The history of the gem of Spanish origin valued at 300 million that Carlos III will wear in his crown

2023-05-04 23:42:29

This Saturday, May 6, King Charles III will become the fortieth sovereign to be crowned at Westminster Abbey. The first was William the Conqueror on Christmas Day 1066. Before the construction of the solemn and historic building, the ceremony was held in places such as Bath, Oxford and Canterbury. This is a unique event that has not taken place since Queen Elizabeth II received her crown in 1953, in an act that was followed in person by 8,000 privileged guests from 129 countries, 11 million Britons on the radio and 27 million more on television on a particularly rainy day.

Time, however, did not overshadow the most sumptuous and spectacular jewel of all those that have touched the heads of monarchs around the world and that Carlos III will touch tomorrow: the enormous 170-carat blood-colored ruby ​​that presides over the imperial crown (‘State Imperial Crown‘, as it is known in English). Weighing 34 grams and more than 5 centimeters in length, it is a gem of Spanish origin that was taken from the royal treasury of the Alhambra in Granada in 1362 and, years later, came into the hands of the English in a bizarre way. Its historical value is so great that when an attempt was made to appraise it four years ago, it was impossible. Some expert ventured to give the figure of 300 million dollars, but it has never been confirmed.

Of the five rubies, four emeralds, 17 sapphires, 277 pearls and 2,783 diamonds that are set in the aforementioned crown, including its three kilos of gold, this precious stone is the one that has always aroused the most curiosity. More, even, than the other two gems that stand out in the crown: the sapphire of the Stuarts and the star diamond of Africa, called Cullinan, of 317 carats. The one of Spanish origin has always been known as the ruby ​​of Pedro I the Cruel but if we delve into its history it is more fair to say the ruby ​​of King Bermejo of Granada… or even more accurately, the spinel of King Bermejo.

«I disagree in the consideration of the gem as ruby, because although it was considered as such throughout history, when examining it with the modern equipment used in gemology, it was found with great surprise that what had always been taken as ruby, It was not such, but a simple spinel, whose composition and physical properties differ greatly from those of this one, although its external appearance and color can be easily confused, “Dr. Javier Igea, director of the Spanish Gemological Institute, assured ABC in 1974.

Queen Elizabeth II, on her coronation day, in 1953

ABC

uncertain origin

Until now it was known with certainty that, until 1362, it belonged to the Nasrid royal treasury, but its origin has remained a mystery throughout the centuries. It has come to give it a mythical origin that related it to the table of King Solomon. According to the description that is included in the British Treasury website: «It was traditionally thought that the ruby ​​had been given to the Prince Edward of Wales (1330-76), son of Edward III, and known as the Black Prince, by Pedro I of Castile after the Battle of Nájera, near Vitoria, in 1367. The stone is of oriental origin and has been drilled in the past to use as a pendant. According to legend, it passed to Spain around 1366, where Don Pedro took it from the Moorish king of Granada.”

The latest studies estimate that its most probable origin is found in the mines of Myanmar, although it is not ruled out that it comes from Thailand or the Badajshan mine, in Tajikistan, but the way and the year in which it was found and arrived at the Alhambra continues. still a mystery today. One of the theories being considered in this regard is that it was taken to Granada by Genoese merchants in the mid-14th century. At that time, the Kingdom of Granada was immersed in a civil war between Muhammad V, Ismail II and Muhammad VI. In the Kingdom of Castile, for his part, Pedro I and his brother Enrique II Trastámara fought. It was a bloody time in which Europe was not spared either, since England and France were immersed in the famous Hundred Years War.

In the first of 1359, within the first war, the deposed King Muhammad V returned from his African exile with the intention of recovering the throne of Granada. To achieve this, he asked for help from Pedro I, who at the same time was in Seville fighting against his brother Enrique de Trastámara. Muhammad VI also asked the Castilian King for help, so that both had to compete for the help of the powerful monarch of Castile. Whoever achieved it would establish himself as King of Granada: if he was Muhammad V, he would recover the Alhambra, and if it was Muhammad VI, he would continue to rule after the coup that had given him power.

Charles III succeeds Elizabeth II

severed head

Muhammad VI, known as King Bermejo, traveled to the Reales Alcázares in Seville with a very important part of the Alhambra’s treasure to offer it to Pedro I as payment for his help. Not only did he not convince him, but he was imprisoned and assassinated by the Castilian monarch, who organized a massacre of 37 Granada knights in the Campos de Tablada, on the outskirts of the Seville capital, and cut off his guest’s head with his own hands. His gift not only did her no good, it cost her her life.

Among the jewels he brought was our gem, which according to Pedro Pérez de Ayala in his Time.news of Don Pedro of 1362, Pedro I later gave it as a gift to the Prince of Wales, Eduardo de Plantagenet, better known as the Black Prince, by permission. to the Peninsula to help him from the harassment he was being subjected to by his half-brother, Enrique de Trastamara, in the very long war they were waging. When he returned to London, the English Prince became fond of the jewel and began to take it with him to all the battles in which he participated. In one of them he died without reigning, so the ruby ​​passed to his son Richard II Plantagenet.

In 1415, the Ruby of the Vermilion King already appears in the crown of Henry V of England and it continues there today, after having survived numerous battles, due to the risky custom that the kings of that time had of fighting with the crown on their helmets. , and its subsequent sale with the aim of raising funds for the English Monarchy. Be that as it may, some of the later sovereigns must have acquired it later, since in 1661 it appears again on the head of King Carlos II.

The ruby ​​of King Bermejo, therefore, has belonged to the royal sagas of the Nasrids, Trastámara, Plantagenet, Lancaster, Tudor and Stuart until the coronation this Saturday of Carlos III. Before all of them it is unknown if he was in the power of any other dynasty of kings. A difficult mystery to solve from which legends have arisen such as the one that tells that, when the Muslims arrived in the Peninsula in 711, the caudillo Musa found the Table of King Solomon in what is now Medina Sidonia or in Toledo, where he had ended up since Rome and much earlier from Jerusalem through the mediation of the Cathars. It was a golden table, with 365 legs and thousands of attached gems. One of them would be this.