The Berkeley heirlooms, among which is the Anglo-Saxon ring already mentioned, include the Hunsdon Onyx, the Drake pendant in form of a ship, Edward VI's Prayer Book, and a crystal armlet. These exquisite jewels, according to tradition, were presented by Queen Elizabeth to her cousin Henry Carey, Lord Hunsdon, who died in 1596. They then passed to his son George, the second Baron Hunsdon, who so highly valued them, that he bequeathed them on his death, in 1603, to his wife, and afterwards to his only daughter Elizabeth, with strict injunctions to transmit the same to her posterity, to be preserved (according to the actual terms of his will) "Soe longe as the conscience of my heires shall have grace and honestie to perform my will, for that I esteeme them right jeweles, and monumentes worthie to be kept for theire beautie, rareness, and that for monie they are not to be matched, nor the like yet knowen to be founde in this realme." The jewels mentioned, which came into the Berkeley family through the marriage of the above-named Elizabeth Carey with Lord Berkeley, are still preserved at Berkeley Castle.
PLATE XXVIII
renaissance jewellery of enamelled gold
(the property of his majesty the king)
Further reference to these and other remarkable Elizabethan jewels will be given when the special species of ornaments to which they belong is being dealt with. There is one jewel of this date, however, which, though it no longer exists, is of particular interest from the fact that it is specially mentioned in the famous inventory of Charles I's collection drawn up by Abraham Van der Doort in 1639.[140] This golden jewel, we learn, was round, and hung with a small pendent pearl; one side was enamelled with a representation of the battle of Bosworth Field, and the other with the red and white roses of Lancaster and York upon a green ground. Within were four miniatures, Henry VII, Henry VIII, Edward VI, and Queen Mary. The miniatures are still preserved at Windsor Castle, but shorn of their enamelled case, which has long since disappeared. The jewel was bought by the King, so Van der Doort tells us, from "young Hilliard," son of the famous miniaturist Nicholas Hilliard, who, besides painting the miniatures, probably also executed the enamel-work upon the jewel itself. Hilliard, like the artists of the Renaissance already cited, had been brought up as a goldsmith and jeweller, and, as we see by the inscription which he placed round his own portrait, held an appointment as goldsmith at Elizabeth's Court; while his knowledge and love of jewellery are admirably displayed in his miniatures, in which every jewel is painted with faultless accuracy and care.
The mention of Hilliard introduces to our notice the other creators of the beautiful jewellery of the period. English work continued to be influenced by the Continent; and engraved designs for jewellery by the Frenchmen Ducerceau and Woeiriot, and by the eminent goldsmith and engraver Theodor de Bry, who himself worked in London in 1587 and the two following years, must have been well known and imitated in England. In spite of this, however, it would appear that Englishmen were no longer actually dependent for their jewellery upon foreigners. The latter ceased to hold the virtual monopoly they had once enjoyed; and their place was taken by a number of native craftsmen. Among these, the following were the most prominent: Dericke Anthony, Affabel Partridge, Peter Trender, and Nicolas Herrick—elder brother of William Herrick, James I's jeweller, and father of Robert Herrick the poet. During the latter years of her reign Hugh Kayle and his partner Sir Richard Martin supplied the Queen with jewels as New Year's gifts and presents to ambassadors amounting to upwards of £12,000.
Enough has been said to demonstrate that the reign of Elizabeth, fertile in great events, was productive of much important jewellery, whose charm, excellence, and historic interest have, up to the present, by no means received the attention they deserve. And it may be stated, without prejudice, that jewels of the period which bear a clear stamp of English origin compare favourably, nay even advantageously, with the productions of contemporary jewellers of the Continent.
The jewels of the unhappy Mary Stuart form a subject of peculiar interest. Like her jealous rival Queen Elizabeth, Mary was most lavish in her display of jewellery. In addition to the crown jewels she had a profusion of personal ornaments, her own private property. Her inventories, published by the Bannatyne Club (1863), furnish many a vivid description of the splendid objects which, during the course of her turbulent life, she bestowed on her friends or lost under stress of circumstances. They have further acquired quite an historical celebrity "from the frequency with which they were claimed by their unfortunate mistress in her appeals for mercy and justice during her long captivity, and the rapacity with which her royal jailer and other enemies sought or retained possession of these glittering spoils."