Home › Ring Superstitions › Ring Superstitions: Edward (According to the legend King)

Ring Superstitions: Edward (According to the legend King)

According to the legend, King Edward was on his way to Westminster, when he was met by a beggar, who implored him in the name of St. John-the apostle peculiarly venerated by the monarch-to grant him assistance. The charitable King had exhausted his ready-money in alms-giving, but drew from his finger a ring, large, beautiful, and royal,' which he gave to the beggar, who thereupon disappeared. Shortly afterwards, two English pilgrims in the Holy Land found themselves benighted, and in great distress, when suddenly the path before them was lighted up, and an old man, white and hoary, preceded by two tapers, accosted them. Upon telling him to what country they belonged, the old man, 'joyously like to a clerk,' guided them to a hostelry, and announced that he was John the Evangelist, the special patron of King Edward, and gave them a ring to carry back to the monarch, with the warning that in six months' time the King would be with him in Paradise. The pilgrims returned and found the King at his palace, called from this incident 'Havering atte Bower.' He recognised the ring, and prepared for his end accordingly. On the death of the Confessor, according to custom, he was attired in his royal robes, the crown on his head, a crucifix and gold chain round his neck, and the 'Pilgrim's Ring' on his finger. The body was laid before the high altar at Westminster Abbey (A.D. 1066). On the translation of the remains of Henry the Second, the ring of St. John is said to have been withdrawn, and deposited as a relic among the crown jewels. During the reign of Henry III. some repairs were made at the tower, and orders were given for drawing in the chapel of St. John two figures of St. Edward holding out a ring and delivering it to St. John the Evangelist. 1 As a proof, also, how this beautiful legend was engrafted on the popular mind in after ages, we find it stated in the account of the coronation of Edward II. (1307), that the King offered, first a pound of gold, made like a king holding a ring in his hand, and afterwards a mark, or eight ounces of gold, formed into the likeness of a pilgrim putting forth his hand to receive the ring, a conceit suggested by the legend of the Confessor. So great was the sanctity in which this monarch (who was influenced by childish and superstitious fancies) was held, that Richard II., whenever he left the kingdom, confided the ring which he usually wore to the custodian of St. Edward's shrine. 1 There is a tradition that this ring found its way to the chapel of Havering (have the ring), in the parish of Hornchurch, near Romford, and was kept there until the dissolution of religious houses. Weaver says he saw a representation of it on a window of Romford church. The legend is also displayed on an ancient window in the great church of St. Lawrence, at Ludlow, to which town the pilgrims who received the ring from the saint are said to have belonged. A tradition to this effect was current in the time of Leland, who notices it in his 'Itinerary.' 'It appears,' observes Mr. Edmund Waterton ('Archæological Journal,' No. 82, 1864), 'that St. Edward's ring was deposited with his corpse in his tomb. His translation took place on the third of the ides of October (October 13), A.D. 1163, ninety-seven years after the burial. This ceremony was performed at midnight, and on opening his coffin the body was found to be incorrupt. On this occasion the Abbot Lawrence took from the body of the sainted king his robes and the ring of St. John; of the robes the abbot made three copes, as appears from the following entry in the catalogue of the relics of the saint. The abbot also gave the ring to the abbey: "Dompnus Laurentius quondam abbas hujus loci sed et annulo ejusdem (Sancti Edwardi) quem Sancto Johanni quondam tradidit, quem et ipse de paradiso remisit, elapsis annis duobus et dimidio, postea in nocte translationis de digito regis tulit, et pro miraculo in loco isto custodiri jussit." The same manuscript ("De Fundacione ecclesie Westm." by Ric. Sporley, a monk of the abbey, A.D. 1450), contains the indulgences to be gained by those who visited the holy relics :-" Ad annulum Sancti Edwardi vj. ann. iijc. xi. dies." No further mention has been found of St. Edward's ring.' 1 • Another legendary story, in connection with saintly interposition, is related in the annals of Venice. Moreover, it forms the subject of a painting, attributed (though with some doubt) to Giorgione, 'St. Mark staying, miraculously, the tempest,' in the Accademia Picture Gallery at Venice. 'In the year 1341, an inundation of many days' continuance had raised the water three cubits higher than it had ever before been seen at Venice; and during a stormy night, while the flood appeared to be still increasing, a poor fisher- 1 Appendix. man sought what refuge he could find by mooring his crazy bark close to the Riva di San Marco. The storm was yet raging, when a person approached and offered him a good fare if he would but ferry him over to San Giorgio Maggiore. 'Who,' said the fisherman, 'can reach San Giorgio on such a night as this? Heaven forbid that I should try!' But as the stranger earnestly persisted in his request, and promised to guard him from all harm, he at last consented. The passenger landed, and having desired the boatman to wait a little, returned with a companion, and ordered him to row to San Nicolo di Lido. The astonished fisherman again refused, till he was prevailed upon by a further assurance of safety and excellent pay. At San Nicolo they picked up a third person, and then instructed the boatman to proceed to the Two Castles at Lido. Though the waves ran fearfully high, the old man had by this time become accustomed to them, and moreover, there was something about his mysterious crew which either silenced his fears, or diverted them from the tempest to his companions. Scarcely had they gained the Strait, than they saw a galley, rather flying than sailing along the Adriatic, manned (if we may so say) with devils, who seemed hurrying with fierce and threatening gestures, to sink Venice in the deep. The sea, which had been furiously agitated, in a moment became unruffled, and the strangers, crossing themselves, conjured the fiends to depart. At the word the demoniacal galley vanished, and the three passengers were quietly landed at the spots where each, respectively, had been taken up.