[48] _St. Luke,_ IV. 30; and _St. John_, VIII. 2.
[49] Babelon, _op. cit._, p. 1.
Of slightly later date than the Jewel of St. Hilary, and of far more
elaborate workmanship, though perhaps less well known on account of its
somewhat remote situation, is the Schaffhausen Onyx. The stone, a fine
sardonyx, is a Roman cameo of a female figure carrying a cornucopia
and caduceus, and intended to represent Peace. Its setting, a superb
specimen of mediæval goldwork, is mounted with figures of eagles and
lions, chased in full relief and arranged in regular order between high
bezels set with garnets, sapphires, pearls, and turquoises. The outside
measurement of the jewel is 6 by 5 inches, and that of the stone 3½
by 3.[50]
[50] For a full description of this jewel, see a monograph by
J. J. Oeri, entitled _Der Onyx von Schaffhausen._
The large part played by superstition in the ornaments of the Middle
Ages need not be further enlarged on. The virtues of charms were not
only associated with gems and precious stones; for mystic letters,
cabalistic inscriptions, and other devices were among the chief features
of mediæval jewellery. Such devices lingered long after the Renaissance
of learning had partially dispelled the mysticism of the Middle Ages;
while similar superstitions in respect to precious stones are even now
not entirely extinct, in spite of the assurances of modern science.
[Illustration: Gold ring engraved and enamelled with figures of the
Virgin and Child and St. John the Evangelist. Scottish, fifteenth
century (Nat. Mus. of Antiq., Edinburgh).]