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.
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:
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.)