When in August 1900 during a cathedral excavation in Speyer Cathedral the family graves of salians opened, turned out the tomb of Emperor Henry IV. – the one with his famous “went to Canossa” went down in history as one of the few tombs in Speyer Cathedral that had survived almost untouched since the Middle Ages.
in the grave Henry IV was found next to a gilded one grave crown, a pectoral cross made of gilded copper sheet, a hinged reliquary cross made of silver and the remains of various textiles and shoes on his hand, a valuable gold ring with a large blue sapphire and three pearls.
The letters “ADELBERO EPS” were engraved on the band of the unusually elaborately designed ring. This could be an indication that the ring may be dem Bishop Adelbero III. from Metz heard. The fact that Henry IV wore this ring on his finger could also indicate that Henry insisted on the secular right to appoint bishops to their posts even after his death.
Because it was precisely this right that was at stake from the year 1076 with the so-called investiture dispute between Emperor Henry IV and Pope Gregory VII. Heinrich wanted the law that had been in force since the Franks, that only secular rulers could appoint clergy to their offices, to be retained. Instead, Gregory was of the opinion that only the Church had this right.
At the height of this dispute, the Pope imposed the so-called excommunication (or “Anathema“, an exclusion from the community of believers or from the church), which Heinrich was only able to escape again through his arduous journey to Canossa.
In the summer of 2019, it was therefore a very special pleasure for me to make a replica of this remarkable historical ring in almost 60 working hours, as it was created by the medieval goldsmith during the bishop's lifetime.
Like the original, my replica consists of approx. 18 grams of 750 yellow gold with a 12-carat star sapphire in the middle and 3 cultured pearls. Of course, the true-to-original inscription “ADELBERO EPS” should not be missing on the ring.
All gemstone and pearl settings, as well as the underlying arcade settings, were individually made by me according to the historical model.
All individual levels were then soldered together and finally the final gemstone setting for the large sapphire was assembled.
Due to the special focus on the later effect of each individual detail, a ring replica was finally created, which in my view is already astonishing given the extraordinary charisma of the "Ring des Canossa Kaisers" handed down in the Historical Museum of the Palatinate (there in the collection exhibition "Cathedral Treasure") comes close. The deformations of the original were undone in my replica - this is how the ring could have looked during the lifetime of the bishop or the emperor.
