FAMOUS TALISMANS

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXVIII, Issue 4635, 13 December 1934, Page 7

FAMOUS TALISMANS

NAPOLEON'S STOLEN DAGGER

THE FAIRY CUP OF EDENHALL.

Talismans and "Lucks" —objects invested by tradition with a mystical quality and handed clown from generation to generation—have played their part in history (writes Trevor Allen in John o' London's Weekly). The fortunes of great houses and great causes have been linked with them; they represent a strange blending of religion and superstition, and have given rise to legends and customs which have been accepted with devout faith. A deeply rooted belief in their powers, says that enthusiasts on the subject, Mr. Charles R. Beard, in "Lucks and Talismans" has for thousands of years permeated all ranks of society from the lowest to the highest. Royal crowns were decked wdth fortune-hunting gems and relics, monarchs have fought for them, kings have lost their kingdoms for lack of them. They have led to trials for treason, their possession has turned the trust and affection of a despot to hatred and suspicion o'f a Minister. Napoleon, he reminds us, had an unshaken belief in his star and other talismans. One of these was the dagger of Jean Parisot de la Valette, Grand Master of the Knights of Malta, which he stole from the Treasury of the Cathedral of St. John at Valetta in 1798, together with its companion sword. Both had been'a gift from Giovajmi Angelo Medici, Pope Pius IV, to De la Valette in 1566, in celebration of his defence of Malta against the fleet of Soliman 11. They were German work, "hilted with gold and enriched with enamel and gems." The dagger accompanied Napoleon upon all his campaigns for over fifteen years and went with him into exile; when he died he bequeathed it to his son, the King of Rome. It is now in the Galerie d'Apollon at the Louvre; the sword is in the Bibliotheque Nationale. Napoleon also owned the. Talisman of Charlemagne, a fragment of the True Cross in an emerald case. Many of these talismans, in our less credulous age, find their way into salerooms. The moonstone given to Emma Hamilton by Lieut. Duval, R.N., with its ivory case inscribed "Emma Hamilton, Her Luck," was sold at Christie's last year to a New York dealer for twenty-two guineas. Even so, w'e are not too sceptical to create our own, though they be of somewhat homelier metal. In the same year Mr. Joseph Stringer, a cabinet manufacturer of Stourbridge, bequeathed his son a shilling, the first coin taken in his prosperous business business 52 years before. He left a fortune of £14,571, but this shilling -had been his most treasured possession, and it will now become a family "luck." Mr. Beard accepts the legend of the Luck of Edenhall as the archtype of talismanic tradition. This famous luck, a goblet of Syrian workmanship of the early part of the thirteenth century, belongs to the Musgraves, who have held land in the valley of the Eden, Cumberland, for neai'ly five centuries.

The earliest record, of the legend, Mr. Beard says, appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine in 1791, and was to the effect that a party of fairies were drinking and making merry round St. Cuthbert's well near the Hall, when they were interrupted by some curious people, made a hasty retreat, and left the cup, one of the last screaming out: —

"If this cup should break or fall, Farewell the luck of Edenhall."

A doggerel printed in Dublin in 1722, "The Drinking Match," records that the cup only just escaped disaster on the occasion of the visit of Philip, Duke of Wharton, to Edenhall—probably in the previous year. Presumably in the course of a revel, the Duke, in drunken exuberance, insisted on drinking healths out of the Luck of Edenhall. Having quaffed, he either threw the glass into the air or let it drop, and it was only the presence of mind of the butler,, who caught it in a napkin, that prevented the Lack from being shattered. . . . And it would ever afterwards seem to have been a custom of the house that, whenever a guest was permitted to examine the Luck, the butler was always in attendance holding a napkin under it to prevent a repetition of the accident. Mr. Butler suggests that the cup may have come from the East as part of the spoils of one of the later Crusades, or it may have reached the lords of Edenhall by way of trade or as a gift; it probably stands upon the same footing as the Horn of Ulphus or that of the Honour of Tutbury, and was the emblem whereby the manor was originally held.

Much interesting lore clusters about the use of gems as talismans and amulets. Mr. Beard reminds us that when Cardinal Wolseley fell from grace one treasonable matter with which he was charged concerned the use of a ring whereby he was believed to control a familiar demon, and by its magic power "bring a man in favour with his Prince," and

sway King Henry's will. Pliny knew of a Gaulish knight who wore a "serpent's ep'g" gem. which was thought to bring success in lawsuits and secure access to kings and princes. Hatim, chief of the Arab tribe of Tai, prized a pearl "taken from the mouth of a dragon" that restored sight to the blind, cured snake-bite, ensured the possessor victory in battle, conferred wisdom and wealth on him, and rendered all creatures obedient to his command.

Perhaps the most famous talismanic gem of all is the Koh-i-noor, with a legend tracing it back to 57 8.C., and a chequered Oriental history. When Nadir Shah overcame the last of the Berberides and then re-establish him as a puppet king at Delhi, the conqueror obtained the gem by a trick. Calling to mind the Oriental custom of exchanging turbans in token of amity, he insisted on carrying out this ancient gesture. The fallen monarch could not refuse and had the mortification of seeing his turban, in the folds of which he had concealed his talisman, upon the head of his rival.

In the past, Mr. Beard points out, the frequent transfer of this gem always coincides with the collapse of the power of its previous possessor —which is hardly a matter for surprise! It fell into the hands of the East India Company and was duly presented to Queen Victoria. Apparently its contact with staid Victorianism robbed it of its supernatural qualities; it has since remained in the possession of the reigning Queen —without prejudice.