“Soon after this they spake of sondry things
As fitt to purpose of this aventure,
And playing enterchangeden of rings
Of whom I can not tellen no scripture.
But well I wot, a broche of gold and assure
In which a rubie set was like an herte,
Creseide him gave, and stacke it on his sherte.”[327]
In Germany, a loving couple start on the principle of reciprocity and exchange rings. This is not done at the time of the marriage ceremony, but previously when the formal betrothment takes place, which is generally made the occasion of a family festival. The ring thus used is not called a wedding ring, but Trau ring, which means ring of betrothal. A particular ring does not form part of the ceremony of marriage. Royalty, however, appears to go beyond the common custom of the country, even in a marriage. At the late marriage of the Emperor of Austria, the Prince Archbishop of Vienna, who performed the ceremony, took rings from a golden cup and presented them to the august couple, who, reciprocally, placed them on each other’s finger; and, while either held the hand of the other, they received the episcopal benediction.
In the early Christian Church a ring of troth, the annulus pronubus, was given by the man to the woman as a token and proof of her betrothment.
Pope Nicholas, A. D. 860, in the account which he gives of the ceremonies used in the Roman Church, says: “In the espousals, the man first presents the woman whom he betroths with the arræ or espousal gifts; and among these, he puts a ring on her finger.”[328] This ring, which may be traced back to the time of Tertullian, appears to have come into the Christian Church from Roman usage; although the Oriental ring of betrothment may have been the origin of both.