Diamanten im Mittelalter
Abstract
When medieval authors of encyclopedias and stone books described diamonds they utilized ancient sources of knowledge like the ‘Natural History’ of Pliny the Elder, Isidor’s ‘Etymologiae’ and/or texts from the time of the early church fathers, especially the ‘Physiologus’. These ancient descriptions contained a mixture of facts and legends: e. g. the myth of diamonds being indestructible, drawn from etymology (original name adamas = “he who cannot be destroyed”), the goat blood or lead legend (only warm blood of a male goat or lead could destroy a diamond), the legend of origin (diamonds are only found in the east or in gold-mines), the hammer-anvil-legend and the fire legend (even hammers and anvils or fire would not destroy diamonds), or the legend of magnets (diamonds weaken the power of magnets). The medieval authors generally adopted the ancient texts by reliable famous authors whose credentials and authority were undoubted. However, during the emerging scholasticism scholars also began to examine the ancient materials critically. In fact, the ancient stone cutters already knew that diamonds could be destroyed by a slight blow. Moreover, their hardness – diamonds are the hardest stones of all – could only be defined as compared with other gemstones. For a long time, however, people believed in the more colourful legends until modern researchers like Antoine Lavoisier (18th c.), for example, succeeded in demonstrating that diamonds actually consist of carbon only. Until the diamond cut was invented (14th/15th c.) diamonds had no relevance as precious stones in the Middle Ages because they were only known in their original rough form.
© 2016 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Frontmatter
- Articles
- Einleitung
- Auswahlbibliographie
- Schmuck im Mittelalter. Grundlegende Formen in ihrer Entwicklung vornehmlich aus archäologischer Sicht
- Ich Goldtschmid mach köstliche ding. Organisation – Arbeitsbedingungen – Produkte
- Goldschmiedetechnische Beobachtungen am sogenannten ,Giselaschmuck‘. Ein Überblick
- Diamanten im Mittelalter
- Tant com une jame vaut de pailes et de sardines, vaut la contesse de reïnes. Bijoux, pierres et objets précieux dans les romans de Chrétien de Troyes
- Heiliger Schmuck und benediktinisches Ordensideal. Kontroversen und Klärungen im Umfeld von Hildegard von Bingen und Bernhard von Clairvaux
- Dividitur autem et haec in mares feminasque. Das Geschlecht der Steine
- Schmuck in Burgund, Flandern und Frankreich unter den Valois-Herzögen (1364–1477)
- Rezensionen
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Frontmatter
- Articles
- Einleitung
- Auswahlbibliographie
- Schmuck im Mittelalter. Grundlegende Formen in ihrer Entwicklung vornehmlich aus archäologischer Sicht
- Ich Goldtschmid mach köstliche ding. Organisation – Arbeitsbedingungen – Produkte
- Goldschmiedetechnische Beobachtungen am sogenannten ,Giselaschmuck‘. Ein Überblick
- Diamanten im Mittelalter
- Tant com une jame vaut de pailes et de sardines, vaut la contesse de reïnes. Bijoux, pierres et objets précieux dans les romans de Chrétien de Troyes
- Heiliger Schmuck und benediktinisches Ordensideal. Kontroversen und Klärungen im Umfeld von Hildegard von Bingen und Bernhard von Clairvaux
- Dividitur autem et haec in mares feminasque. Das Geschlecht der Steine
- Schmuck in Burgund, Flandern und Frankreich unter den Valois-Herzögen (1364–1477)
- Rezensionen
