MEDIÆVAL RINGS AND BRACELETS
Of all classes of mediæval jewellery finger rings have been preserved in
the greatest number. Among the various causes that have contributed to
this result must be reckoned their very general use in former times,
their comparatively small value, which often saved them from the
melting-pot and the fact that they were almost the only articles of
value usually buried with the dead.
As regards the use and form of the finger ring during the Middle Ages,
we find that it retains in the main its primitive symbolical character,
being employed as an emblem rather than an ornament, to signify the
investiture of office, the binding of the nuptial bond, and especially
as a signet. Though the occurrence of numerous rings without a seal or
other mark proves their general acceptance as purely ornamental
articles, so deeply was the spirit of the age imbued with leanings
towards the mysterious and the occult, that nearly every ring is an
_annulus vertuosus_, supposed to be endowed with some talismanic or
sanative efficacy.
For convenience sake mediæval rings may be separated into four main
divisions: (1) ecclesiastical and devotional rings; (2) charm rings;
(3) love and marriage rings; and (4) ornamental rings, including
signets.
Rings have always been looked upon with favour by the Church; they
were worn regularly by the higher clergy, and formed part of their
ecclesiastical insignia. The British Museum, by the bequest of Mr.
Octavius Morgan, possesses an important collection of gilt bronze finger
rings of enormous size, each set with a foiled glass or crystal. Most of
them bear on the hoop symbols of the four evangelists, the Ox, Lion,
Angel, and Eagle, as well as the triple crown and crossed keys with
the arms of various popes, and sometimes those of contemporary rulers,
mostly of the fifteenth century. These so-called papal rings, of which
other examples, and duplicates, exist, are believed to have been
presented or sent by popes or cardinals as emblems of investiture
when conferring an office or dignity (Pl. XXIII, 10).
A jewelled ring was always worn by a bishop, and was an essential part
of his costume when pontificating. It was specially made for him, and
usually went with him to the grave. Hence it happens that many of
these rings have survived, and are preserved both in museums--the
collection in the Franks Bequest in the British Museum being the most
extensive--and in the cathedrals where they have been found.[100] In the
earliest times bishops usually wore engraved rings for use as signets,
but they seem to have had a large jewelled one as well for ceremonial
use. According to the instructions of Pope Innocent III in 1194, the
episcopal ring was to be of solid gold set with a precious stone on
which nothing was to be cut; hence the thirteenth-century rings are at
times somewhat rudely fashioned, with the shape of the bezel adapted to
the gem just as it was found, its surface merely being polished. Among
the stones usually chosen for the purpose were the ruby indicating
glory, the sapphire purity, the emerald tranquillity and happiness, and
crystal simplicity. Antique gems in earlier times were also worn, and
on some rings an inscription is added to give a Christian name to the
pagan figure; but others were merely regarded as ornaments without
meaning, like one dating from the twelfth century in the Waterton
Collection, which bears a Roman cameo in plasma of a female head in high
relief; or like the curious example found in the coffin of Seffrid,
Bishop of Chichester (d. 1151), in which is mounted a Gnostic intaglio.
The most usual form of ring, and one which seems to have been reserved
chiefly for bishops, is of a pointed or stirrup shape. It is commonly
found set with a small sapphire, more rarely with an emerald, and
sometimes, as in William of Wykeham's ring at New College, with a ruby
(Pl. XXIII, 1). The fashion for this type appears to have lasted from
the thirteenth to the fifteenth century.
[100] Amongst others there are three in each of the cathedrals
of Chichester, York, Winchester, and Durham, and two at Hereford
(_Archæologia_, XLV, p. 404).
[Illustration: _PLATE XXIII_ MEDIÆVAL AND LATER RINGS]
The episcopal ring was formerly worn on the right hand, but is placed at
the present day upon the annular finger--the third finger of the left
hand. Not more than one episcopal ring is now worn, but on sepulchral
effigies and early pictures bishops are represented with three or four
rings on the right hand, not infrequently upon the second joint of the
fingers, and also upon the thumb. They were generally worn over the
gloves, the backs of which were ornamented in addition with a large
jewel. These rings were often, therefore, of considerable size, so that
when worn without a glove a guard-ring was necessary to prevent their
falling off.[101] Mitred abbots were allowed to wear the ring; by others
it might be worn, but not during the celebration of the Mass. The use of
a ring was forbidden to the lower clergy.
[101] Waterton (E.), "Episcopal rings" (_Arch. Journ._, XX,
p. 224), 1863.
Among the rings to be classed under the heading of religious or
devotional rings, the most important are the so-called iconographic
rings, that is, those which have on the bezels, or on the shoulders,
which are generally grooved or fluted, figures of the Virgin and
Child, or of patron saints. They are nearly all of the same style of
workmanship and date almost exclusively from the fifteenth century. They
are peculiar to England and Scotland. Several examples are preserved in
the National Museum of Antiquities at Edinburgh (p. 104), and others in
the three great English ring collections.
