ing:
" Certain prayers to be used by the Quene's Heigh-nes in the
Consecration of the Cramp-rynges." There is also an illuminated design
showing Queen Mary as she knelt at the ceremony, a dish filled with the
rings being set on either side of her. King Philip was also present to
take part in the ceremonial, although the Queen's share in the
consecration must have been regarded as the principal one; still
Philip's fervent devotion to the church ritual found expression here
as elsewhere, for on entering the chapel he is said to have crept on
his knees along a carpet extending from the entrance to the place where
the rings were to be blessed. Here a crucifix had been placed on a
cushion, and the King, still in a kneeling attitude, bestowed his royal
blessing on the rings. This intensely devout approach to them was then
repeated by Queen Mary and the ladies who attended her to the chapel.22
A
talismanic ring especially valuable for a physician is described by
Konrad von Megenberg. This is to be of silver and set with a stone
bearing the figure of a man with a bundle of herbs hanging from his
neck. The wearer is given the power to diagnose diseases, and he will
be able to stanch any hemorrhage, however severe, if he only touch the
affected part with the stone. As a natural result, we learn that the
physician will gain both reputation and honors, and it is related that
Galen, the great Roman medical authority, wore such a ring.23
In the " Gesta Romanorum " is a story of a ring endowed with great remedial powers:
22 William Jones, " Crowns and Coronations," London, 1883, p. 474.
23 Konrad von Megenberg, " Das Buch der Natur," ed. Pfeiffer, Stuttgart, 1866, p. 470.
