This series is about the stone on which all the kings and queens of Great Britain have been crowned for seven centuries. In 1296 he was kidnapped from the Scots by Edward I. Even earlier, the Scots brought him from Ireland to their capital Skun.
It was brought to Ireland by the Spanish Celts. Before Spain he was in Egypt, before Egypt - in the Holy Land. According to the ancient legend, which we find in many medieval sources, this was the very stone that Jacob used as a pillow when he slept and saw his famous Stairway to Heaven.
“I will kill him,” cried Esau. Rebecca heard what Esau said and decided to send Jacob out of the house so that his brother would not kill him. "Go to the country where my brother lives and stay there," she said. "I'll let you know when you can return home."
And Jacob went to the country of Haran. His journey was long. When night fell on the earth, Jacob felt tired. He lay down on the ground, placing a smooth stone under his head, and fell asleep.
“The Stone of Jacob, or the Stone of Destiny, as it is often called, has been an obligatory attribute of the coronation of all Scottish monarchs since ancient times,” says historian Chris Tebraham. "It held inaugurations even before the time when the Scots and the Picts united into one kingdom under the rule of Kenneth I."
The Picts, an ancient tribe that lived in the territory of Scotland, from time immemorial, crowned their leaders on this stone in their ancient capital - Skuna. But in 1296 the established order of things was violated.
The English king crossed the borders with his army, intending to seize the Scottish crown. In a fierce battle near Edinburgh, he defeated the Scottish army, and then simply stole the Stone of Destiny from Skuna Abbey, stole the most important thing in the coronation ceremony of the Scottish kings.
The stone was taken to London and placed on the coronation throne at Westminster Abbey.
Promotional video:
Throne with Jacob's stone
The Skuna Stone witnessed the anointing of all the English autocrats to the kingdom until 1603, and after that - all the kings and queens of the united, Great Britain, including the current monarch - Her Majesty Elizabeth II.
And Jacob had a dream. He saw in a dream a high staircase going into the sky. And angels went up and down this staircase. And he heard a voice: “I am the God of Abraham and Isaac, I will always be with you and help you to return safely to your home.
"And he took a stone, which he put under his head, and set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on top of it." This is a very meager sacrifice, says biblical scholar Dmitry Shchedrovitsky, but it was the only one that Jacob could bring to God at that moment, because he had nothing with him except a staff and, perhaps, very small supplies for the road. Perhaps it was bread, which in ancient times poor people smeared with a drop of oil and ate.
He poured this oil, with which he moistened his bread, on the stone, as a type of those temple libations, which later accompanied the sacrifice offered.
“And he poured oil on top of it and named that place -“House of God”. And Jacob laid down dinner and said: If God will be with me and will keep me in the way that I am going, and will give me bread to eat and clothes to put on, and I will return in peace to my father's house and the Lord will be my God, then this stone, which I have set as a monument will be the House of God."
Jacob and the angels
When you look at the Stone of Destiny, archaeologist Richard Wilander shares his thoughts, you see in front of you just a large stone, a piece of sandstone, and you think - after all, the king should have a throne, or at least something more majestic.
But I think that those whom we consider to be the first princes of the Scottish people took this Stone with them everywhere, carried it from place to place, not by chance.
There was something very important about him. Somehow, he personified royalty and Scotland.
Robert the Bruce, King of Scotland, fought the English invaders in what is commonly referred to as the War of Independence. In order to officially proclaim that Scotland is an independent, free country, the Scots had to convince the Pope of this.
And they turned to him with a special letter in which they had to convince the Pope that the Scots have been in the British Isles much longer than the British.
They told him that the Stone stolen by the English kings from Skoon was in fact an ancient Stone that the Scottish kings had brought with them from Ireland. That he is that Stone, which, according to ancient legend, served as a pillow for Jacob that night, when in a dream he saw the staircase to Heaven and the angels, and God, who said that he was to become the ancestor of the chosen people.
Here it will be appropriate to recall a fact that is described in the book of the historian Tacitus. He wrote about the atrocities committed by the Roman legions against the inhabitants of the British Isles. It is known that it was here that the ancient Celtic schools were concentrated, which originated from ancient times - from the 17th - 16th centuries. before the birth of Christ, that is, from the period of Israel's Exodus from Egypt.