[Illustration: English gold ring, fifteenth century. Engraved with
the "Annunciation," and the words _en bon an_.]
Devotional rings of the same date, and mostly of English workmanship,
have broad hoops, some engraved with sacred monograms, some with holy
names such as JESUS and MARIA, and others with the names of the Three
Kings, spelt in all manner of ways. Two exquisite English gold rings of
this kind, dating from the first half of the fifteenth century, are in
the British Museum. One, found at Coventry in 1802, is engraved with the
five wounds of Christ, together with the legends describing them, and on
the inside an inscription containing the names of the Three Kings of
Cologne (Pl. XXIII, 4, 5).[102] The other ring was dug up at Godstow
Priory, near Oxford, and is of small diameter, suited for a lady's
finger, but has a broad hoop engraved with sacred figures. It appears to
have been employed as a love ring, for within the hoop is an inscription
which runs thus: "_Most in mynd and yn myn herrt. Lothest from you fer
to departt_"[103] (Pl. XXIII, 6).
[102] _Archæologia_, XVIII, p. 306.
[103] _Arch. Journ._, XX, p. 195.
Another form of religious or devotional ring which was sometimes used in
place of the ordinary rosary of beads was the decade ring. This was so
called from its usually having at intervals round the hoop ten knobs
which were used for repeating ten Aves, and a head or bezel for the
Paternoster.
Finger rings, to an even greater extent than any other species of
mediæval jewellery, were designed to act as talismans or amulets; and
they served, more than any other purpose, that of charms. Their virtue
was imparted sometimes by the stone, and sometimes by the device,
inscription, or magical letters engraved upon them.
The mystic virtues attributed to stones as well as to engraved gems
during the Middle Ages has been frequently alluded to. Among the
different stones (like the sapphire, for instance, the very word for
which implies protection against drunkenness) carried in the bezel of
the ring, which were supposed to make the wearer proof against evil
influences, the most valued was the toadstone (Pl. XXIII, 9). It was
supposed to be found in the head of a toad, but is in reality the fossil
palatal tooth of a species of fish--the ray. A toadstone--also known as
crapaudine and batrachites--in a ring was said to indicate the presence
of poison by perspiring and changing colour. Toadstones were much sought
after, and were highly prized, even in Shakespeare's day.
Sweet are the uses of adversity;
Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head. (_As you like it_, II, 1.)
Ben Jonson alludes to the custom of wearing the stone in rings:--
Were you enamour'd on his copper rings,
His saffron jewel, with the toad-stone in't? (_Volpone_, II, 5.)
In addition to the stones already mentioned, greatly valued was the
Turkey-stone or turquoise, as the "Compassionate turcoyse, which doth
tell, By looking pale, the wearer is not well." (Donne, _Anatomie of the
World_.) It was his turquoise ring which Shylock would not have lost
"for a wilderness of monkeys."
The use of charm rings seems to have been not uncommon in early times.
It was one of the articles of impeachment against Hubert de Burgh, the
great justiciar of Henry III, that whereas the King had in his treasury
a ring which rendered the wearer invincible in battle, his minister
furtively removed the same and bestowed it upon Llewellyn of Wales. As
charm rings, too, must be reckoned those which enclosed small relics.
But rings so used seem for the most part to have been worn attached by a
ribbon or chain to the neck, and not on the finger.
Since such highly valued objects as charmed stones could only be
obtained by a few, cabalistic inscriptions often took their place. Many
of the devotional rings with the names Jesus, Mary, and Joseph engraved
on them, were used as a preservative against the plague; but the most
popular inscription was, as has been seen, the names of the Three Kings
of the East, which were a powerful charm against peril by travel and
sudden death. Such rings were worn against the cramp. There were also
caract rings of superstitious use, which bore charms in the form of
inscriptions, such as ANANIZAPTA. Many other rings of this class have
cabalistic names and strange barbaric words and combinations utterly
unintelligible.
The _fyancel_ or wedding ring appears to be of Roman origin, and was
usually given at the betrothal as a pledge of the engagement. Two forms
of these rings are the "gimmel" and the "posy" rings. Gimmel rings
(French, _jumelle_, a twin) are composed of two hoops forming, when
closed, one ring, and so constructed as to play when open one within the
other. They are of two sorts: those which are either plain or set with
precious stones, and those which have the device of the _fede_ or two
right hands joined.
