In the Wardrobe Account of the 55th year of Henry the Third, it is stated that among the valuables in the charge of the keeper of the royal wardrobe, there was a silken purse, containing "monetam Sancte Helene." It is well known that, during the middle ages, many and various objects were supposed to possess talismanic virtues. Of this class were the coins attributed to the mother of Constantine, the authenticity of which is questioned by Du Cange, in his treatise "de Inferioris ævi numismatibus." He observes, also, that the same name was given, vulgarly, to almost all the coins of the Byzantine emperors, not only to those bearing the effigies of St. Helena, but indeed to all marked with a cross, which were commonly worn suspended from the neck as phylacteries; "hence," he subjoins, "we find that these coins are generally perforated." It was quite in accordance with the superstitious character of Henry the Third that coins of St. Helena should be preserved in his wardrobe, among numerous other amulets and relics. But what was the peculiar virtue attributed to such coins? Du Cange, in the same treatise, says, on the authority of "Bosius," that they were a remedy against the "comitialem morbum," or epilepsy. The said "Bosius," or rather "Bozius," wrote a ponderous work, "de Signis Ecclesiæ Dei" (a copy of which, by the by, is not to be seen in the library of the British Museum, although there are two editions of it in the Bodleian), in which he discourseth as follows:"Monetæ adhuc aliquot exstant, quæ in honorem Helenæ Augustæ, et inventæ crucis, cum hujusmodi imaginibus excusæ antiquitus fuerunt. Illis est præsens remedium adversus morbum comitialem: et qui hodie vivit Turcarum Rex Amurathes, quamvis a nobis alienus, vim sanctam illarum expertus solet eas gestare; e morbo namque hujusmodi interdum laborat. Nummi quoque Sancti Ludovici Francorum regis mirifice valent adversus nonnullos morbos."Lib. xv. sig. 68.
This mention of the sultan Amurath carrying these coins about his person as a precaution against a disease to which he was subject, and indeed the whole passage shows a belief in their efficacy was still prevalent in the sixteenth century, when Bozius wrote. It only remains to add, that Du Cange, in his Glossary, does not enumerate the "money of St. Helena" under the word "moneta;" nor does he allude to the coins of St. Louis, which, according to Bozius, were endowed with similar properties.
Having sent you a "Note," permit me to make two or three "Queries." 1. What is the earliest known instance of the use of a beaver hat in England? 2. What is the precise meaning of the term "pisan," so often used, in old records, for some part of defensive armour, particularly in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries? It does not bear any relation to the fabrics of Pisa.
T. HUDSON TURNER.TRANSLATIONS OF GRAY'S ELEGY
Sir,My best apology for troubling you with such a lengthened Query is, that it will serve, to some extent, as a Note. Will any of your correspondents inform me of any additions to the following list of translations of Gray's Elegy? It may possibly be more incomplete than I am aware of, as it is drawn up, with two exceptions, from copies in my own library only.