29
British Amulets in London Museums Author(s): Ellen Ettlinger Source: Folklore, Vol. 50, No. 2 (Jun., 1939), pp. 148-175 Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of Folklore Enterprises, Ltd. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1256668 . Accessed: 12/06/2014 17:26 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. . Folklore Enterprises, Ltd. and Taylor & Francis, Ltd. are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Folklore. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 185.2.32.58 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 17:26:29 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

British Amulets in London Museums

Embed Size (px)

Citation preview

Page 1: British Amulets in London Museums

British Amulets in London MuseumsAuthor(s): Ellen EttlingerSource: Folklore, Vol. 50, No. 2 (Jun., 1939), pp. 148-175Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of Folklore Enterprises, Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1256668 .

Accessed: 12/06/2014 17:26

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

Folklore Enterprises, Ltd. and Taylor & Francis, Ltd. are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve andextend access to Folklore.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 185.2.32.58 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 17:26:29 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Page 2: British Amulets in London Museums

BRITISH AMULETS IN LONDON MUSEUMS

(Paper read before the Folk-Lore Society, 15th March, I939) BY ELLEN ETTLINGER

IF I venture to speak to you about the British amulets in the museums of London it is because such a combination has never been attempted before. My lecture will give you an extract of my research work, the object of which is to com- pile a descriptive catalogue of British charms and amulets exhibited in the museums of the British Isles. The desire for such research I found expressed in Hastings: "The im-

portant task which must first be accomplished is to collect and arrange the abundant material. . . ." 1 As I began this work in London it is a special pleasure to me to be able to

speak to you of my results here. I found two kinds of museums : they differ firstly in the

arrangement of their objects. In the first group-which I shall call the A-museums-the arrangement is made from different points of view, that is, according to their species, their substance, their style, their origin, etc. In the second group-the B-museums-all the exhibited objects are sub- ordinated to one scientific idea. To the A-museums belong the British Museum, the Guildhall Museum, the London Museum, the South Kensington Museum, and the Syer Cuming Museum. From this last I shall mention to-day only those objects which were purchased at the sale of the famous London cabinet of curiosities, the Leverian Museum, in the year 18o6.-In the B-museums, on the other hand, the amulets and similar objects were already assorted ; in the Horniman Museum from the ethnographical standpoint and

1 Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, Vol. III, p. 429a. 148

This content downloaded from 185.2.32.58 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 17:26:29 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Page 3: British Amulets in London Museums

British Amulets in London Museums 149

in the Wellcome Museum from the medical point of view.- A small collection of amulets from the Great War is to be found in the Imperial War Museum.

The museums differ secondly in the value of their objects. In the A-museums the value lies in the artistic or historical quality of the object, and not in its nature as an amulet. This latter we must nearly always find out ourselves, e.g. from literary documents, typical inscriptions, from the state of preservation, etc., an authentic historical proof being almost impossible.-In the B-museums, however, the value lies firstly in the recognized fact that the object was used as an amulet, and secondly in its scientific specification-the object may be quite worthless in itself. By scientific specification I mean the precise indication of the place and date where and when the amulet was found, its probable origin, the previous owners, the use made of it, etc.-in short, the carrying out of the regulations laid down in the Handbooks of Folklore.- On account of its very detailed information I shall mention to-day the smaller collection of the Horniman Museum in preference to the large collection of the Wellcome Museum.

The museums differ thirdly as regards the age of their objects. In the A-museums the latest amulets date until about I8oo-in the B-museums they start about

18oo, coming down to the present time.-A complete survey of the different kinds and the history of amulets is therefore only possible in book-form.

The literature concerning amulets is immense. In all languages and all times and in all branches of literature we find records of them. Besides innumerable single works there are the rows and rows of periodicals, the investigation of which alone would take years. It is probably owing to this fact that sometimes confusion still prevails in certain classifications and that objects that have fortunately been preserved in museums are overlooked, whereas objects lost long ago are quoted from inventories, etc.

This content downloaded from 185.2.32.58 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 17:26:29 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Page 4: British Amulets in London Museums

15o British Amulets in London Museums

I do not intend to enter upon the problem how an amulet should be defined. I should suggest describing an amulet as a smallish object credited with inherent power to ward off sudden dangers, to prevent supernatural evil influences and to protect against disease the person or the place with which it is in contact.

Some confusion we find in the attempts to differentiate amulets from talismans, none of which seem to me to achieve mathematical precision. I am of Daniel McKenzie's

opinion when he writes in The Infancy of Medicine: " Charms, amulets, or talismans have been employed by mankind so long that the very origin and meaning of these words is disputed." 2

In order to save repetitions I have arranged the amulets in groups and not according to the museums in which they are to be found. (Historical grouping seems to me to be the ideal one, but the material at my disposal in London would not only have left very large gaps but would also have

produced very short and crowded epochs-and the his- torical aspect would in consequence have been distorted.) I hope you will be content therefore with a simple grouping which will, I trust, by my effort to reduce very many cate-

gories to a few, contribute to the lucidity of this lecture.

I should like to start with an extensive group : the stones --in fact stones in the widest sense of the word.

Felix Grendon says: " It is difficult to say how a belief in the magical properties of stones arose. Legends narrated the transformation of giants and men into stone,4 and these stones were supposed to retain a sort of subliminal consciousness of their former state.5 Not unnaturally, compassion and interest

2 (London, 1927), p. 75. Si " The Anglo-Saxon Charms," J. of Amer. Folklore, XXII (I909),

p. 134. 1Grimm, Teutonic Mythology (London, 1883), vol. ii, p. 551.

6 Ibid., vol. ii, p. 645.

This content downloaded from 185.2.32.58 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 17:26:29 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Page 5: British Amulets in London Museums

British Amulets in London Museums 151

in man's welfare began to be attributed to these petrified beings. Hence such expressions as 'the very stones wept,' 'it would move a heart of stone.' Connected in this way with supersti- tious beliefs, stones became the object of worship, and were kept in houses as horse-shoes are to this day, or were carried around to ward off evil."

Up to the present day stones have been collected and

kept as amulets either on account of their beauty or owing to their curious shape. Based on the selection for their

beauty is the cult of precious stones which reached its culmination in England in the Middle Ages. Unfortunately I found only two species of precious-stone-amulets in the London museums.

In the British Museum there is an Eye Agate, showing a number of circular markings, mounted in metal and kept in a box. About fourteenth century.

The description of its use as " a votive or curative stone " seems to me to be too vague to make it worth while to discuss the numerous virtues attributed to the Agates, which, by the way, are sometimes confused with Jet.