Inscriptions or mottoes, as a rule in Norman-French, are to be found on
rings of the fourteenth, and more frequently on those of the fifteenth
century. They were called "chansons" and also "resons" or "reasons," and
later, poesies, posies, or posys. These love inscriptions, generally
engraved on the outside of the ring (though placed inside in the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries) are for the most part the same as
those found on the brooches of the time, inscriptions such as _Je suis
ici en lieu d'ami_, and the like, being of frequent occurrence. More
rarely the motto is in English, as on the beautiful iconographic gold
ring in the British Museum. New Year's Day among the Romans was a _dies
faustus_ and objects of jewellery were usually among the presents which
it was the custom to exchange on that occasion. In the Middle Ages also
the advent of the New Year was celebrated by the bestowal of presents.
Among these _estrennes_ jewellery was a prominent item, and on the rings
of the period (like the one figured on p. 150) the inscription, _en bon
an_ frequently occurs.
A very extensive group of mediæval finger rings is formed by signets.
These are marked with some device, such as an animal, a bird, a tree, or
any other object, so that they could be easily recognised; hence they
were often given as credentials to a messenger. In the fourteenth and
fifteenth centuries rings of silver, and occasionally of gold, occur,
with a crest or coat-of-arms, or with devices in the form of initials,
and certain arbitrary signs called merchants' marks, which were used by
merchants and others not entitled to armorial bearings. Piers Plowman
speaks of "merchantes merkes ymedeled in glasse." Such rings were often
worn on the thumb. Though armorial signets were worn in Italy as early
as the fourteenth century, they were not common in England till the
commencement of the sixteenth.
Somewhat similar are certain devotional signet rings of silver or base
metal engraved with an initial--generally the letter I surmounted by a
coronet. The I is probably the initial of the Saviour's name, such rings
being worn from a belief in the efficacy of holy names as preservatives
from evil.
In connection with the mediæval use of ancient engraved stones, the
fashion of wearing Roman intaglios in rings has already been noticed.
Upon the metal setting around these gems a legend in Latin was often
engraved; the most usual inscription being SIGILLUM SECRETI, SIGILLUM
MEUM, or the word SIGILLUM, followed by the name of the owner (Pl.
XXIII, 11).
Rings which have the appearance of being purely ornamental were worn
throughout the Middle Ages in considerable numbers both by men and
women; yet at the same time it must ever be borne in mind that the
stones set in them had probably in the eyes of the possessors a value
quite independent of their use as ornaments.
In the Gold Ornament Room of the British Museum is a collection of five
English rings of silver of the twelfth century. They are of small
intrinsic value, but of considerable interest as authenticated examples
of ornamental rings of the period; for with the exception of those found
on the fingers of prelates, the date of early rings is sometimes
difficult to determine. The rings were dug up at Lark Hill, near
Worcester, in 1854, together with upwards of two hundred pennies of
Henry II. They probably date, therefore, from about the end of the
century.[104]
[104] _Archæologia_, XXXVI, p. 200.
[Illustration: French gold ring, fourteenth century (Louvre).]
The peculiarity of many of the richer ornamental rings of this period is
the tendency to place the stone upon a high case or stalk, so that the
bezel is raised considerably above the hand. A curious example, dating
from the fourteenth century, is in the Sauvageot Collection in the
Galerie d'Apollon of the Louvre. It shows two dragons' heads issuing
from crown-shaped ornaments supporting a sapphire in a high collet.
In the fifteenth century a large number of rings appear to have been
habitually worn; and on the monument of Lady Stafford in Bromsgrove
Church, Worcestershire (1450), every finger but the last one on the
right hand is decorated with a ring. In many of the Flemish pictures of
the same date we find ornamental rings set with table-cut or cabochon
stones. The form of these is admirably represented in the portrait of a
goldsmith, ascribed to Gerard David, in the Royal Gallery at Vienna. In
his right hand he holds one ring, and in the left a short roll of
parchment, on which are placed four more. The rings are somewhat
massive, and thicken towards the bezel, where they are mounted with
table-cut stones within plain claw settings. In the same gallery is John
van Eyck's portrait, dated 1436, of John De Leeuw, jeweller to Philip
the Good, Duke of Burgundy. He holds between the thumb and forefinger of
his right hand a gold ring set with a small cabochon stone.
This notice of mediæval finger rings may be concluded by drawing
attention to a picture which, in view of the jewellery of the Middle
Ages, is one of the most fascinating of all the productions of the
Flemish school. The panel in question, the property of Baron A.
Oppenheim, of Cologne, represents the legend of St. Godeberta and St.
