152 THE MAGIC OF JEWELS AND CHARMS
from
among those in the treasury of the monastery. The records state that
one of these stones "was so large that a man could not grasp it in his
hand." It was believed to give great help to women in childbirth.
Hence, it was not set in the shrine, but was left free, so that it
might be taken from house to house as required. The size of this stone
and the fact that it was not used for ornamentation might have induced
the belief that it was one of the singular "eagle-stones," so
celebrated in ancient and medieval times, but it is expressly described
as an onyx-gem, the gift of King Ethelred II (968-1016) to the
monastery. From the description we learn that on one side of this onyx
was cut an image of Esculapius, the god of healing, and on the other
that of "a boy bearing a buckler." As the art of gem-cutting was
practically unknown in Europe in the tenth century, this must have been
an antique gem, and may have served as a pagan amulet many centuries
before it was placed upon the shrine of a Christian saint and used as a
Christian amulet.83
An old manuscript of Matthew Paris 84 gives
a sketch of the gem from this author's own hand. As the special power
exerted by this talisman was to aid women in their confinements, it
was loaned out from time to time to such as were considered worthy of
the honor. In one case, however, it came into untrustworthy hands, for
the favored lady failed to return the gem when her immediate need of
its help had passed, retaining it in her possession until her death,
when she bequeathed it to her daughter. During her lifetime the latter
appears to have had no prickings of conscience, but on her death-bed,
possibly through the exhortations of her confessor, she made provision
that the long-lost sardonyx
"Dugdale,
"Monasticon Anglicanum," London, 1819, vol. ii, pp. 184, 185; also
extract from Cotton MS., Nero D vii, on p. 217. ** De vit. abbot.
