Every one of these brooches is worthy of the most careful examination, particularly by the craftsman of the present day, for unlike the ornaments of more ancient times, they possess qualities which render them peculiarly appropriate to the circumstances of our later civilisation. In the refinement and simplicity of their arrangement and design these mediæval examples of the jeweller's art transcend many of the greatly admired and more famous jewels of the Renaissance.
[CHAPTER XVIII]
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.