Several good specimens of a very curious precious stone have been preserved:

In the Treasure Trove of the Period of Queen Elizabeth and James I at the Guildhall Museum is a Toadstone, and in the South Kensington Museum are three Rings set with Toadstones, fourteenth-seventeenth century.

In reality it is neither a stone nor a precious stone, but the palatal tooth of the fossil fish Lepidotus. Its value lay in the moreover wrong supposition that the stone had been extracted in a very mysterious way from the head of a toad. 0. M. Dalton calls the toad-stone " a remedy against many afflictions, from tumours to bewitchments. Faith in it lasted to modern times." 6

6 Catalogue of the Finger Rings . . . (London, 1912), pp. xlv-xlvi.

This content downloaded from 185.2.32.58 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 17:26:29 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Page 6: British Amulets in London Museums

152 British Amulets in London Museums

Stones which on account of some curiosity of appearance were worn as amulets I have divided into two classes: (I) Holed Stones; (2) Thunderbolts.

One group, interesting examples of which may be seen in the Horniman Museum, I have omitted. These stones remind one by their shape and colour of human organs and limbs, of deformities caused by various kinds of sickness, and were worn in order to cure by means of homoeopathic magic the diseases of which they were reminiscent. I con- sider this group to be a border-case, but more closely related to folk-medicine and to votive-offerings.

To return to the Holed-Stones. B. Freire Marreco describes in detail a collection of amulets

now at the Horniman Museum, from Huntingdonshire, Bedford- shire and Hampshire, brought together between 1856 and 1892. The authoress states how quite undifferentiated pieces of worn flint-all naturally grooved or perforated, and so attractively portable-were carried for entirely different purposes; the special applications were dictated by the owners' needs.7

In addition to this collection I should like to mention: A Holed "Lucky Stone," carried by a Private of the

Northampton Regiment, 1917, now in the Horniman Museum. A " Holed Devon Stone," worn during the War by a Man of

the Devonshire Regiment, now in the Imperial War Museum. An old Stone Spindle-Whorl, from Co. Antrim, now in the

Horniman Museum. It used to be tied to the Horn of a Cow, to prevent Pixies from milking her.-As the significance of the stone spindle-whorl had been forgotten in the course of time it was looked upon and kept as a holed-stone-amulet.

Although so many uses have been made of this kind of amulet one main idea recurs again and again, namely the protection of man and beast against witches and nightmares. This association of ideas is so powerful that theseholed-stone- amulets have thereby gained the names of hag- or witch- stones.

' In Hastings, E.R.E. vol. iii, p. 396a.

This content downloaded from 185.2.32.58 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 17:26:29 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Page 7: British Amulets in London Museums

British Amulets in London Museums 153

Prof. G. L. Kittredge quotes illustrations for this fact from the sixteenth century down to our times and gives the following explanation: " The custom must be somehow related to the ancient and extensive practice of creeping through prehistoric monuments like the Cornish Men-an-Tol or Crickstone in order to get rid of some disease." 8

To the next group we are led by

a Flint, in Silver Mount, inscribed " thunderbolt," eighteenth century, in the British Museum.

But strictly speaking the flint does not belong to the thunderbolts as its protective powers are ascribed to its sparks as well as to its supposed celestial origin.

Olbrich defines this as follows : " Donar, Thor strikes the lightning sparks out of the flint by means of the steel, he also flings the flint as a flash of lightning.10 For this reason sparks struck from the flint were considered by the Anglo-Saxons as a protection against lightning, thunder and all kinds of witch- craft." 11

The group of " thunderbolts " includes such different objects as minerals, fossils and neolithic stone implements. The only link between them is their mysterious shape, which was to primitive minds absolutely inexplicable and seemed therefore to be of supernatural origin.

Prof. Henry Balfour has convincingly proved in his essay "Concerning Thunderbolts "12 why these wholly different objects were welded together to this one conception of " thunder- bolt " and why the thunderbolts were put to one of their most interesting uses which causes them to function as a protection against the very force which is believed to have generated them.

8 G. L. Kittredge, Witchcraft in Old and New England (Cambridge, Mass., 1929), p. 220.

* Handw6rterbuch des Deutschen Aberglaubens (Berlin, 1927), vol. ii, p. 143 f. 10 Grimm, Mythologie, vol. ii, p. 1021.

11 Fischer, A ngelsachsen, p. 4 1. 12 Folk-Lore, XL (London, 1929).

This content downloaded from 185.2.32.58 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 17:26:29 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Page 8: British Amulets in London Museums

154 British Amulets in London Museums

" The belief is very widely held that lightning never strikes the same spot twice. ... A natural corollary to this belief was that the possessor of a ' thunderbolt ' could render himself or his property immune to attack by lightning. ... This prophylactic use ... is met with in so many regions, that we must assume that it originated at an early date; how early it is not possible to say ....

13 The employment of ' thunderbolts ' as a means of

curing or averting sickness is very widely diffused. In some instances personal contact with the ' thunderbolt ' achieves the desired end." 14

Two examples of mineral-thunderbolts are in the Horni- man Museum:

(I) Iron-Pyrites, mounted as a Pendant and worn as a Charm, Folkestone.

(2) A Piece of Iron-Pyrites, regarded as a "Thunderbolt" and carried as a Protection against Lightning, in Sussex.

An example of a fossil-thunderbolt is in the Horniman Museum:

A Belemnite, carried as a Protection against Lightning, in Dorsetshire.

Two examples of neolithic-implement-thunderbolts:

(I) In the British Museum: An Axe of greenish quartz-like Stone, mounted in Silver and perforated for Attachment, which was worn sewed on a Belt by a Scottish Officer as late as the early nineteenth century as a Charm for the Cure of Kidney Disease. The Axe is believed to be Scottish; the Workmanship of the Silver Mounting dates probably from the End of the eighteenth Century.

(2) In the Horniman Museum: A Flint Arrow-Head, ori- ginating in Antrim, Ireland, which was there regarded as an " Elf-Dart."

Lhuyd, 1699, describes an arrowhead and says how " through- out Ireland and Scotland they are fully persuaded the elves shoot them at men and beasts." (Lhuyd's example was set in

1a Folk-Lore, XL (London, 1929), p. 45. 14 Ibid., p. 47.

This content downloaded from 185.2.32.58 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 17:26:29 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Page 9: British Amulets in London Museums

British Amulets in London Museums 155

silver, and worn about the neck, as an amulet against being elf-shot.) 15

There are still some amber-amulets with which I will conclude my remarks on this group :

(I) In the British Museum there is an Amber Bead with Ogham Inscription, subsequently used as Amulet at Childbirth and to cure Eye-disease. Found in Ireland.

