gems, early lapidaries, early gemology, early mineralogy, early English lapidaries, Marbode of Rennes

Introduction: “Desiring as you do for me to write you concerning the secret properties of all the stones and what an expert thinks they can do for mankind, I could not refuse you. Do keep, therefore, with all good diligence the secret of the all-good and highest God.” So warns Evax to the Emperor Tiberius upon disclosing his lapidary. The secrecy surrounding lapidary information demonstrates the power of superstition that surrounded them, as many manuscripts of Marbode of Rennes’ De lapidibus survive with this ancient warning attached to the text, reminding its readers not to share the information too widely lest it loses its potency. Marbode’s prologue indicates that he intends to share his work only with a “few friends.” However, the survival of many manuscripts from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries allows many lapidary scholars to assert the popularity of lapidary texts with some confidence. The modern scholar of lapidaries must therefore determine what value this hidden information held for generations of readers, whose access to these precious stones was, at best, improbable.