Latterly the names of the three kings "were used in
various ways to impose upon popular credulity the belief of their
possessing the power, when duly consecrated, of acting as charms to cure
the bites of serpents and other venomous reptiles, as well as particular
diseases." The natural result of the spread of such a belief was that vast
numbers of brooches, rings, and other objects bearing the names of the
three holy kings were sold to pilgrims to their shrine at Cologne. The
only object in the Museum bearing the names of the three kings is a plain
hoop finger-ring of gold, found in excavating on the Castle Hill of
Edinburgh, and inscribed Jasper - Melchior - Baltazar. Another plain hoop
finger-ring of gold in the Museum, formerly in the Collection of the
Faculty of Advocates, bears an inscription in two lines, the meaning of
which I am unable to give. By combining a few letters from each line it is
possible to make out the name "Malchior." This ring has been assigned to
about 1300 AD.
The Glenlyon Brooch of silver, 5½ inches in diameter,
richly jewelled, said to have been preserved in the family of the
Campbells of Glenlyon for many generations, is inscribed on the back in
black-letter:
Casper - Melchior - Baltazar - Consumatum [sic]
The introduction of the word "Consummatum" in the
inscription is an allusion to the dying words of Christ, when the soldier
held up the sponge with vinegar: "quum autem accepisset Jesus acetum,
dixit, Consummatum est" (John xix. 30; Bezas version).
A small ring-brooch, of silver, in the Museum at Forres,
Elginshire, bears the reversible inscription "ANSOGANAGOSNA, which may
possibly have a meaning, but I have not noticed any such word amongst
Gnostic formulę.
Other and much more common talismanic formulę occurring
on rnediaeval brooches are "Jesus Nazarenus Rex Judeorum," and "Ave Maria
gracia plena." The former is sometimes shortened to "Jesus Nazarenus" or
"Jesus Na"; and the latter frequently appears as "Ave Maria," or simply
"Maria." The latter formula is a variation of the greeting of the angel
Gabriel to the Virgin Mary at the Annunciation. In the English
Miracle-Play of the " Nativity" the form of greeting is:
"Hayle! Mare, full of grace,
Ours Lord God ys wt the
Aboue all wemen that eyuer wasse;
Lade blesside mote thow be."
where the first line is exactly the same as the formula
on the brooches. Only one brooch in the National Collection bears the
angelic greeting and unfortunately it is without a locality. It is a flat
circular ring of silver, 2 1/8 inches in diameter, and is inscribed on the
face, "IHESVS - NAZARENVS - REX - IVDEORVM," and on the reverse, "AVE -
MARIA - GRACIA - PLENA - ORA." The formula "MARI - IHS" occurs on two
finger-rings of silver gilt, one of which was found at Pluscarden,
Elginshire, and the other in an old graveyard near Fintray House,
Aberdeenshire, facsimiles of both of which are in the National Museum. On
another ring of silver gilt in the Museum the inscription is "IHS -
MARIA."
Brooches inscribed with the legend "Jesus Nazarenus,"
either abbreviated or in full, are much more common than those bearing the
angelic greeting. The frequency of this inscription on brooches, &c., is
probably due to the fact that it was the title affixed to the Cross at the
Crucifixion (Matt. xxvii. 38; John xix. 19). The National Museum possesses
thirteen specimens, of which six have been found in association with coins
by which their date may approximately be determined. One of circular form,
2 3/16 inch in diameter, inscribed "IHRSVS - NAZARENVS - REX," was found
in 1864 at Woodhead, Canobie, along with three other silver brooches, and
fifty pennies of Edward I. and II. of England, one of Alexander III. of
Scotland, and two of John Baliol. The date of this brooch may therefore be
assigned to the end of the thirteenth or beginning of the fourteenth
century. Another found at Langhope, Roxburghshire, was accompanied by two
other brooches, a pin of silver, a tripod pot of brass, and a hoard of
coins of Edward I, II., III. It is simply inscribed "IESVS NAZR." Two
brooches were found in January 1892, along with 143 silver pennies of the
English Edwards, four of Alexander III., and one of Baliol, in an
earthenware jar, within the area of the old fort of Ayr. One of the
brooches is circular, and is inscribed "IHESVS NAZARENVS REX IVDEORVM" the
other is octagonal, and is inscribed "IHESVS NA." Three finger-rings in
the Museum also bear the legends abridged. One of the rings is a plain
hoop of silver, inscribed "IHESVS NAZARENVS"; the second is panelled and
inscribed "IHESVS"; and the third, a thumb-ring of silver-gilt, found at
Restennet Priory, Forfarshire, is inscribed "IESVS NAZAR." These brooches
and finger-rings were worn as charms to preserve the wearer from sudden
death, the falling sickness or epilepsy, etc. In a curious work entitled
The Revelation to the Monk of Evesharn, edited by Prof. Arber, from
the unique copy in the British Museum there is an account of an interview
between the monk and a goldsmith in Purgatory, in the course of which the
monk inquired "yeffe hyt were possyble by any thyng that the folke myght
schonne and eschewe soden dethe." The goldsmith replied
"O he seyde Sothely and yf y hadde knowyn whenne that y
was in the world leuyng suche thyngys as y knowe nowe y wulde haue taughte
and defende all the world fro that grete hurte and dammage. howe the
pepulle and folke myght be sewre and safe fro the fallyng of soden dethe.
Trewly and verily and the crystyn pepulle wolde wryte dayly on her [=
their] forhedys and aboute the placys of her herte wyth her fyngur of
[or?] in any other wyse. these ii. wordys that conteynyth the mysterye of
the helthe and saluacyon of mankynde that ys to wytte and to say Ihesus
Nazarenus wythowtyn dowte the trewe pepulle of oure sauyur ihesu
cryste schuld be harmeles and preserued fro suche a grete peryll and hurte."
It is but a step from this to engraving the words on a
brooch or a ring to be worn on the person.
Small brooches of silver in the form of a heart, such
as were in common use in Scotland at the end of the seventeenth century
and throughout the eighteenth as personal ornaments, were also believed to
be endowed with the property of protecting children from witchcraft and
enchantment. An interesting account of the manner in which such brooches
were used in the beginning of this century is given by the Rev. James
Hall, who states that he saw one fastened to an infants clothes in a
clergymans house in Speyside, and adds, "This was done by the nurse; the
clergyman was certain it could be of no use, but allowed it to continue,
as one and all the females in the house were of a different opinion. They
always fix it to girls, somewhere to the clothes about the left hip, and
on boys about the middle of the left thigh, to protect his powers of
generation." Hall also mentions having met an old woman near the source of
the Spey, "with a large brass brooch, in the form of a circle, about five
or six inches in diameter, fixed on her clothes upon the left hip, which
she had worn night and day for more than half a century to preserve her
from mischief." Two small brooches from Rosehearty, Banffshire, similar to
those described above, have been presented to the Museum through Dr Gregor,
of Pitsligo; and another is exhibited by Mrs Mitchell, of Perth, through
Dr R. de Brus Trotter. In a letter to me, Dr Gregor states that one of the
brooches presented through him "was worn on the breast of the chemise by
the grandmother of the donor when she was nursing, to prevent the witches
from taking away her milk," and that "such charms were also used to keep
off evil from infants. They were stuck into their petticoats behind." The
other specimen is only stated to have been worn in the breast of the
chemise. The brooch exhibited by Mrs Mitchell "belonged to her