(2) A Piece of crude Amber, carried by a Fisherman as a Charm against Rheumatism, from Lowestoft, in the Horniman Museum.

(3) An Amber-Heart, carried by a Man in a Lowestoft Mine- sweeper, in the Imperial War Museum.

The history of the very ancient amber-bead in the British Museum can be traced back through many generations.l6 Its ogham characters correspond, as Prof. R. A. S. Mac- alister notes,"7 closely to an ogham inscription on a stone near Fahan, Co. Kerry.... According to Thos. J. Westropp is these letters are probably the initials of a formula or prayer like those on religious medals. Dr. G. U. MacNamara appositely quotes from the Homilies of St. Eloi (born ca. 588), " let no woman hang amber round her neck... or have recourse either to enchanters ... or to engravers of amulets." 19

Amber is a well-known amulet for weak eyes and against fever and gout.20 " The electrical power of attraction of light objects by amber when rubbed was doubtless one cause of its supposed virtue." 21

15 Quoted by Folk-Lore Record, IV (London, 1881), p. 169.

l1 J. of the Kilkenny and South-East of Ireland Arch. Soc., vol. i, new series (Dublin, 1856-57), p. 149. I am indebted for this reference to Dr.

Y. Hackenbroch, London. 17 The Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, xxxi, pp. 318-19. 18"

c A Folklore Survey of Co. Clare," Folk-Lore, XXII (1911), p. 52. 19 Limerick Field Club J., ii, pp. 219-20. 20 E. v. Dobschiitz in Hastings, E.R.E., vol. iii, p. 422a. 21 A. C. Haddon, Magic and Fetishism (London, 90o6), pp. 30-I.

This content downloaded from 185.2.32.58 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 17:26:29 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Page 10: British Amulets in London Museums

156 British Amulets in London Museums

The amulets of the second group belong to the vegetable and animal kingdom, and most of them are to be found in the Wellcome Museum.

Let us begin with a loan by Lady Gomme:

A Rowan-Tree Cross, bound with red Wool. Wellcome Museum.

According to Th. Barns,22 " Irish literature represents crimson nuts as forming the food of the gods.23 The crimson berries of the mountain-ash explain its sanctity."

In the Rowan-Tree Cross we find the magical efficacy of the material still more enhanced by the sacred form of the Cross.

Geo. F. Black describes in detail how " such crosses were formerly held in high repute in Scotland as powerful preserva- tives against witches, ghosts, and kindred evils. ... They were worn inserted between the lining and cloth of a person's garment ... or placed over the byre-door. ...." 24

Two interesting examples of seed amulets are in the Syer Cuming Museum :

(I) Seed of the Entada scandens, a Charm against the Evil Eye. Island of Barra, Hebrides.

(2) Nicker Nuts (Guilandina Bonduc). A third seed amulet is now in the Horniman Museum: A large Seed from Africa, carried by a Soldier of the Royal

West Surreys, 1916.

These seeds have been carried across the Atlantic Ocean by the Gulf Stream, and cast ashore on the islands of the West Coast of Scotland. The mystery attending their

presence has gained for them a superstitious reverence which has led to their adoption as amulets. For alleviating the pains of childbirth, as amulets against witchcraft and

22 'Hastings, E.R.E., vol. xii, p. 456a. 23 Rhys, Celtic Heathendom,2 p. 356. 24" Scottish Charms and Amulets," Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., xxvii

(1892-93), pp. 477-8.

This content downloaded from 185.2.32.58 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 17:26:29 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Page 11: British Amulets in London Museums

British Amulets in London Museums 157

the evil eye they have been held in high repute for the last 200 years at least.25

In the Horniman Museum is a Mandrake Root, carried as an Amulet during the Great War; East London Regiment.

The cause for the belief in the magic power of the Man- drake-root lay in its human-like shape and in its poisonous quality. The belief in the mandrake originated in the East and came through different channels, chiefly by means of the scientific magic literature, to Central Europe, where it

mingled with already existing opinions concerning certain

magic plants.26 Felix Grendon states that its magic power was liberally

employed in Saxon leechdom and sorcery, and the author describes the interesting ceremonies of delving for the plant.27

In the Imperial War Museum are, Four-Leaf Clover Amulets from the Great War.

The superstition that four-leaved clover brings luck seems to be very old. The reasons lie in the fact that it is comparatively rare and has the form of a cross, which is believed to protect from all evil.28

The amulets of the animal kingdom we shall have to divide into two sub-groups : (I) complete figures of animals as amulets; (2) parts of animals as amulets-f.i. bones, teeth, feet, horns, etc.

The most interesting specimens among the first group are several Bronze Figures of Boars, in the British Museum, found at Hounslow, Middlesex, 1864, and at Gilden Morden, Cambs.

25 " Scottish Charms and Amulets," p. 479. H. Syer Cuming, "On Charms employed in Cattle Disease," J.B.A.A., xxi (1865), p. 327.

26 Marzell, Handw6rterbuch des Deutschen Aberglaubens, i, pp. 313, 322-3.

27 Op. cit., p. 133.

28 S. Seligmann, Der b6se Blich und Verwandtes (Berlin, I9Io), vol. ii, p. 69.

This content downloaded from 185.2.32.58 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 17:26:29 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Page 12: British Amulets in London Museums

158 British Amulets in London Museums

Some were worn as Pendants, some perhaps as Crest of a Helmet, all doubtless as Amulets.

In this connection I should like to remind you of the well- known Early British Bronze Shield from the River Witham, in the British Museum, to which the figure of a boar was once attached.

The boar was not only superstitiously regarded by the Britons, but according to Salomon Reinach: " le sanglier ... est un symbole indo-europeen ou du moins un totem tres r6pandu." 29

Amulets from the Great War in the form of animals can be seen in the collections of the Horniman and the Imperial War Museum. They contain a Monkey, a Shell, Pigs and Black Cats.

To the sub-group, parts of animals, belongs:

A Tooth of Fossil Shark, fourteenth-sixteenth Century, in the British Museum.

Such teeth of Fossil Shark used to be worn in England against cramp.30

In the Horniman Museum there are the Feet of a Moorhen, of a Wood Pigeon and of Moles, from Newborough-Fen, North- amptonshire, and Hampshire, which were carried as Charms against Cramp and Toothache.

The principal idea was that the foot would help to bring out the first teeth of the small children.

