SOME INTERESTING RINGS OF HISTORY 167
When
the Constable Louis of Luxembourg was condemned to death in 1475, in
the reign of Louis XI of France, he drew from his finger a small gold
ring set with a diamond and requested the father confessor to offer it
to the image of Our Lady of Paris. Then, turning to the Franciscan
monk, Jean de Sordun, he said : " Here is a stone I have long worn on
my neck and which I have greatly prized, for it resists poison, and
also protects against pestilence. I pray you to take this stone for me
to my son, to whom you will say that I beg him to keep it for love of
me." This touching mission was never fulfilled, for after the
execution of the Constable, the court ordered that the stone should be
given to King Louis. The diamond ring, however, was duly dedicated to
the image of the Virgin.10 Of Louis XI himself, the
chronicler quaintly says: "Before his death he suffered much from
various diseases for the cure of which the physicians who attended him
concocted dreadful and wonderful medicines. May these illnesses procure
the salvation of his soul! " 11
Some
interesting historic rings are in the fine collection of Dr. Albert
Figdor, Vienna. One of them is a gold ring believed to have belonged to
Mary of Burgundy, (d. 1482) daughter of Charles the Bold, and wife of
Maximilian I of Germany. On the ring is the letter M formed of black
diamonds, and the monogram of the name Maria, in Gothic characters,
appears twice on its inner side. Two enameled gold rings of Empress
Eleonora, third wife of Ferdinand III of Germany
10
Chroniques d'Engarrand de Monstrelet, Paris, 1596, vol. ii, "Autres
nouvelles chroniques," f. 55 recto. These " new chronicles " are from
various sources, and were composed by one of the continuators of
Monstrelet's work.
11 Ibid., f. 78 recto.
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