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.Charlemagne professed to be utterly shocked,but didn t refuse.There is a controversy about the crown.Many historians believe that itwas the famous Iron Crown, presently residing at the Cathedral at Monza,near Milan, Italy.Some doubts have been cast upon its authenticity, however,and its age was recently tested using nuclear analysis.It was found to havebeen made between 750 and 780.As Charlemagne was crowned in 800, it spossible, based on chronology, that this is indeed the famous crown.But there s another candidate.The French have always insisted they hadthe official crown of Charlemagne, a simple unadorned one that was, untilthe coronation of Louis XV in 1722, used by all the French kings at theircrowning.(It was last used by King Louis XIV at his coronation in RheimsCathedral in 1654.)However, Louis XV commissioned jewelers Laurent Ronde and AugustinDuflos to create a new, more impressive crown, encrusted with diamonds,rubies, emeralds, and sapphires from the Crown Jewels (including the 140.5-carat Regent diamond).It was this sort of thing that brought on the FrenchRevolution.This crown was kept for a long time as one of the treasures of St.Denis, but was melted down in 1793, during the aforementioned Revolution.It is not clear what happened to the first one.One has to feel sorry for Charlemagne.He was a great fan of education,even persuading the great English scholar Alcuin to live at his court to improvethe learning of the clergy.Alcuin was only too glad to stay on, as things weren tgoing so well in England at the time, what with the Danes wreaking havoceverywhere.Still, Charlemagne himself was a tough case.He studied Latinlike mad but was never able to get much beyond his native German.Andwhile he could read a little, writing was beyond him.He tried sleeping with awriting tablet under his pillow so that if he woke up in the middle of the nighthe could practice making letters, but it was no use.He said that he was tooused to holding a sword to have much success with a pen.He used a stencilto sign his name.Charlemagne died in Aachen, and was buried in the Aachen Cathedral in814.In the year 1000, Emperor Otto III had Charlemagne s vault opened.Emeralds in World History 63It is said the body was found in a truly remarkable state of preservation,seated upon a marble throne, dressed in imperial robes, with a crown onhis head, the Gospels lying open in his lap, and his scepter in his hand.Infact, a large mural of Otto and his dumbfounded court gazing on the deadEmperor was painted on the wall of the great room in the Town Hall.In1165, Frederick I (Barbarossa) opened the vault again and had Charlemagne sremains placed in a sculptured sarcophagus of Parian marble, rumored tobe the one that Augustus Caesar had made for himself.He also ordered abronze chandelier to be placed over the shrine, which is still there today.AtBarbarossa s request, Charlemagne was actually canonized, albeit only byGuido of Crema (Paschal III), an antipope.The Catholic Church later hadall this annulled.In 1215, Frederick II, possibly not wanting to be upstaged, even by a long-dead emperor, quietly had Charlemagne s bones shoveled into a gold andsilver casket and buried under a stone slab.And that s where they are now.The medieval scholar Albertus Magnus (1206 1280), or Albert the Great,later Saint Albert, scientist and philosopher, and teacher of Thomas Aquinas,has some interesting attributed comments on emeralds and other stones,much of which he copied from Pliny.It is equally interesting that much ofwhat he has to say about gems is merely attributed to him the real authorof his Book of Secrets is anonymous.According to this  pseudo Albertus,  Take the stone which is called smarag-dus, in English speech an emerald [a helpful addition from the translator, asAlbert, who was German, wrote in Latin].And it is very clear, shining throughand plain, but it that is yellow is better. His language is somewhat confus-ing, as he does not make it plain whether by  clear he means transparent,colorless, or free from occlusions.His preference for a  yellow emerald addsto the confusion on many levels.At any rate, pseudo Albertus adds,  It is taken out of the nests of grypesor griffons. He continues,  The tales relate how the foreparts of these birds.resemble an eagle, though on a much larger scale.The posterior portionof the animal, including the tail and rear legs, looks like a lion.The forefeethave long aquiline talons, while the rear feet have short but massive leonineclaws which they use as cups for drinking.They are supposed to livein the mountains of the extreme North, are especially inimical to horsesand men, and are so strong they can carry off a horse and its rider.Theirmountain aeries are claimed to be laden with gold and gems, particularlyemeralds.Griffins are also said to guard the tree of life, the Scythian gold mines, theroad to salvation, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.The Romansand Greeks carved griffins on their tombs to protect the corpses within.64 From Satan s Crown to the Holy GrailAccording to John Milton, the main stealers of Griffin nests were theArimaspians, a one-eyed people of Scythia [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]