worn over the bishop’s gloves, usually on the forefinger of the right hand; and this accounts for the large size of the hoop of these rings. In the 15th and 16th centuries bishops often Wore three or four rings on the right hand in addition to a large jewel which was fixed to the back of each glove.
The papal “Ring of the Fisherman” (annulus piscatoris) bears the device of St Peter in a boat, drawing a net from the water. The first mention of it, as the well-understood personal signet ring of the pope, that has been found, occurs in a letter of Clement IV. in 1265. After the middle of the 15th century it was no longer“Ring of the Fisherman.” used as the private seal of the popes, but was always attached to briefs. After the death of a pope the ring is broken. A new ring with the space for the name left blank is taken into the conclave, and placed on the finger of the newly elected pontiff, who thereupon declares what name he will assume, and gives back the ring to be engraved (see Waterton, Archaeologia, 40, p. 138).
The so-called papal rings, of which many exist dating from the 15th to the 17th centuries, appear to have been given by the popes to new-made cardinals. They are very large thumb rings, usually of gilt bronze coarsely worked, and set with a foiled piece of glass or crystal. On the hoop is usually engraved the name and arms of the Papal rings. reigning pope, the bezel being without a device. They are of little intrinsic value, but magnificent in appearance.
The giving of a ring to mark a betrothal was an old Roman custom. The ring was probably a mere pledge, pignus, that the contract would be fulfilled. In Pliny’s time conservative custom still required a plain ring of iron, but the gold ring was introduced in the course of the 2nd century. This use of the ring, which was thus Betrothal and wedding rings. of purely secular origin, received ecclesiastical sanction, and formulae of benediction of the ring exist from the 11th century. The exact stages by which the wedding ring developed from the betrothal ring can no longer be traced.
Gemel or gimmel rings, from the Latin gemellus, a twin, were made with two hoops fitted together, and could be worn Gemel either together or singly; they were common in the 16th and 17th centuries, and were much used as betrothal rings.Gemel rings.
Posy rings, so called from the “poesy” or rhyme engraved on them, were specially common in the same centuries. The name “posy ring” does not occur earlier than the 16th century. A posy ring inscribed with “ Love me and leave me not ” is mentioned by Shakespeare (Mer. of Ven., act v. sc. 1). The custom of inscribing rings Posy rings. with mottoes or words of good omen dates from a very early time. Greek and Roman rings exist with words such as zhcaic, xaipe, kaah, or votis meis Claudia vivas. In the Middle Ages many rings were inscribed with words of cabalistic power, such as anam zapta, or Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar, the supposed names of the Magi. In the 17th century they were largely used as wedding rings, with such phrases as " Love and obaye,” “Fear God and love me,” “No gift can show the love I owe,” “God above increase our love” or “Mulier viro subjecta esto.”
In the same century memorial rings with a name and date of death were frequently made of very elaborate form, en" amelled in black and white; a not unusual design was two skeletons bent along the hoop, and holding a coffin which formed the bezel.Memorial rings.
Cramp rings were much worn during the Middle Ages as a preservative against cramp. They derived their virtue from being blessed by the king; a special form of service was used for this, and a large number of rings were consecrated at one time, usually when the sovereign touched patients for the king’s evil.Cramp rings.
Decade rings were not uncommon, especially in the 15th century; these were so called from their having ten knobs along the hoop of the ring, and were used, after the manner of rosaries, to say nine aves and a paternoster. In some cases there are only nine knobs, the bezel of the ring being counted in, and taking the place of the gaude Decade rings. in a rosary. The bezel of these rings is usually engraved with a sacred monogram or word.
In the 15th and 16th centuries signet rings engraved with a badge or trademark were much used by merchants and others; these were not only used to form seals, but the ring itself was often sent by a trusty bearer as chants the proof of the genuineness of a bill of demand.[1] At the same time private gentlemen used massive rings wholly Merchants’ rings. of gold with their initials cut on the bezel, and a graceful knot of flowers twining round the letters. Other line gold rings of this period have coats of arms or crests with graceful lambrequins.
Poison rings with a hollow bezel were used in classical times; as, for example, that by which Hannibal killed himself, and the poison ring of Demosthenes. Pliny records that, after Crassus had stolen the gold treasure from under the throne of Capitoline Jupiter, the guardian of the shrine, to escape torture, “broke the gem of his ring in his Poison rings. mouth and died immediately.” The medieval anello della morle, supposed to be a Venetian invention, was actually used as an easy method of murder. Among the elaborate ornaments of the bezel a hollow point' made to Work with a spring was concealed; it communicated with a receptacle for poison in a cavity behind, in such a way that the murderer could give the fatal scratch while shaking hands with his enemy. This device was probably suggested by the poison fang of a snake.
A very large and elaborate form of ring is that used during the Jewish marriage service. Fine examples of the 16th and 17th centuries exist. In the place of the bezel is a model, minutely worked in gold or base metal, of a building with high gabled roofs, and frequently movable weathercocks on the apex. This is a conventional Hebrew rings. representation of the temple at Jerusalem.
Perhaps the most magnificent rings from the beauty of the workmanship of the hoop are those of which Benvenuto Cellini produced the finest examples. They are of gold, richly chased and modelled with caryatid es or grotesque figures, and are decorated with coloured enamels in a very skilful and elaborate way. Very fine jewels are sometimes set in these magnificent pieces of 16th-century jewellery.
Thumb rings were commonly worn from the 14th to the 17th century. Falstaff boasts that in his youth he was slender enough to “creep into any alderman’s thumb ring” (Shakes., Hen. IV., Pt. I., act ii. sc. 4).Thumb rings.
The finest collections of rings formed in Britain have been those of Lord Londesborough, Edmund Waterton (now in the Victoria and Albert Museum) and the collection in the British Museum, which was greatly augmented in 1897 by the bequest of the late Sir A. W. Franks.
Bibliography.—Licetus, De Anulis antiquis (Udine, 1645); Kirchmann, De Annulis (Schleswig, 1657); King, Antique Gems and Rings, 1872; Marshall, Catalogue of Finger Rings in the British Museum, 1907; Cabrol, Dictionnaire d’archéologie chrétienne, s.v. “Anneaux”; articles of Waterton in Archaeologia and Archaeological Journal. (J. H. M.; A. H. Sm.)
RING-GOAL, a game for two persons played on a ground,
or indoor rink, 78 ft. long by 10 ft. wide, with a ring of split
cane about 712 in. in diameter and weighing about 312 oz., which is propelled in the air by means of two sticks, resembling
miniature billiard-cues, which are held inside the ring. The
goals consist of two uprights 8 ft. high and 10 ft. apart, from
which a net is stretched on an incline, so that its base will be a
few feet behind the goal-line, and the object of the game is
to drive the ring into these goals, each goal made scoring one
point. The ring must be propelled by the server and caught
by his opponent, on one or both of his sticks, if he can, and
so returned alternately, and a point is scored for either player
if it be stopped by his opponent in any other manner. A point is also scored for the receiver if the server, who begins the game, throw the ring so that it falls to the ground before
- ↑ The celebrated ring given to Essex by Queen Elizabeth was meant to be used for a similar purpose. It is set with a fine cameo portrait of Elizabeth cut in sardonyx, of Italian workmanship.
