The Talisman of Charlemagne?

I bought a book on gem stones for my daughter, and nestled between stories of the Hope Diamond and the crown jewels was a brief mention of the Talisman of Charlemagne.

All I can find online are pseudo occult websites insisting it is a love charm and gamer websites. There is a French Wikipedia entry about it, but little else of value. It apparently contains slivers of the true cross and a lock of hair of the blessed virgin. Anyone have good info or sources about this relic?

Edit: Napoleon was involved, at one point. Link!

Off to care for a sick toddler. Pardon me for inevitable delays in my responses.

It's an interesting find. Considering the value of such talismans from an occult standpoint it wouldn't surprise me if it were used as a type of fidelity amulet (fit for a king), as contrary as that seems to having bits of the true cross and the hair of the virgin Mary within the item.

I'll definitely keep an eye out to see if other powers were attributed to it.

Regardless also, it's a beautiful work of art, absolutely priceless.

a reply to: Look2theSacredHeart

I think this may be what you're looking for...

Charlemagne had a sapphire talisman/amulet made for his wife by the sorcerers of the court of Haroun el Raschid, Emperor of the East. The talisman had two large cabochon sapphires. One was oval and the other was square. They were set into a remnant of the wood from the Holy Cross (the Cross of Jesus) and a small piece of the Virgin's hair. It was to make their love constant. It must have worked, since he never stopped loving her. This talisman was buried with him at Aix-la-Chapelle, in 814, and re-discovered when the tomb was opened by Otto III in 1000. The talisman was then preserved in the treasury of the Cathedral until it was given, by the canons, to Empress Josephine in 1804, to wear at her coronation.

forum.andrewgough.co.uk...

The German Wikipedia tells more or less the same as Anaana's source above. They mainly describe the artwork.
Though they don't link it to Haroun al Raschid, but call it an "Aachener Spätwerk" (Late piece of art from Aix-la-Chapelle).
They write, it reminds to Palestinian pilgrimage ampules, which were known especially from the 5th/6th century. So this would be a reference to the orient related to the style.

Today the talisman can be seen at the Músee du Palais du Tau in Reims, France.

German Wikipedia

Perhaps i'm a philistine, i don't know...but i do know that that talisman is one ugly lump.

Subjective, but there you are.

originally posted by: MysterX
Perhaps i'm a philistine, i don't know...but i do know that that talisman is one ugly lump.

Subjective, but there you are.

Actually, I think you're a connoisseur, the earlier picture is possibly of a prop talisman and not a very good one. It doesn't match the description.
This image is from the museum where the French crown jewels are kept in the Galerie d'Apollon of the Louvre

a reply to: Marduk

If you look at the top left-hand corner of the central jewel, you can see a face.

Closer inspection shows that it's the face of a goth.

This clearly proves that the picture you posted is genuinely from the Gothic Period and is therefore le vrai bijou de Charlemagne. Though the batteries need replacing.

originally posted by: Astyanax
This clearly proves that the picture you posted is genuinely from the Gothic Period and is therefore le vrai bijou de Charlemagne. Though the batteries need replacing.

Or in actuality, Marduk didn't read the accompanying text and therefore, in his haste to be the smartest arse (though you clearly beat him hands down), he failed to realise that the picture I posted was the side set with the oval sapphire, while his picture shows the other side which is set with the squarer stone. It is in between these stones that the relics are sandwiched. Anyway, pissing contest aside, I think the story is hokum. The setting and style of workmanship is Carolingian and probably manufactured in Aachen by the Byzantine goldsmiths that had recently moved to the area and who developed that style. The sapphires though may have come from Haroun el Raschid, the Caliph of Baghdad sent Charlemayne "gifts of some objects of inestimable value" in 801, as well as assorted treasures from the raids by the Asturian king on Arab territories. Apart from the sapphires though, and unless the magicians took great pains to copy the Aachen artisans, nothing but the gems is Eastern.

My guess is that the creation story was most likely constructed for Napoleon's, or by him, for Josephine's, benefit...for the added romance, or to make up for the syphilis.

And to avoid that anybody is going to search this Talisman in the Louvre in Paris:
It is kept in the Músee du Palais du Tau in Reims.