Encyclopedia of the Renaissance and the Reformation

(Bozica Vekic) #1

Wheathampstead, U.K.: Anthony Clarke, 1986); ∼The
Progress of the Jesuits 1556–79 (London: Longmans, Green,
1946); Joseph A. Gagliano and Charles E. Ronan (eds), Je-
suit Encounters in the New World: Jesuit Chroniclers, Geog-
raphers, Educators and Missionaries in the Americas,
1549–1767 (Rome: Institutum Historicum, 1997); Jean
Lacouture, Jesuits: A Multibiography, transl. Jeremy Leg-
gatt (Cambridge, Mass.: Counterpoint, 1997); Edward
Maclagan, The Jesuits and the Great Mogul (London: Burns
Oates, 1932; new ed. New York: Octagon, 1972); John W.
O’Malley et al (eds), The Jesuits: Cultures, Sciences, and the
Arts 1540–1773 (Toronto, Canada: University of Toronto
Press, 2000).


Jeux Floraux, les See ACADEMIES


Jewel, John (1522–1571) English bishop and theologian
Jewel was born in Berrynarbor, Devonshire, and educated
at Oxford, where he was influenced by the reformer PETER
MARTYRVermigli. In the reign of the Catholic Mary I he
fled to Frankfurt (1555) and later traveled to Zürich,
Strasbourg, and Padua. After the accession of Elizabeth I
he returned to England and was a Protestant disputant at
the Westminster Conference of 1559. Jewel was appointed
bishop of Salisbury (1560) and in 1562 he published his
famous Apologia pro ecclesia Anglicana (Apology for the
Anglican Church), a statement defending the Church of
England against the Church of Rome. His view that it
should be protected by the Crown but retain spiritual au-
tonomy was highly influential, and his protégé Richard
HOOKERadopted a similar position in Lawes of Ecclesiasti-
call Politie (1594–97). In 1571 Jewel was appointed to su-
pervise the revision of the THIRTY-NINE ARTICLESbut he
died before work commenced.


jewelry The jeweler’s art flourished in the Renaissance,
fueled by the rivalry between courts and noble families
that expressed itself in ostentatious display. Many out-
standing artists designed jewelry, among them BOTTICELLI,
GIULIO ROMANO, and HOLBEIN THE YOUNGER; some even
initially trained as goldsmiths. Because Renaissance jew-
elry was so elaborate, the value of the workmanship usu-
ally exceeded the intrinsic value of the material, and much
therefore survives. Contemporary portraits offer excellent
evidence of the opulence and variety of Renaissance jew-
elry. Women’s hair ornaments emphasized the movement
of loose hair and braids. Necklaces were particularly pop-
ular, either in the form of a heavy gold chain with a cen-
tral pendant or multiple ropes of pearls; those of extreme
length were worn looped up to the bodice. Numerous
brooches and rings were worn together, pearls dangled
from the points of lace ruffs and stiff caps, and frequently
the whole female dress would be jewel encrusted. Men
wore hat or cap badges and displayed on their chests wide


jeweled and enameled collars or gold chains, often with
pendants on them.
Pendants were an important form as a frame for a
cameo or portrait miniature. Antique gemstones or
cameos could be reused in new setting: Rudolf II had a
pendant with a cameo of a Roman emperor on the obverse
and an enameled reverse symbolizing his own role as a
Christian emperor. Many were polychromatic with inset
gemstones and enameling. Jeweled or enameled cases for
miniatures and watches were also popular. Other pen-
dants developed into complicated openwork creations in
which the bizarre shape of a baroque pearl suggested to
the artificer the body of a sea monster or centaur. Rings
were often made in architectural high relief and some had
concealed compartments for poisons or love charms; Eliz-
abeth I had a ring with a hinged bezel that opened to re-
veal miniature portraits of herself and her mother Anne
Boleyn, while a seal ring with the coat of arms of the Holy
Roman emperor, made for Rudolf II or one of his immedi-
ate successors, opens to reveal a tiny watch by Johann Buz
of Augsburg. Pendant crosses became highly decorative,
their original religious significance submerged in their or-
namental function.
Jewelry often shared with medals an emblematic or
symbolic role. Some surviving pieces, such as the heart-
shaped Darnley (or Lennox) Jewel, probably made in the
1570s for the wife of the late regent of Scotland, has a
whole personal and political program concealed within its
elaborate decoration. Elizabeth I in a portrait (c. 1575) by
Nicholas HILLIARDwears at her breast a pendant of a
phoenix rising from the flames as a symbol of her unique-
ness and her chastity. Portraits of James I show him wear-
ing in his hat a jewel called the Mirror of Great Britain,
made for him in 1604 to symbolize the union of the king-
doms and comprising four main stones—three diamonds
and a ruby.
Further reading: Yvonne Hackenbroch, Renaissance
Jewellery (London and Totowa, N.J.: Sotheby Parke Ber-
net, 1980); Anna Somers Cocks, Princely Magnificence:
Court Jewels of the Renaissance, 1550–1630 (London: De-
brett’s Peerage and Victoria and Albert Museum, 1980).

Jews Followers of the Judean faith. Ever since the Ro-
mans destroyed the Jerusalem Temple (70 CE), Jewish be-
lievers have spread out from the Middle East, building
synagogues and establishing a hugely diverse and influ-
ential diaspora. Jewry in postmedieval Europe was
dominated by orthodox, Rabbinic Judaism. Jewish com-
munities revered the teachings of the Hebrew Scriptures
(the Old Testament of Christians), the Talmud (a compi-
lation of oral teachings from the first millennium CE), bib-
lical commentaries, and the tradition of the Halachah
(direct practical teaching).
Like Christians, Rabbinic Jews believed in a unique,
incorporeal God, a deity who created the world, engages

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