Eloy. It was painted in the year 1449 for the corporation of goldsmiths
of Antwerp by Petrus Christus, who flourished in the first half of the
fifteenth century, and died at Bruges about 1472. Appropriately enough,
the patron saint of goldsmiths is figured in his shop; and the picture
thus affords us a singularly interesting and attractive representation
of the interior of a jeweller's shop in the middle of the fifteenth
century with every detail of its glittering contents. St. Eloy or
Eligius, whose figure, for all we know, may be the portrait of some
well-known jeweller of the day, is seen seated at the goldsmith's bench,
beside which stand Dagobert, King of France, and St. Godeberta. He is
employed in weighing the ring with which the King seeks to espouse the
Virgin Saint; but instead, so the legend runs, of giving her the
engagement ring, he slipped on her finger a ruby ring, mystically
espousing her to Christ. The King wears, pinned to the front of his
black chaperon, a brooch or enseigne, set with a ruby surrounded by four
pearls and having a pendent drop. Round his neck is a curb chain of
alternate plain and beaded links, from which hangs a jewel formed of two
lions _affrontés_. Godeberta's head-dress, or _escoffion_, is of
embroidered gold sewn with pearls. The pendant of her neck-chain, hidden
by the bodice, lies between the breasts.
Very carefully rendered is each item of the choice collection of objects
that forms the goldsmith's stock-in-trade, exhibited on a stall covered
with white linen on the left hand of the goldsmith-saint. Below is a
box of rings, some plain, some mounted, ranged along three rolls of
parchment. Beside them lie large pearls and precious stones, and seed
pearls sorted in a shell by themselves. Behind, against the back, rest a
branch of coral and oblong pieces of rock crystal and of opaque stone
of porphyry-red. Above, on a piece of dark cloth, hang three splendid
jewels--a pendant and two brooches, and next to them a pair of
tooth-like pendants, probably glossopetræ. From the shelf on the top is
suspended a string of red, amber, and pale blue rosary beads, and in the
middle a girdle end of brown leather with buckle and mounts of gilded
metal. The remainder of the collection, formed of various vessels,
comprises a crystal cylinder set with gold and precious stones and a
mounted cocoanut cup; and on the upper shelf a covered cup and a couple
of tall flagons of silver parcel-gilt. This remarkable picture at once
brings to mind that strangely interesting series of interiors afterwards
produced by Quentin Matsys and Marinus van Romerswael, representing
money-changers, bankers, or usurers busily engaged in counting up or
weighing coins scattered before them on a table, upon which also
sometimes lie a handsome ring or two, a richly jewelled pendant, or
unset precious stones and pearls.
[Illustration: _PLATE XXIV_ PICTURE, KNOWN AS THE "LEGEND OF ST. ELOY
AND ST. GODEBERTA," REPRESENTING THE INTERIOR OF A GOLDSMITH'S SHOP IN
THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY BY PETRUS CHRISTUS OF BRUGES]
BRACELETS
Bracelets were as little in vogue as earrings during the Middle Ages,
and remarks made concerning the latter apply also to bracelets, in that
they only appear as the lingering traces of Byzantine fashions which,
until the commencement of the twelfth century, made themselves strongly
felt throughout the whole of Europe.
In the National Museum at Munich is a gold armlet formed of two hinged
halves covered with filigree and beaded ornament. Its outer rims are of
twisted gold, and within are bands of fine plaited wire. It is adorned
with bosses of filigree alternating with pyramidal projections. The
origin of this fine ornament is unknown, but it probably dates from
about the eleventh or twelfth century (Pl. XVIII, 6). The National
Museum of Buda-Pesth contains a pair of very similar armlets. In
connection with these ornaments the persistence of tradition in
goldsmith's work is curiously seen, since armlets closely resembling
the earlier examples are made and worn in Cairo at the present day.
During the latter part of the Middle Ages it appears to have been a
common practice for ladies to wear rosaries or chaplets of beads upon
their wrists as bracelets. With these exceptions, the long sleeves that
were worn throughout the greater part of the Middle Ages did not favour
the use of an ornament that demanded the bare skin as a foundation.
Ornamental circlets round the upper arm, which are not infrequently met
with in pictures, must be regarded as gold-embroidered edgings or bands.
It is true they were frequently set with pearls, stones, and decorations
in gold, but as they were sewn upon the sleeves they have no actual
claim to the name of armlets.
Armlets or bracelets appear to have been worn to a certain extent
towards the close of the fifteenth century, but to have been reserved
chiefly for summer wear. "If the bracelets we ordered months ago are not
here till the summer is over and we no longer wear our arms bare, they
will be of no use." So, about 1491, says Mrs. Ady, wrote the famous
Isabella d'Este, Marchioness of Mantua, to the skilled goldsmith, Ercole
Fedeli, of Ferrara, who had failed to execute her order punctually. The
dilatoriness of the same artist on another occasion kept the marchioness
waiting four years for a pair of silver bracelets, and they would never,
she declared, have been finished in her lifetime if Duke Alfonso had not
thrown him into the Castello dungeon.[105]
[105] Cartwright (J.), _Isabella d'Este_, I, p. 73.
Though there are other references to the use of bracelets in the
fifteenth century, it was not until about the middle of the century
following that this species of ornament came into general use.
[Illustration: A goldsmith in his workshop. From _Hortus Sanitatis_
(Strasburg, 1536).]