In the Imperial War Museum there is a Merry-Thought or Wishing-Bone.

B. Freire-Marreco explains that the primary function of this magical object was to focus, or register, the operator's wish, and how it became an amulet by a constant tendency to credit the merry-thought with power to fulfil it.31

29 Bronzes Figuris de la Gaule Romaine (Paris, 1900oo), p. 257. 30 Handw6rterbuch des Deutschen Aberglaubens, iii, p. 134 f. 31 In Hastings, E.R.E., vol. iii, p. 398a.

This content downloaded from 185.2.32.58 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 17:26:29 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Page 13: British Amulets in London Museums

British Amulets in London Museums 159

In the Horniman Museum there is the Hyoid Bone of a Sheep, carried by a Seaman of the North Sea, Yorkshire, 1916.

According to Prof. A. C. Haddon, " there exists a connexion between Thor's hammer and these T-shaped bones, which were used as amulets to bring good fortune and as safeguards against drowning by Manx and Whitby fishermen. It is worthy of note that there were Scandinavian settlements at both Whitby and the Isle of Man, and that in the early Iron Age unmistakable representations of Thor's hammer were worn as charms in Denmark and Schleswig-Holstein. In those early days there can be little doubt that the influence of the god passed into the models of his weapon, and that these objects partook of the nature of fetishes, but later the symbols of the god degenerated into luck-objects." 32

I should like to conclude this group by mentioning horn-

amulets, the well-known and very old prophylactics against the Evil Eye.

Different kinds of horn amulets are to be found in the Well- come Museum.

In the British Museum there is a Horned Helmet of Bronze with enamelled and embossed Ornament, found in the River Thames near Waterloo Bridge; native British Work, probably of the Beginning of the Christian Era; "its horns were probably intended to have some apotropaeic force in face of danger." 33

In the collection at Cecil Sharp House there are Two Horns of Deer, killed at the " Whit Hunt " in Wychwood Forest, and preserved for the Luck they brought to their Owner.

The Whit Hunt, which took place up to 1862 at Whitsuntide was, according to E. K. Chambers, " probably a survival of heathen ritual. Even where sacrifice itself has vanished, the minor rites which once accompanied it are still perpetuated in the superstitions or the festival customs of the peasantry. The heads and hides of horses or cattle, like the exuviae of the

32

Op. cit., pp. 39-40. 33 J. A. MacCulloch in Hastings, E.R.E., vol. vi, p. 793b.

This content downloaded from 185.2.32.58 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 17:26:29 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Page 14: British Amulets in London Museums

16o British Amulets in London Museums

sacrificial victims, are worn or carried in dance, procession or quite. The dead bodies of animals are suspended by shepherds or gamekeepers upon tree and barn-door, from immemorial habit or from some vague suspicion of the luck they will bring.''34

A very precious object was the unicorn's horn-in fact the tusk of the narwhal-but in this case the protective power was not attributed to its form but to the belief, that even its smallest particles were able to protect from poison- ing and cramp. This belief, which is based on literary tradition from the ancients, prevailed in England even in the time of Charles II.-Most of the still preserved unicorns' horns are mounted or carved in a very costly way.

Odell Shepard speaks of its aristocratic associations,35 not merely because of the great price of the horn, but also because only the great fear poison, as Seneca had phrased the situation: Venenum in auro bibitur.36

A Section of Unicorn's Horn, mounted in enamelled Gold and dating from about I 50o, known to us as the Danny Jewel or the Campion Pendant, is now in the South Kensington Museum.

H. Clifford Smith rightly calls this remarkable pendant charm of Elizabethan date a medicinal amulet, for the surface of the tusk at the back of this jewel can be seen to have been partially scraped away, the powder mixed with water having been prob- ably taken internally as a medicine.37

We come now to Group III: Coins and Medals.

In the British Museum there is A Rose Noble of Edward IV, worn as an Amulet on account of its Text engraved on the Reverse: IHC' AUTEM TRANSIENS PER MEDIUM ILLORUM IBAT

(St. Luke, chap. iv, verse 30). On the obverse can be seen the king standing in a ship, holding sword and shield.38

** The Mediaeval Stage (Oxford, I903), vol. i, pp. I41-2.

35 The Lore of the Unicorn (London, 1930), p. 136. 36 Thyestes, p. 453. 37 In Proc. Soc. Ant. Ld., 2nd series, xxvi (I913-I4), p. 235. 38 A detailed description in H. A. Grueber, Handbook of the Coins of

Great Britain and Ireland in the Brit. Mus. (London, 1899), pp. 66-7.

This content downloaded from 185.2.32.58 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 17:26:29 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Page 15: British Amulets in London Museums

British Amulets in London Museums 161

According to Helen Farquhar, " it was no uncommon thing to carry a gold noble as an amulet on going into battle, the legend JESUS AUTEM TRANSIENS PER MEDIUM ILLORUM IBAT being regarded as protective from the time of Edward III throughout the seventeenth and even the eighteenth century."39

In the museums in London there are several other amuletic coins-known as touchpieces for the King's Evil.

William E. A. Axon states the royal healing to have been " a fragmentary survival from a time when priesthood and kingship sometimes centred in the same person, and when, as disease was

regarded mainly as demonic possession and medicine as exorcism and magic, the priest had often to exercise the function of the

physician.'"4o McKenzie describes how at the English ceremony the king

besides touching the sores, hung round the patient's neck an

amulet, consisting of a gold or silver medal, the " touching- piece," which telepathically perpetuated the royal touch."41

Very interesting are the touchpieces kept in the London

Museum, because they still have the white silk ribbons attached to them which the king placed round the patient's neck. But the most fascinating of all seems to me to be:

A Touchpiece in the Coin Department of the British Museum, because we have the authentic proof that Samuel Johnson was touched with it by Queen Anne and that the piece was given to him on that occasion. On the obverse can be seen a ship sailing, before the wind; on the reverse St. Michael and the Dragon. Legend: SOLI DEO GLORIA.42

Helen Farquhar43 quotes G. F. Hill,44 who brought forward

39 i" Royal Charities," Part I, B. Num. J., xii (1918), pp. 49-50. 40 Hastings, E.R.E., vol. vii, p. 738b. 41 Op. cit., p. 138. 42 Detailed description in Hawkins, Franks and Grueber, Medallic

Illustrations of the History of Great Britain and Ireland (London, 1855), vol. ii, pp. 242-3. 43 Op. cit., p. 69 note 3.

