UNKNOWN

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13455, 6 April 1907, Page 5 (Supplement)

UNKNOWN

Tut', difficulty of disposing of a king's crown would seem to be great enough to make such a treasure comparatively sate from even

j the most daring thief, vet there are recordled in an v efforts to steal these royal embi lcivis. I As late as 1829. the crown of Holland, \ valued at six thousand dollars, was carried :off by thieves, who kept their prize for more j than two yea I before they dated attempt j to realise anything on it.- - jewels and preicious metal. ; At length, gaining courage, they began 'to diseir.barras themselves of it piecemeal, and by this means it was gradually recovered. some of the gems being discovered in 1 Brooklyn, New York, while the remainder were found nearer at hand, in Belgium. (.If ( oloiiei Blood da ['"i, attempt to steal lhe crown in the reign of Chaile.» ft. evervoiie has heaui. Having contrived lo ingratiate himself with I'.dwaid-', the deputy keeper ... the crown jewels, he one day introduced loin companions, to whom lie asked. the old man to exhibit his charge. Suspecting nothing, the keeper complied, .when lie was at once thrown to the ground and gagged, and but tor the opportune appearance of his son the thieves would doubtless have accomplished their iKtarious aim. As it was, Blood made oil with the crown, but was promptly pursued, and after a struggle, in which the crown escaped from |his hold and rolled in the mini, as secured. Strange to say, none of the miscreants •'were punished, Blood, indeed, being later !received into royal favour. Another celebrated robbery was that o: • it-lie French crown jewels in 1792. Alter Ithe death of Kouis AVI. the jewels, which i included the crown, sceptre, and other treasures to the value of two million live bunid red thousand dollars, were removed to the Garde Meuhle. which, on the night of September 17. was mysteriously broken into i and its precious contents carried oil', lor .'a while the affair was wrapped in doubt 'and conjecture, but an anonymous letter j finally put the authorities on the track of . the stolen property, the greater portion of ,-which, including the famous- "Regent Diai mond." was found in a ditch m the Alice '■ ales Veuves, Champs Klysees. :j On four occasions has the crown of Kngi land been placed in pawn. The most irelouently quoted is that which happened in - 1586. when Ricbaid 11. was driven to this ■ last resource to replenish his depleted t.rea■;sury. The crown, however, must either •I have been of comparatively little value or -Ihe merchants of London, to whom he pled;!ged it. adepts at driving a shrewd bargain, . tor the amount received, as- vouched for , by the kings receipt when redeeming his I regalia, was but- ten thousand dollars. ,i Richard, however, was but following in , the steps of his father. I'.dwaid 111., who. . pressed foi money, did not hesitate to place |the symbol of royalty ill pledge with the j• Bishop of Winchester foi the comparativeI ly handsome sum of sixty-seven thousand live hundred dollars. Henry 111., impoverished by the struggle against his barons, .and Henry V.. by his war in France, likewise hypothecated the crown. Charles 11., 'also, would doubtless have done so: and. .indeed. the pardon and subsequent pension- , ing of Colonel Blond seems to point to the ,'tact that that vent liter, when lie attempt.■li to steal the regalia, was- acting with the king's connivance. Among other crowns which have seen , istrange vicissitudes may he mentioned tin. I:crown of Charlemagne, now in the Imperial -library of Quinna, of which Frederick jburbiuobiti despoiled the tomb, of thejjreitt

[monarch, and the crown of Hungary, which' on one occasion was carried off. sewn up in., ,i cushion, and pawned for two thousand eight hundred ducats. \ Napoleon !.. too, some time after the recovering of the regalia stolen from the Came Meuble. pledged the "Regent' to the Dutch (ioveiuiuent, from whom he re-

• ived money sufficient to consummate his • ambitious schemes. Subsequently, when he attained to power, he redeemed the diamond. and afterwards carried it in the pom- j mel of his State sword. j i lie royal crown of Spain was carried int-0) exile bv ex-Quern Isabella, along with other, jewels, and. falling eventually into Ihe j hands of her grand-nephew, the Prince del j llrago. was sold by him to the Countess of: I'astellanc for the sum of one hundred and: twenty-five thousand dollars. It was a j handsome circlet, set. with valuable stones i diamonds-, sapphires, and rubies. 1 '! he "Iron Crown of Lombardy" owes its: fame ; nd various wanderings to the small j hand of iron which runs around inside the; 'golden circlet rather than to its intrinsic! value, though (hi- is very great. This iron | band is three-eighth:- of an inch broad and ope-ietHh of an inch thick, and is believed; to lie one of the nails its' in the Cruetiilx'on, which was given by Pop" Cregory I. ;o lie f.omb.ud I'lineess Theode'inda. In 1805 Napoleon downed himself with this crown at Milan. and later it was worn' bv two Kiiiperors of Austria, arid then car- j ried to Venice. Some lime after the year; .1866 it. was restored to its resting-place in the church of Saint John the Baptist, in j Mottza. where it still reposes. It is very ancient, having been known previous to the twelfth century as the. "(iolden Crown." It was used at the coronation of the Lombard kings and of the j ;German Kniperors an Kings of Italy. It j is curioiislv made iii six pieces, and is orna- ; merited with twenty-two jewels, twenty-1 four enamels, and twenty-six golden roses. •