There are facts that indicate that part of the population of Britain came from one of the Israeli tribes.
Druids are high priests who also carried the functions of high priests. The knowledge of the true God, which they learned from the Israelite scriptures, was preserved by them far from their homeland.
The church rite, which was performed by the Druids, took place in an area enclosed by twelve or more stones. Inside this area there was a main stone, which was called the "House of God". This is a direct reference to the very "House of God" that we find in the Old Testament.
Scientists Examine Jacob's Stone
It is not known for certain when and why the Scottish kings chose this particular stone. It is not very attractive in appearance, and apparently, from the very beginning, it was intended for sitting, for use as a coronation chair. There is fairly early evidence that the kings of Scotland sat on it as a throne in Skun during their coronation.
In ancient times, the leaders of the Picts and Scots were crowned in an open place, on a rock, where they had to step on a trail carved in stone, and after that they were proclaimed by their people rulers and commanders.
But as Scotland gradually began to leave the gloom of the Celtic worldview behind, it was decided to transfer the ancient rite to the walls of a Christian temple. It is possible that in Scotland the coronation ceremony was moved indoors later than elsewhere in Europe.
But the Scots did not want to part with the ancient tradition. So, it may be that the emergence of the Coronation Throne became a kind of attempt at churching an ancient rite. Therefore, it is likely that the Stone of Jacob fell into the wooden chair in Westminster.
For a long time the Scots asked for the return of the Sacred Insignia to them, saying that it was their Shrine, their ancient symbol of national unity. In the winter of 1954, on Christmas Eve, a group of students were able to sneak into Westminster Abbey.
They managed to remove the stone from the throne, break it into 2 parts and drag it to the back entrance to the monastery. Then they hid him in an open field, in Essex, near London, until the intensive search stopped.
And three months later, they threw the Stone under the doors of Arbroath Abbey, 100 kilometers from Edinburgh, where the police found it and took it back to London.
In 1974 they wanted to kidnap him again. A certain intruder who was hired as an archaeologist tried to drag the Stone out of the Abbey with his own cloak, but was caught.
In the end, the Crown agreed to return Jacob's stone to Scotland.
On the late evening of November 13, 1996, a small group of historians and archaeologists arrived in London. The scholars entered Westminster Abbey when the main lights were already extinguished and all visitors left the temple.
Above the throne made by master Walter and representing a magnificent example of medieval art, a special lifting mechanism was installed.
The main task of the group of researchers was to remove a very heavy stone from this ancient throne, the weight of which exceeded one and a half centners.
A complex operation was carried out for several hours, after which the famous Jacob's Stone was put by scientists in a bag specially prepared for it.
When the convoy that accompanied the stone crossed the border bridge, archaeologist Richard Wilander recalls, he was greeted with joy by eyewitnesses who gathered here in great numbers. About two weeks have passed since we took the stone from London and until the moment when on the day of St. Andrew the Apostle we opened it to all the people of Scotland.
And during these two weeks we continuously protected and took care of the Shrine, photographed it, recorded all the information, because the Jacob's Stone has never been properly studied. So we measured it, photographed it, but in general terms, to make sure that it is in good condition.
Jacob's stone returns to Scotland
To soften his brother's anger, Jacob sent flocks of sheep and goats ahead of him as a gift to Esau. But Esau ran out to meet Jacob. He hugged and kissed his brother tightly. Esau was glad that Jacob had finally returned home.
On November 30, 1996, the Stone of Jacob was delivered to Edinburgh Castle, continues Richard Wilander. A grandiose ceremony took place, about 10 thousand people gathered on the Royal Mile, there were horse troops, a parade - it was just a magnificent sight. An amazing story of coming home!
God helped Esau to forgive Jacob and not be angry with him. God kept his promise to bring Jacob back to his homeland safe and sound. And both brothers became friends again.
History endows the currently existing Stone with special strength, special charm. He bears the stamp of spiritual and historical events of world importance, and it is easy to believe that he was the heart of every coronation ceremony up to this day.
And henceforth he will always be an indispensable participant in the coronations of the monarchs of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and for this he will be specially taken to Westminster Abbey again and again.
Ralana S.