44 J. of Hellenic Studies, xxxvi, pp. 134-62. L

This content downloaded from 185.2.32.58 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 17:26:29 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Page 16: British Amulets in London Museums

162 British Amulets in London Museums

the analogies as healers between Apollo, the slayer of the python, and sender of and preserver from plague, and St. Michael. The selection of St. Michael was suggestive of healing.

Helen Farquhar also describes how Samuel Johnson as a

child, at the age of thirty months, was taken to the metropolis by his mother, on the advice of Sir John Floyer, an eminent

physician of Lichfield, to obtain Anne's touch, and vaguely remembered her as "a lady in diamonds and a long black hood."45

In the British Museum are different Medals from the sixteenth

Century showing on the Obverse the Head of Christ. On the Reverse an Hebrew Inscription.

G. F. Hill quotes this common medal, first made in the six- teenth century, which was worn as a charm against epilepsy,46 as a good instance for medals which were originally produced for an ordinary devotional purpose and are sometimes found used as talismans.47

Some coin-amulets and religious medal-amulets from the Great War are in the Horniman and in the Imperial War Museum, among them a Halfpenny of George III, a " Lucky Farthing " and a Medal with the Cross of St. Benedict.

In conclusion of this group I should like to quote:

An inscribed Silver Amulet, from the seventeenth century, in the British Museum. On one side of this circular disc, in the centre is a group of cabalistic astrological characters, and among them are the symbols of Venus, the Moon and Libra. Around these runs the following inscription: Accipe mihi petitionem, O domine. Keep me as the apple of an eye; hide me under the shadows of thy wings from all evel. Up, Lord, and help us, for thou art my strong rock and my castle. Amen." On the other side is rudely engraved, in the centre the table magic square of forty-nine smaller squares, each filled with Hebrew figures ... At the top is a hole for its suspension, on one side of which is the

45 Royal Charities," Part IV, J. B. Num., xv (London, 1921), p. 145. 46 J. D. K6hler, Miinzbelustigung, vol. vi (I734), p. 353 f. 7 Hastings, E.R.E., vol. iii, p. 703a.

This content downloaded from 185.2.32.58 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 17:26:29 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Page 17: British Amulets in London Museums

British Amulets in London Museums 163

number 1225, the mystic number of the amulet. On the other side of the suspension hole is engraved, in Hebrew, the Tetra- grammaton, or ineffable name of God. We find further the Hebrew name of the planet Venus and other Hebrew letters.4s

Francis Barrett in The Magus gives an illustration of these signs and asserts numerous good influences, these being engraven on a plate of silver, Venus being fortunate.49

Those amulets which are mostly classified as jewellery form Group IV. If jewellery has its origin in magic 50 it is not unlikely that its objects may have at one time been

amulets, and degenerated into ornaments-so partici- pating in the inevitable tendency of amulets.51

Personal ornaments fulfil all the desires that an amulet- bearer can entertain: they are convenient to wear; very often their close contact with the body enhances their effect.

They can be displayed openly to ward off evil influences as well as confer secret protection by hidden inscriptions.

As this group comprises chiefly iconographic jewellery dating from the fourteenth to the seventeenth century, it is impossible to prove that every single piece was considered an amulet. Therefore I have decided to say but a few words on their various groups, trying to show that many of the

objects must actually have been once regarded as amulets.

In the British and the South Kensington Museums there are very fine collections of iconographic rings.

In considering their figures of saints and religious subjects in order to ascertain which of them might have been amulets, I should give the preference to those whose saints enjoyed a high reputation as name saints, as patron saints for profession and as protectors from illness and sudden death

48 Proc. Soc. Ant. Ld., iv (1857), p. 91.

49 (London, 1801), pp. 144-5.

so Prof. William Ridgeway, A Companion to Latin Studies (Cambridge, IgIo), p. 581.

x 1H. J. T. Johnson, Hastings, E.R.E., vol x, p. 637a.

This content downloaded from 185.2.32.58 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 17:26:29 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Page 18: British Amulets in London Museums

164 British Amulets in London Museums

-e.g. rings with St. Christopher, St. Barbara, St. Catherine, St. Thomas of Canterbury, St. George, etc.

From this point of view I should like to remind you of a fifteenth-century Brooch, now in the South Kensington Museum and engraved with figures of St. George and St. Christopher, as well as of two iconographic pendants in the British Museum.52

A Series of Badges of Speculum Metal, etched or engraved with Figures of popular Saints, dating from about 1500, can be seen in the British Museum.

We are interested in two of these badges with the repre- sentation of St. Barbara because they were found in England, and Sir John Evans believed them to be personal prophylactic amulets.53

Very similar to these badges are the Pilgrims' Signs, of which there are many to be found in the British, the London and the Guildhall Museums. The pilgrims wore these badges on their way home as a token that they had fulfilled their vow and also in order to avail themselves of the privileges and protection vouchsafed to pilgrims. But it is a very important fact-when discussing the use of these pilgrims' signs as amulets-that they were not only worn on a pilgrimage, but also formed a customary decoration for the hat. 54 In this connexion I refer to the well-known use made of them by the superstitious King Louis XI of France.55

There are badges from the most famous English shrines, that of St. Thomas of Canterbury, Our Lady of Walsingham Priory and Glastonbury. Pilgrims' signs representing the famous rector John Schorn, a visit to whose shrine in

52 Described by C. C. Oman, " An Engl. Gold Rosary .. .," Archaeo-

logia, lxxxv (1936), p. 18.

53 In Proc. Soc. Ant. Ld., xxii (1908), pp. 102 ff.

54 H. Clifford Smith, Jewellery (London, 1908), p. 9og.

55 Sir Walter Scott, Historical Illustrations of Quentin Durward .. (London, 1823), pp. 14, 54.

This content downloaded from 185.2.32.58 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 17:26:29 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Page 19: British Amulets in London Museums

British Amulets in London Museums 165

North Marston was considered a certain cure for ague.56 Other pilgrims' signs are related to the royal martyr Kenelm, whose tomb at Winchcombe was reputed to be endowed with miraculous virtues. 57

The ampuls for the Canterbury, Walsingham or Glaston-

bury waters and the shrine-like little boxes which were made to hold either one of the ampuls or some of the dust

swept from off the saint's shrine were also carried home

hanging upon the breast by a string round the wearer's

neck, according to Daniel Rock.58 Most of these different

signs were doubtless kept as religious amulets for the

protection of the owner or for the benefit of relations and friends.

