The Curious Lore of Precious Stones: Being a description of their sentiments and folk lore, superstitions, symbolism, mysticism, use in medicine, protection, prevention, religion, and divination. Crystal gazing, birth-stones, lucky stones and talismans, astral, zodiacal, and planetaryKunz, George Frederick
Religion
The Curious Lore of Precious Stones: Being a description of their sentiments and folk lore, superstitions, symbolism, mysticism, use in medicine, protection, prevention, religion, and divination. Crystal gazing, birth-stones, lucky stones and talismans, astral, zodiacal, and planetary
Kunz, George Frederick
Gems; Gems -- Folklore
After noting the reports of medieval travellers regarding the wonderful
luminous rubies of the sovereigns of Pegu and repeating the tale that
the night was illumined by their splendor, Cleandro Arnobio adds that
it did not appear that any such rubies were to be found in his day.
Nevertheless, he had heard from an ecclesiastic of a certain jewel that
shone brightly at night. This stone, however, was not a ruby, but was
of a pale citron hue, and hence Arnobio inclines to believe that it was
either a topaz or a yellow diamond.[246] This probably refers to the
Marburg “carbuncle.”
The luminous “ruby” of the King of Ceylon is noted by Chau Ju-Kua,[247]
a Chinese writer of about the middle of the thirteenth century and
hence a contemporary of the Arab Teifashi. He says: “The king holds
in his hand a jewel five inches in diameter, which cannot be burned
by fire, and which shines in the night like a torch.” This gigantic
luminous gem was also believed to possess the virtues of an elixir of
youth, for we are told that the king rubbed his face with it daily and
by this means would retain his youthful looks even should he live more
than ninety years.
The glories of Emperor Manuel’s (ca. 1120-1180) throne are celebrated
by the Hebrew traveller Benjamin of Tudela, who visited Constantinople
in 1161 A.D. This splendid throne was of gold studded with precious
stones and, suspended from the canopy by gold chains, hung a
magnificent golden crown set with jewels of incalculable value and so
bright and sparkling that their glitter rendered needless any other
illumination at night.[248]
When Henry II of France (1519-1559) made his solemn entry into the
city of Boulogne, a stranger from India presented to the sovereign a
luminous stone. It was rather soft, had a fiery brilliance, and could
not be touched with impunity. According to De Thou, this story was
vouched for by J. Pipin, who saw the stone himself and described it in
a letter to Antoine Mizauld, a writer on occult themes, well known in
his day.[249]
Although Garcias ab Orta did not believe in the tales current in his
time regarding luminous rubies, he relates a story of such a stone told
to him by a gem-dealer. This man stated that he had purchased a number
of fine but small rubies from Ceylon, and had spread them out over
a table. When he gathered them up again, one of the stones remained
hidden in a fold of the table-cloth. In the night he remarked something
like a flame emanating from the table. Lighting a candle, he approached
the table and found there the small ruby; when this was removed and
the candle extinguished, the light was no longer visible. Garcias
admits that the gem-dealers were fond of telling good stories, but he
concludes with the dictum, “we must trust in them nevertheless.”[250]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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