Product Description
Respect for the triumphant harmony of Nature and The Creator, or are they the same? The Latin solid bronze band, reading “DEUS ET NATUA NO FACIUNT FRUSTA”, says ‘God and Nature do not work together in vain’.
The Latin on this ring was taken from the tomb of the Crusader Knight – Sir Mortimer de Rosa, within a chantry chapel of the Shrine of St Laventius. This small monastic settlement lay on the pilgrims route from Winchester to Canterbury, and fell into ruin around 1400. We only know of this tomb today thanks to Geoffery Chaucer, author of the Canterbury Tales.
Some may notice the apparent discrepancy between the name of the ring and the actual inscription. Chaucer, describes the magnificent mausoleum in one of his more obscure writings. Our ring inscription copies literally what Chaucer set down – “DEUS ET NATUA NO FACIUNT FRUSTA”. Whether this is a mistake made by the scribe or a contraction of the letters A and R by the original stone mason, we may never know. However, local legend tells of a secret underground vault, where lies a hoard of crusader gold, looted from Jerusalem. Some versions of this story locate the treasure trove beneath a tomb which only opens when a truly sagacious pilgrim lays his hand upon a secret key-stone.
Could we then surmise, that our typographical conundrum may have led the way to Sir Mortimer’s lost fortune?
An intricate band with a powerful message.
A pewter and solid bronze band ring with pierced and etched bronze Latin quotation.