Other badges " do not seem to have had reference to any particular shrine and referred simply to incidents in popular religious legends. Some were merely symbols or emblems." 59 It seems to me that these must have been chiefly bought as

presents. A parallel to this custom we find in devotional pictures. Here we can often prove-by inscriptions on the reverse-that they were gifts and that the images of patron saints should afford protection to the recipient. Adolf

Spamer-pointing out the close mystical connexion which existed during the Middle Ages between images and their owners-ranks such devotional pictures among the amu- lets.60 This statement we can apply to pilgrims' signs with figures of St. Christopher, St. Barbara, St. Erasmus, St. George, St. Agnes, St. Nicholas, etc.

To this group belong further representations of St. John the Baptist or His Head on a Charger. The latter symbol was, according to H. Clifford Smith, " no doubt phylacteric,

56 H. Syer Cuming in J.B.A.A., xxiii (1867), p. 331. 11 Thomas Hugo in Archaeologia, xxxviii (i86o), pp. 133-4- 8s The Church of our Fathers (London, 1903), vol. iii, p. 352.

59 H. Clifford Smith, Jewellery, p. Io9.

60 Adolf Spamer, Das kleine Andachtsbild (Miinchen, 1930), pp. 42-3.

This content downloaded from 185.2.32.58 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 17:26:29 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Page 20: British Amulets in London Museums

166 British Amulets in London Museums

for the efficacy of the intercession of St. John was most

highly esteemed against epilepsy and other disorders." 61

Some of these pilgrims' signs may have been brought from his shrine at Amiens; but others must be regarded as merely personal phylacteric ornaments. In this connexion I should like to quote the precious French enseigne in the South

Kensington Museum. To the symbolic badges belongs, e.g. the Tau-Cross,62

which is connected in the Middle Ages with St. Anthony, the special preserver against erysipelas, St. Anthony's fire and against the plague. But apart from St. Anthony, we find the Tau-Cross regarded in itself as a powerful protection against the plague. A very fine specimen is the Tau-Cross from Bridlington in the British Museum.63 There and in the South Kensington Museum we find this symbol engraved on rings. These may-as well as some pilgrims' signs representing the Tau-Cross-have been connected with the famous place of pilgrimage at St. Antoine de Viennois, but

according to Oman " the amuletic use was probably the most general." 64

There are other pilgrims' signs in form of the Agnus Dei. Here I should like to refer to an Agnus Dei, dating from the Pontificate of Clement XI (1700-21), in the British Museum, a medallion impressed with the Lamb and Cross bearing a

flag, made at Rome out of the wax of the Paschal Candle.

According to Dalton, "Mediaeval examples were highly valued and worn, like relics, to avert pestilence, fire, tempest, and sudden death . .. to protect the wearer from wounds, pain or evil influences." 65

61 H. Clifford Smith, op. cit., p. 226. 62 For the very old history I refer to Goblet d'Alviella, Hastings,

E.R.E., vol. iv, pp. 326-7.

*8 Described by C. C. Oman, "An Engl. Gold Rosary,...." p. I8. 64 Catalogue of Rings (London, 1930), p. 92. 65 A Guide to the Mediaeval Antiquities in the Brit. Mus. (London,

1924), pp. I-2.

This content downloaded from 185.2.32.58 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 17:26:29 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Page 21: British Amulets in London Museums

British Amulets in London Museums 167

It seems that these medals were so common that the word became a synonym for plaque 66--and we know of

very precious Agnus Dei's and of modest ones-like our

badges, and can suppose that the protective power was not limited to the blessed wax-but was extended to the

symbolic figure itself and was probably transferred to our

pilgrims' signs. In conclusion of this group I will mention:

A Lion-shaped Brooch, dating from the early part of the fourteenth century and recovered from the Thames, now in the Guildhall Museum, which must be regarded, according to H. Syer Cuming, as an amulet, and classed with zodiac rings.6•

We come now to the fifth and last group : the inscribed

religious amulets. I should like to start with amulets

bearing names of power, omitting those objects where it is again difficult to define the boundary between religious and amuletic jewellery, e.g. rings, brooches, medallions, plaquettes, etc., with the name of JESUS CHRIST, with AVE MARIA GRACIA PLENA, etc. Many of them, dating chiefly from the fourteenth-sixteenth century, can be found in the British and the South Kensington Museums.

But there are objects which by their combination of names of power leave no doubt that they have once been looked upon as amulets.

There is in the South Kensington Museum a silver gilt Fede- Ring of the fifteenth century, bearing the Inscription: IHC NAZAREN. REX JUDEORUM and JASPAR. This inscription is considered by C. C. Oman " to be a charm for cramp." 68

The same combination, but with JASPAR MELCHIOR BAL-

TASAR, is engraved upon a Ring of the late fifteenth century, found in Ireland, now in the South Kensington Museum.69

66 L. F. Salzmann, Mediaeval Byways (London, 1913), p. 162. 67 In J.B.A.A., xx (1864), pp. 8o-1. 68

Catalogue of Rings, p. 115. 69 Detailed description, ibid. No. 764.

This content downloaded from 185.2.32.58 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 17:26:29 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Page 22: British Amulets in London Museums

168 British Amulets in London Museums

In this connexion we must study the magical significance of the titulus JESUS NAZARENUS REX JUDAEORUM, which is given, according to Joan Evans,70 in the Revelation to the Monk of Evesham n as a safeguard against sudden

death.-According to Will. Hamper, "rings against the plague were inscribed IHS NASARENUS REX JUDEORUM." 72

The names JASPAR MELCER BALTASAR alone, which we find inscribed in two rings of the fifteenth century in the British Museum, might signify that these rings were tokens of a pilgrimage to the shrine of the Kings of the East in Cologne Cathedral or amuletic rings, as we find these names included in charms against fever, thieves, peril by travel, epilepsy,73 and sudden death.

A famous object bearing the names of the Magi is the Glenlyon Brooch in the British Museum.74 This amulet of Scottish workmanship from the fifteenth century formerly belonged to the Campbells of Glenlyon. The reverse is inscribed with the names CASPAR MELCHIOR BALTAZAR, followed by "CON- SUMMATUM."

" Consummatum est "-the last words of Christ on the cross-are considered in themselves a powerful talisman to stop bleeding or to calm tempest. If we regard these words as the perpetuation of a prayer, according to Thiers, Traiti des Superstitions, " on ne recevra aucun dommage ni du d6mon ni d'aucun homme m6chant, et on ne mourra point sans confession." 75

By the combination of the names of the Magi and the word of power " Consummatum," the Glenlyon Brooch must have once been regarded as a very effective and mighty amulet.

