Marbodus (circa 1070).
The occurrence of pearls in the British Isles was known two thousand years ago, and frequent references to them were made in Roman writings of the first and second centuries of the Christian era.
In his “Lives of the Cæsars,” the biographer Suetonius, after speaking of the admiration which Julius Cæsar had for pearls, states that their occurrence in Britain was an important factor in inducing the first Roman invasion of that country in 55 B.C.[[184]] If this be true, the English-speaking people owe a vast debt of gratitude to these pearls in bringing their Briton ancestors in contact with Roman civilization; and the influence which they have thus exercised on the world’s history has been greater than that of the pearls from all other regions or, we might add, than all other jewels.
The naturalist Pliny (23–79) stated: “In Brittaine it is certain that some do grow; but they bee small, dim of colour, and nothing orient. For Julius Cæsar (late Emperor of famous memorie) doth not dissimble, that the cuirace or breastplate which he dedicated to Venus mother within her temple was made of English pearles.”[[185]]
This decoration of pearls was a very proper offering to the goddess who arose from the sea.
The historian Tacitus noted in “Vita Agricolæ” that the pearls from Britain were dusky or brownish (subfusca ac liventia).[[186]] In his commentaries on the Gospel of Matthew, Origen (185–253), one of the Greek fathers of the church, described the British pearls as next in value to the Indian. Their surface, he stated, was of a golden color, but they were cloudy and less transparent than those from India.
We have no certain information whether the pearls secured by the Romans were from the edible mussel (Mytilus edulis) of the sea-coast or from the Unios of the fresh-water streams. Tacitus’s statement that they were collected “as the sea throws them up,” seems to locate them on the sea-coast; but conditions in modern times make it appear more probable that they were from the fresh waters.
Some of the very early coins of the country indicate that pearls were used to ornament the imperial diadem of the sovereigns of ancient Britain. In “Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum,” the celebrated English monk, Bede (673–735) surnamed “The Venerable,” enumerated among other things for which Britain was famous in his day, “many sorts of shell-fish, among which are mussels, in which are often found excellent pearls of all colours; red, purple, violet and green, but mostly white.”[[187]] And Marbodus, Bishop of Rennes, in his lapidarium, written about 1070, refers to the British pearls as equaling those of Persia and India. About 1094 a present of an Irish pearl was made to Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, by Gilbert, Bishop of Limerick.[[188]]
In the twelfth century there was a market for Scotch pearls in Europe, but they were less valued than those from the Orient.[[189]] An ordinance of John II, King of France, in August, 1355, which confirmed the old statutes and privileges of goldsmiths and jewelers, expressly forbade mounting Scotch and oriental pearls together in the same article, except in ecclesiastical jewelry (Orfèvre ne peut mettre en œuvre d’or ne argent parles d’Ecosse avec parles d’orient se ce n’est en grands joyaulx d’église).[[190]]
Writing in the sixteenth century, the historian William Camden (1551–1623) stated in his “Britannia”: