About Precious Stones in the Culture of the Gauls

Many curious and costly ornaments of pure gold, enriched with jewels, were found in Gaul, when it was pillaged by the Franks.

As an instance of the riches of Gaul at the commencement of the fifth century, we read in Gibbon that, in 412, Adolphus, the brother-in-law of Alaric the Goth, succeeded the latter on the throne of the Visigoths, and married Placidia, the daughter of Theodosius. The marriage was consummated before the Goths left Italy. The bride, attired and adorned like a Roman empress, was placed on a throne of state, and the King of the Goths, who assumed on that occasion the Roman habit, contented himself with a less honourable seat at her side. The nuptial gift which, according to the custom of his nation, was offered to Placidia, consisted of the rare and beautiful spoils of her country. Fifty beautiful youths in silken robes carried a basin in each hand, one being filled with pieces of gold, and the other with precious stones of inestimable value.

Many curious and costly ornaments of pure gold, enriched with jewels, were found in the palace of Narbonne, in Gaul, when it was pillaged in the sixth century by the Franks. There was the famous great dish for the service of the table, of massy gold, weighing five hundred pounds, and of far superior value from the precious stones, the exquisite workmanship, and the tradition that it had been presented by AEtius, the patrician, to Torismond, King of the Goths. One of the successors of Torismond, Sisenand, purchased the aid of the French monarch by the promise of this magnificent dish. When he was seated on the throne of Spain, A.D. 631, he delivered it with reluctance to the ambassadors of Dagobert, despoiled them of it on the road, stipulated, after a long negotiation, the inadequate ransom of two hundred thousand pieces of gold, and preserved the missorium as the pride of the Gothic treasury. These pieces of gold were devoted by Dagobert to the foundation of the church of St. Denis.


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