70o Magical Jewels (Oxford, 1922), p. 128. 71 Written in 1196 (chap. io). 72 In Archaeologia, xxi (1827), p. 29. 73 E. v. Dobschiitz in Hastings, E.R.E., vol. iii, p. 418a. 4 Illustrated and described by Joan Evans, op. cit., pl. II, 4, and p. 5.

75 (Paris, 1704), vol. iii, p. 65.

This content downloaded from 185.2.32.58 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 17:26:29 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Page 23: British Amulets in London Museums

British Amulets in London Museums 169

The names of the Magi we find also combined with the

powerful words ANANYZAPTA and TETRAGRAMMATON on the Coventry Ring in the British Museum. I mentioned already Tetragrammaton, one of the names of God.

Ananizapta was, according to Dalton,76 " usually a charm against epilepsy or falling sickness, though it appears also to have served against intoxication." Dalton quotes an explana- tion of Ananizapta as an acrostic.77

We find this mysterious word further inscribed outside the hoop of a Gold Ring of the sixteenth century in the South Ken- sington Museum. The inside of this Ring is inscribed with BURO. BERTO. BERNETO and CONSUMMATUM EST. According to C. C. Oman the similar words " Boro Berto Briore " form part of a charm to cure toothache in an English Medical MS. in Stockholm.78

Returning to the famous Coventry Ring, dating from the fifteenth century, found at Coventry in 1802, I refer for its detailed description as well as that of a similar Ring in the British Museum to Dalton's Catalogue.79

As we have dealt with their names of power we must now discuss :

The Symbol of the Five Wounds, engraved at intervals round the hoop. Between these subjects are engraved the descriptions of the Five Wounds and in the interior is engraved: WULNERA QUINi DEI SUNT MEDICINA MEI PIA / CRUX ET PASSIO XRI SUNT MEDICINA MICHI.

For the history of the cult of the Five Wounds I refer to L. Gougaud, Devotional and Ascetic Practices in the Middle Ages.80 The reason for the superstitious application of this sacred symbol lay in the belief " that if the extremely popular Mass of the Five Wounds (Humiliavit) was said five times, the deliverance

71 Catalogue of Finger Rings ... ,pp. 136-7. " Given by Guarinus in his Vocabularium, 1491. 78 Catalogue of Rings, p. I 16.

79 Op. cit., pp. 1og-10. 80 (London, 1927).

This content downloaded from 185.2.32.58 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 17:26:29 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Page 24: British Amulets in London Museums

170 British Amulets in London Museums

of a soul from purgatory was obtained. Offered for the living, the Mass assured them, in addition to personal salvation, many spiritual graces and temporal favours here below." 81

E. Ma^le in L'Art religieux de la Fin du Moyen Age en France states: " Une priere que l'on r6citait en l'honneur des cinq plaies passait pour empecher de mourir ' de vilaine mort.'... C'est ce qui explique pourquoi le culte des cinq plaies s'est d6velopp6 au temps des grandes pestes."82

If we presume that the representation of the Five Wounds was a perpetuation of these prayers enhanced in addition by the names and words of power, we must assume that this Coventry Ring was once regarded as an amulet

against sudden death, probably in the form of the plague.

An entirely different but very interesting amulet is a so-called Celestial-Letter, printed by J. Evans, (illegible), West London, from about 1720-30, in the British Museum. It has a very worn appearance as if it had been folded and carried about very frequently.

At the head stands: A Copy of a Letter written by our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Below there is a woodcut portrait of Christ with the legend: Fairer then the children of men. Psal. xlv.

On both sides of this portrait we find a miraculous story: " Found 18 miles from Iconium, 53 years after our Blessed Saviour's Crucifixion.... Signed by the Angel Gabriel, 74 years after Our Saviour's birth."

This legend resembles others found on celestial-letters; but so far I have not found any reference to the therein

quoted " original Hebrew copy, in the possession of Lady Cuba's family at Mesopotamia."

Below follows the well-known Sunday-Letter of Jesus Christ, which promises to those who observe the Sunday rest every protection, and threatens dire punishments to

81 Op. cit., p. 82, quoting A. Franz, Die Messe im deutschen Mittelalter, pp. 158-9. 82 (Paris, 1908), p. IOI.

This content downloaded from 185.2.32.58 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 17:26:29 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Page 25: British Amulets in London Museums

British Amulets in London Museums 171

those who do not keep the Sunday. I cannot here enter into the details of the history of the Sunday-letter. Ori-

ginating shortly before 584 in North-Eastern Spain, it became known all over the world and even during the Great War was carried as a protection.83

After a passage quoting Christ's Cures and Miracles follows The Correspondence between King Abgar (here called Agbar!) and Christ. According to Sttibe 84 the legend of this correspondence originated probably in Edessa

during the second half of the third century and became known in the Occident by Rufinus, the translator of Euse- bius. In the British Museum MS. Royal, 2 A XX, fol. 13, we find the statement: " Si quis hanc epistolam secum habuerit securus ambulet in pace," according to which, in this country, amuletic power has been ascribed to this apocryphal correspondence since at least the eighth cen- tury. Even in the very late nineteenth century still this Correspondence is found as a preservative from fever, as an amulet against witchcraft and the evil eye or to ensure safety in childbirth-pasted on cottage walls or worn pinned inside the dresses.85

The last part of our Celestial-Letter is formed by Len- tulus's Epistle to the Senate of Rome, an apocryphal letter of a fictitious author.86

Looking through the literature on this amuletic leaf, I found in Notes and Queries 87 the same woodcut mentioned, but nowhere else this very interesting combination of apocryphal texts. We must look upon the Letter of Christ to Abgar and the Sunday-Letter as very powerful safe-

83 I refer to the works of Hippolyte Delehaye, A. S. Napier, Max F6rster and Robert Priebsch.

84 In Handwdrterbuch des Deutschen Aberglaubens, i, p. 87. 85 Will. Henderson, Folklore of the Northern Counties...(London, 1879),

p. 194 ; Folk-Lore, XIII (1902), p. 424- 86 Catholic Encyclopaedia (New York, 9o10), vol. ix, p. 155.

87 4th series, ix (1872), p. 476.

This content downloaded from 185.2.32.58 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 17:26:29 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Page 26: British Amulets in London Museums

172 British Amulets in London Museums

guards, because they were regarded as being from Christ

Himself, written with His own hand, and this power was

naturally transmitted to the copies.88 The story of Christ's Cures and Miracles, the legend how

this letter was found and the Epistle of Lentulus, whose

description of Christ agrees with the so-called Abgar- picture, were added to enhance moreover the importance of this amulet.

