Precious Stones: Their History and Mystery

Nine chapters on what people have believed about jewels — the charms and the poisons, the chaplet of pearls, the ecclesiastical treasuries, and the great robberies they invited.

Ecclesiastical

15 pages in this part of History and Mystery of Precious Stones.

Ecclesiastical

THE Holy Scriptures furnish us with at account of the jewels which distinguished the ephod of Aaron. This is described as having a front…

Ecclesiastical: Roman

Other gems, remarkable for their magnitude, were consecrated by engraving upon them the head of some particular deity. The most renowned…

Ecclesiastical: Suger

In the twelfth century the jewellers' and goldsmiths' art was fostered in France by Suger, Archbishop of St. Denis. He proposed always, as…

Ecclesiastical: Henry

The princely splendour of Thomas a Becket, in the reign of Henry II., the profusion of jewels worn by himself and his attendants on his…

Ecclesiastical: Richard

The list of sacred ornaments which composed the furniture of the Chapel Royal in the reign of Richard II., includes a "portepax tout d'or"…

Ecclesiastical: Alban

The shrine of the protomartyr at St. Alban's Abbey, although by no means so rich as the one raised by kingly munificence, was a splendid…

Ecclesiastical: France

The most splendid shrine of which England could boast in olden times was that of Thomas a Becket, in Canterbury Cathedral, of which not a…

Ecclesiastical: Erasmus

When the pilgrims were assembled before the shrine, the prior, or some other great officer of the monastery, came forward, and with a white…

Ecclesiastical: Paul

Dugdale has preserved from olden days two lists of relic treasures in old St. Paul's, which fill about two pages and a half in folio…

Ecclesiastical: Cathedral

The most remarkable works of the jeweller's art in connection with religious usages are more rare in France than in Germany or Italy; as…

Ecclesiastical: Loretto

The story of the holy House of Loretto is engraved on brass in several languages upon the walls of the church at Loretto. Among others…

Ecclesiastical: Mount

Queen Christina of Sweden completed her renunciation of all the pomps and vanities of the world at Loretto, by laying down at the foot of…

Ecclesiastical: Divine

One of the most magnificent shrines ever known was the old Constantinople Cathedral (now the Imperial Mosque St. Sophia), which was…

Ecclesiastical: Indian

Another remarkable Indian shrine is the Taj, Agra, built by the Emperor Shah Jehan, as a mausoleum for the Empress Mumtazi Mahal, or…

Ecclesiastical: Mahmud

In one of his expeditions into Hindostan, Mahmud the Gaznevide, one of the greatest of the Turkish princes, levelled many hundred temples…

Rights & ReuseThe complete text of Precious Stones: Their History and Mystery (1880) is in the public domain in the United States — like all works published before 1928 — and is free to read, download, quote, teach from, and reuse. This digital edition (its transcription, restored images, and site design) is © 2026 PhotoOpAI, and any editorial commentary we add is clearly marked as ours; the underlying public-domain text carries no such restriction.