Since the release of the famous epic trilogy by John Ronald Ruel Tolkien "The Lord of the Rings" and especially after the epic film appeared in 2oo1-2oos, where this magical object played a major role in the lives of heroes, interest in magic rings has increased enormously. But did they really exist?
Traditions, legends and epics of the peoples of the world mention many magic rings. One of the most famous - the Draupnir ring - belonged to the Scandinavian god Odin. The material of manufacture is gold, and one of the magical qualities of the ring was the ability to "reproduce". However, Draupnir's "descendants" did not have such capabilities anymore. The Scandinavian sagas also talked about the magic ring of Sviagris. Together with a golden magical helmet, it was the greatest treasure of the Swedish sorcerer-king Atils the Black.
Another magic ring was owned by Owain, son of Urien, a representative of one of the noble families of Celtic Britain and, according to Welsh sources, one of the knights of King Arthur. "The Three Kings of Battle were at the court of Arthur, - said in Welsh legends, - Kadur, Earl of Cornwall, Lancelot of the Lake and Owain, son of Urien Raged … They never retreated in battle, neither before the Spear, nor before the Arrow, nor before the Sword …"
Owain's ring allegedly had the property of giving its owner invisibility when he squeezed it in his fist. It is interesting that the description of this ring has been preserved in an ancient manuscript called "13 royal relics of the Isle of Britain …". These things were allegedly received from the magician and bard Mirddin, the son of Morvran. Mirddin was later called Merlin.
Conjuring runes
People, like legendary heroes, also wanted magic rings and therefore tried to make them themselves. They believed that the ring, like a circle and a shield, symbolizes protection. Therefore, it can be an amulet and will protect its owner. When making rings, preference was given to metal and precious stones, and for decoration they used enamel, granulation, filigree.
The metal was carefully selected, as evidenced by the finds of combined magic rings - silver with a copper insert. The stone for insertion was also carefully selected.
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“Let no one amaze anyone - doubt is inappropriate here, - That there is magic power in precious stones:
After all, it is in herbs, but in stones it is only more powerful,”says the medieval chronicler Marbod of Rennes (XII century).
But, of course, our ancestors were not stupid enough to believe the magical properties of the stone were sufficient for a ring. In other words, the stone has not yet turned the ring into a magical instrument. Therefore, special importance was attached to images and especially inscriptions applied to the surface of the rings.
Modern collections of archaeological finds contain hundreds of similar medieval jewelry with a "magical" load. Among them are rings with incantatory runic inscriptions. So, on an agate ring from the British Museum, a runic spell inscription is engraved: Eruriufdol uriurithol wlestepotinol. The inscription does not lend itself to translation, but, according to a number of opinions, it means "a ring of power that brings success to the wearer." There, in the British Museum, there are two more rings made of metal: one of gold, and the other of bronze. They also bear untranslated runic inscriptions. And, apparently, the phrase did not have to be meaningful. For example, on the famous Lancashire magic ring, only part of the signs of the inscription are made in runes (the rest is in Latin letters). This technique appeared in northwestern Europe after the introduction of the Latin alphabet. The purpose of mixing is to make the text carrying the runes understandable and to avoid the occurrence of a runic combination with an unpredictable action. The fewer active runes in the inscription, the clearer and more directional their action. Hence the idea - to execute the inscription itself in Latin, keeping only the runes necessary for magic. Such is the inscription on the Lancashire ring (Aethred mec an Eanred tes agrof), which itself has no magical meaning and is translated as "Etred owns me, Eanred worked me."keeping only the runes necessary for magic. Such is the inscription on the Lancashire ring (Aethred mec an Eanred tes agrof), which itself has no magical meaning and is translated as "Etred owns me, Eanred worked me."keeping only the runes necessary for magic. Such is the inscription on the Lancashire ring (Aethred mec an Eanred tes agrof), which itself has no magical meaning and is translated as "Etred owns me, Eanred worked me."
"Perfume" talisman
Whether rings possessed magical power or people simply believed that they had such power - it doesn't matter. It is amazing how many wonderful legends and fairy tales are associated with this simple subject. As a rule, the plot about the ring is quite simple: a kind, but simple-minded guy (in the Russian fairy tale - Ivan the Fool) in one way or another gets a magic ring that fulfills wishes, and in addition to the ring - a loyal cat and a dog (in a Russian fairy tale - more often a wolf or a horse). Animals help the owner out of all sorts of troubles, of which the most unpleasant is the loss of the ring.
Perhaps the images of the dog and the cat were meant to be some kind of “guardian spirits” of the ring. This assumption is consistent with the widespread idea that, once lost or stolen, the rings are subsequently returned to the owner with the direct participation of "spirits."
So, according to Arab legend, King Solomon owned a magic ring presented to him by the Archangel Michael. It was believed that this ring gave him power over all demons. It was decorated with a precious stone with a seal and the mystical word "Shemhamphorash" carved in the same place. Once, when the king took off the ring before bathing, a witch stole the relic and threw it into the sea. After 40 days, Solomon found his ring in the stomach of a fish served to him for dinner. But this is a fairy tale, and there is also a reality.
Posthumous greetings to Frangipani
A curious story about the "return" of the talisman ring was told by the German historian, Professor Heinrich Tode in 1896. Once, while studying in the Venetian library, he read Romanini's History of Venice. Suddenly he was distracted by an offer to buy a ring, brought by a peasant and found in the ground among the ruins of the castle of Prata, near the city of Pordenone. The ring was gold, smooth, Augsburg work of the 16th century, with an inscription in the Gothic style: Mit Wyllen den eigen ("Only yours with desire").
The professor bought the ring, put it on his finger and resumed reading Romanini, which dealt with the attack on Venice in 1513 by the army of the German Emperor Maximilian under the command of the Condottiere, Count Christopher Frangipani. And then Tode was struck by the thought: if Frangipani took, according to Romanini, Udine, and went further, then he could well reach Pordenone, which means that the ring could belong to one of the German officers. Then Thode began to rummage in other sources and soon attacked the Chronicle of Pordenone, where he read about the capture of the city by the Germans and their subsequent exile by the Venetians in 1514. In the documents, he also found a letter from a German officer who was captured by the Venetians.
The letter, in particular, said that Count Frangipani's horse was killed in a skirmish and that, falling, he lost a precious ring, which he considered a talisman. After losing the ring, he was no longer lucky. The Venetians defeated his troops completely, took many soldiers prisoner, and the count himself was seriously wounded.
Having thus found the owner of the ring, Tode continued to search and unraveled all the threads of this novel. It turned out that Frangipani himself was taken prisoner by the Venetians and imprisoned on the island of Torcello, in the prison of the ducal palace. Thode also learned that the beautiful Apolonia Lang, sister of Matthias Lang, cardinal and advisor to Emperor Maximilian, had given the ring to her betrothed. Before the honeymoon had passed, Frangipani set off on a hike, taking the talisman ring.
During her husband's imprisonment in Venice, Apolonia wrote him tender letters, and in one of them dated March 21, 1515, Tode read with admiration: “As for the ring, then, my dear dear husband, I would think to instruct the jeweler to make it a little smaller than the old one. (missing), but with the same inscription, since these words are the answer to the words that are on another ring, sent by you to me and which I always keep."
The most amazing thing about this case is that the former Torcello prison was located under the very library where Todé was studying when the ring was brought to him. Frangipani spent 1813 days in captivity. He was released on January 6, 1519
Maxim KARASEV