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| The first thing most people do, is show off the bling. |
I’m not an historian so can’t vouch for the authenticity
of the following information, but it intrigued me and I hope it will you as
well. It seems to me that the point of the Happily Ever After of romance novels
is finding the person of your dreams and lots of us look forward to having a
little bling on our finger. So I thought learning more about the origins of
engagement rings was appropriate.
While diamonds have been a popular stone choice for your
ring when your significant other pops the important question – and I don’t
mean, ‘Why don’t you move in with me?’ – Diamonds weren’t always the first
choice. So let’s take a little walk through history.
It wasn’t until the late 1400’s, during the Renaissance
period, that it became fashionable to bestow a ring embellished with diamonds
upon your betrothed. That’s when in 1477
the Archduke Maximilian of Austria gave Mary of Burgundy a gold ring with the
letter M spelled out in tiny diamonds. Prior to this time, if rings were given
at all, they were fairly simple bands – gold if the man could afford it.
The Middle Ages kicked off the more structured engagement
procedure when Pope Nicholas issued an edict in 860BC declaring that for an
engagement to be recognized, the prospective groom had to give his intended a
gold engagement ring. Not sure if the Pope was getting a kickback from the
goldsmith’s guild but it’s interesting to speculate.
By the 1700’s couples in Europe often exchanged poesy or
posie rings – silver or gold bands with romantic inscriptions inside.
In the Victorian era engagement rings were often designed
to resemble hearts, hands, bows, flowers, and even snakes (which were seen as a
symbol of eternity). The ring frequently had the date of the ceremony etched
inside.
The Art Deco period of the early 1900’s – particularly in
America – often featured tiny gems to create a large design, rather than one
central big jewel. — and angular shapes were all the rage.
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| My husband and I went with the less traditional look. |
If you want to explore images of engagement rings through
history, I loved the images associated with this one from Antique
Jewelry University.
To get ideas for non-diamond options for your engagement
ring, this article in BuzzFeed
has some
fantastic images.
fantastic images.
Hopefully this peek into the past, will inspire you when it comes time to say 'yes' and may you find your happily ever after!
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The engagement ring we get now turns out to be a diamond ring treasured forever. Such a lovely blog :)
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