INELUL DE DEVOŢIUNE DE LA VINEREA ŞI PROBLEMA INELELOR MARIANICE MEDIEVALE
THE DEVOTIONAL RING FROM VINEREA AND THE VIRGIN MARY MONOGRAM RINGS IN THE MIDDLE AGES

Summary/Abstract: For several reasons one category of Middle Age rings was never introduced in a typological study until now; we mean Virgin Mary monogram rings. The circumstances of this approach are given by a unique silver ring with the monogram “M” that comes from a medieval hoard found in Vinerea (today incorporated in Cugir, Romania), in 1965. Thus, the aim of this paper is to connect this artifact with other similar ring symbols that might depict identical or related monograms. Except for the ring from Balatonszabadi, which is made out of bronze, all the artifacts discussed here are made out of silver. Typology Type A In this category I clustered all the ring bezels where the Gothic uppercase “M” is engraved individually, surrounded by purely decorative elements designed to fill the gap in the disc ring. The bezels in this case are always circular. Subtype A1. In this category there are rings on whose bezels was engraved the “M” monogram in its “classic” style: Vinerea (fig. 1/1), Arača (M 80) (fig. 1/2). Subtype A2. Groups together the Gothic rings with the ends of capitalized “M” engraved in the form of volutes. It is important to mark one subtype A1: Rădăuţi (Fig. 1/3), Baia (tomb) (fig. 1/5). Also in this subtype we have included the signet ring of boyar Giulea, issued in Moldova in 1387 (fig. 1/6). Subtype A3. Includes several rings (fig. 1/7-10), whose monogram on the bezel is a stylized gothic capital letter “M” placed in the middle of some adjacent triangles, related or not to the central point: Sălişte (fig. 1/7), Arača (fig. 1/8) and Négyszállás (fig. 1/9-10). Type B In this category we included four rings whose monogram consists in the capital letter “M” in ligature with other letters. Most rings of this type (Baia, Arača) have circular bezels, but there is also a ring with a hexagonal plate (Balatonszabadi). Subtype B1. Includes circular bezel rings, with monogram “MR”: Baia (fig. 1/11), Arača (fig. 1/12-13). Concerning the rings from Arača and Baia, next to the “R” is engraved a plant with three leaves, in a lying pose. Subtype B2. In this category we include the hexagonal seal-ring from Balatonszabadi (fig. 1/14 = pl. 1/2), which contains the monogram “MARIA” in ligature. Here also we have a plant next to the “R” letter, but with five petals instead.

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