Thanks to Miss Senior, I found a second similar Celestial- Letter (signed L W 1724) 89 and four Letters of Abgar combined with apocryphal texts in book-form (dating from

1780-18Io?) in the Library of the British Museum. In conclusion of my survey I should like to mention two

amulets in the MS. Department of the British Museum:

(I) Harley charters 43 A 14. A small Roll of Vellum of the fifteenth century. At the beginning is a representation of a cross drawn with a pen. The text of the roll is : " This cros XV tymys metyn ys ye lenght of oure lord Jhfi criste. And yt day yt yu beryst it upon ye or lokest yer upon yu shalt haue yese gret giftis yt folowyth. .... Etc.o90... ffor Seynt Cerice and Seynt Julitt his moder desirid yise graciouse gyftis of god." From the concluding prayer we must infer that at one time the amulet belonged to a man named William.

(2) Rotulus Harl. T. II: Roll of Vellum of the fifteenth century containing an illustrated Figure of the Cross. A text follows very similar to the above,91 then prayers, charms, the figures of the nails and the measure of the wound of Christ, cabalistic seals, etc.

L. Gougaud 92 describes in great detail the origin of the

88 E. v. Dobschiitz in Zeitschrift fi4r wissenschaftl. Theologie, xliii (Leipzig, 1900), p. 480.

89 Instead of the portrait of Christ is a woodcut of the crucifixion. Then follows the same text with the same misprint Agbar.

90 The whole text is quoted in J.B.A.A., xxxi (1875), p. Io5.

91 The whole text is quoted in J.B.A.A., xlviii (1892), pp. 50 ff. 92 In Revue d'Histoire Ecclisiastique, xx (Louvain, 1924), pp. 216 ff.

This content downloaded from 185.2.32.58 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 17:26:29 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Page 27: British Amulets in London Museums

British Amulets in London Museums 173 measure of the Length of Christ, the varying dimensions, the connexion between the two saints St. Cyrice and Ste. Julitte and England. The author quotes 93 a MS. written in Winchester in the tenth or eleventh century (Brit. Mus. MS. Cott. Titus. D. XXVI, fol. 3 ro.) which is the earliest document recording the superstitious application of the Length of Christ in England. L. Gougaud states further: " Les rubriques insistent beaucoup plus sur l'utilit6 d'afficher la ' mesure' dans les demeures, de la porter sur soi ou de la regarder pour en tirer avantage que sur l'obligation de r6citer les prieres ... le rouleau de parchemin ou le ' bref ' operant

' la manibre d'un charme magique."

We know that the Length of Christ was carried as an amulet to prevent sudden death 95 and against drowning,96 but chiefly it must have served as a girdle-amulet by women in labour. The custom of wearing girdle-amulets during confinement, which is based on the very ancient idea that the symbolic action of binding and loosing might effect the

birth, was so frequent that, according to W. C. Hazlitt,," the

phrase enceinte applied to a woman with child doubtless came from this source." 97

According to A. Franz, it was in older times customary that formulae of blessing were used by the clergy at the confinement of the woman. As it was considered improper in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries for the priest to be present, written formulae, probably furnished by the clergy, were put on the body of the woman in labour instead.98

This explains why such parchment rolls with prayers and

93 In Revue d'Histoire Ecclesiastique, xx (Louvain, 1924), p. 217.

94 Ibid., p. 220.

9" James Pilkington, The Burnynge of Paules Church ... (London, 1563).

96 Select Works of John Bale, ed. H. Christmas, Parker Soc. (Cambr., 1849), p. 525.

97 Faiths and Folklore (London, 1905), vol. ii, p. 378. 98 Die kirchl. Benediktionen im Mittelalter (Freiburg, 1909), vol. ii,

p. 198.

This content downloaded from 185.2.32.58 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 17:26:29 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Page 28: British Amulets in London Museums

174 British Amulets in London Museums

religious symbols were used during confinements in the same way as relic-girdles lent for this purpose by certain convents.

On the second roll we find added the length of the nails and the measure of the wound, both accompanied by blessings for the person bearing them.

L. Gougaud describes 99 the various measures of the wound, stating the different lengths and quoting the legend of the Enchiridion Leonis Papae oo00 which explains the virtues of this religious symbol as an amulet. Its value had become increased by a supposed indulgence: " Pour la gagner, il suffisait de regarder la feuille portant le dessin de la ' mesure,' de l'afficher dans sa demeure, de la porter sur soi ou de la baiser." 101

We find another Representation of the Wound in the Side stitched on a Folio, which was blank, in a fifteenth-century MS. (Nr. 545) o102 in Lambeth Palace.

And I should like to add that this last-mentioned image belongs to a group of devotional pictures, in which we must also include several Images of Pity and the Representation of the Cross of Bromholm. Detailed descriptions of the

examples in London, inserted in the above quoted Lambeth Palace MS. and in the Egerton MS. 1821 in the British Museum may be found in Campbell Dodgson, English Woodcuts, Fifteenth Century,'03 and in the study of Francis

Wormald, The Rood of Bromholm.'04 These pictures were doubtless rather common, partly as pilgrims' tokens-as the Cross of Bromholm-partly as indulgences, as the

Images of Pity. Some of them were probably worn as amulets about the person, for, as L. Gougaud states :

99 Op. cit., pp. 223 if. 100 Moguntiae (1634), p. 129.

10o Op. cit., p. 226. 102 Horae, see M. R. James, A descr. Cat. of the MSS. in the Library

of L.P. (The Mediaeval MSS.), pp. 747-50. 103 (Strassburg, 1936).

o10 In Warburg Institute J. (London, 1937-8), i, pp. 31 ff.

This content downloaded from 185.2.32.58 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 17:26:29 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Page 29: British Amulets in London Museums

British Amulets in London Museums 175 " As they were so dreadfully tried by famine, plague and other scourges, the people of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries clung to the devotion to the Five Wounds and other practices having the Passion of the Saviour for their object, chiefly to obtain deliverance from sudden death." 105

I have tried to describe in methodical terms the different kinds of amulets. Their history tells us how from time immemorial mankind in distress sought refuge and comfort in these small objects, but I must leave it to you to imagine the various moving details connected with them.

In whatever museum these amulets are to be found and however they are classified, they are all human documents and as such deserve our study and our interest.

10s Devotional and Ascetic Practices..., p. 12o, note 54.

This content downloaded from 185.2.32.58 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 17:26:29 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions