The same monarch, among other gifts to Salisbury Cathedral, ‘offered one
gold ring with a precious stone called a ruby.’ After hearing mass he told
the dean that he would have the stone and the gold applied to adorn a
sumptuous gold ‘text’ (a Bible for the use of the altar) enriched with
precious stones given by Hubert de Burgh.
Dugdale mentions in a list of jewels formerly in the treasury of York
Cathedral ‘a small mitre, set with stones, for the bishop of the boys, or,
as he was anciently called, the barne bishop; also a pastoral staff and
_ring_ for the same.’
The Bishop of Ardfert, in Ireland, gave to St. Alban’s ‘three noble rings;
one set with an oriental sapphire, the second with a sapphire that
possessed some _medicinal_ quality, and was formed like a shield, and the
other with a sapphire of less size.’
Henry de Blois presented to the same abbey a large ring set with jewels;
the middle one was a sapphire of a faint colour, and in the circuit four
pearls and four garnets.
John of St. Alban’s, a knight, left as a legacy to the monks of the abbey
‘a number of rings containing many precious stones.’
At the death of Walter, Abbot of Peterborough, among his effects,
containing many rich articles, were no less than thirty gold rings, the
offerings of the faithful.
Thomas Chillenden, fortieth Abbot of Canterbury, gave several pontifical
rings to the abbey.
Thomas de la Chesnaye (died 1517) left, for the shrine of the Virgin at
Rouen Cathedral, a ring garnished with a costly precious stone. Eustace
Grossier, canon of the same cathedral, bequeathed, in 1534, his
signet-ring to the shrine of St. Romain. Two years afterwards Jean de
Lieur, another canon, left four rings to the shrine of the Virgin, ‘où il
y a en une, une petite esmaraude; en laultre une petite turquoise, en
laultre ung petit saphir, et en laultre ung petit rubi.’ In 1544 Etienne
Burnel leaves to Our Lady a gold ring with a ruby enchased, and a pendant
pearl; and to the shrine of St. Romain a gold ring with a diamond.
Charles the Third (? Naples) took from his finger a ring of great value to
adorn the golden canopy, enriched with precious stones, for the Host, in
the church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem.
Lady Morgan, in her ‘Italy,’ mentions the miraculous statue of the Virgin
and Child at Loretto: ‘The Bambino holds up his hand as if to sport a
superb diamond ring on his finger, presented to him by Cardinal Antonelli:
it is a single diamond and weighs thirty grains.’
In the ‘Annals of Ireland’ we read that in 1421 Richard O’Hedian,
Archbishop of Cashel, was accused, among other crimes, of taking a ring
away from the image of St. Patrick (which the Earl of Desmond had offered)
and giving it to his mistress.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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