Europe in the Middle Ages. 41
which had at one time threatened to exhaust the wealth of the West, ultimately dwindled into obscurity.
Europe in the Middle Ages.
Throughout
the early part of the Middle Ages, the city of Constantinople, or the
ancient Byzantium, the capital of the Eastern Empire, was the centre of
all culture and art. This city was especially rich in Pearls. The
crowns and diadems of the Eastern Emperors were wrought in the richest
gold, decorated with Pearls, precious stones, and enamel. The most
ancient crown known to us,—the Hungarian crown of St. Stephen,
presented to him by the Pope in the year 1001 A.D., when Hungary became
an empire—was obtained from Byzantium. This crown is richly ornamented
with Pearls and jewels. When it was pledged by Queen Elizabeth of
Hungary to the Emperor Frederic IV, it was described as containing 320
Pearls.
The
German Imperial crown which dates from the time of Charlemagne, is
ornamented with numerous Pearls, strung upon gold wire, and round it is
written, in Pearls, "Chonradus Dei Gratia Romanorum Imperator Augustus."
In the time of Charlemagne, (born 742 ; died 814 A.D.), a favourite decoration consisted of large
