Unicorn Horn | Book Excerpt
No museum of any repute was considered complete without one or more specimens of unicorn's horn, an article which was believed to possess wonderful virtues, and was much employed in medicine. It was a recognised preservative against poisoning, and a piece was placed in the drinking cup of the King of France till almost the close of the monarchy. At the reception of Louis Seigneur de la Gruthuyse, by Edward IV in England, in 1472, the king gave him a golden cup with a piece of unicorn horn in it, seven inches in circumference. The Grand Inquisitor Torquemada always carried about with him the horn of a unicorn to protect him against poison and assassins.
Above the drug cases in one of the old apothecary booths exhibited in the Prague Museum — the Apotheke, "Zur goldenen Krone" - are two conventional unicorns' horns. Above one of those in the Nuremberg Museum, the horn of a narwhal — the sea unicorn- is suspended, reminding one of Shakespeare's apothecary :
in his needy shop a tortoise hung,
An alligator stuff' d, and other skins
Of ill-shap'd fishes.
The " true" horn commanded a very high price. At Rome as much as 90,000 crowns were given for a single horn. The Republic of Venice, in 1595, gave 30,000 ducats for another; and Brantome mentions a nobleman who sold an estate for 50,000 crowns, of which he took payment as regards 45,000 in gold and silver, and for the balance of 5000 crowns a piece of unicorn horn. In the Jewel House in the Tower there were in 1649, " The unicornes homes weighing 40 lb. 8 oz., valued at 600." Bankers and money-lenders often advanced large sums of money upon no other security than the pledge of a bit of this horn. The existence of the horn was proof positive that the unicorn itself existed.
"Some have made doubt," says Guillim, "whether there be any such beast as this or no. But the great esteeme of his home (in many places to be seen) may take away that needless scruple." Another old writer is more precise, " Albeit there be many horned beasts which may improperly be called unicorns, yet that which is the right unicorn indeed is like unto a colt of two years and a half old, which hath naturally but one horn, and that a very rich one, which groweth out of the middle of his forehead, being a horn of such virtue as is no beasts horn besides ; which, whilst some have gone about to deny, they have secretly blinded the eyes of the world from their full view of the greatness of God's great works. " Many reputable travellers reported that they had seen it. Sometimes it was said to be in India, at other times in South Africa, and latterly in West Africa, but although constantly sought after, the animal itself was never brought to Europe. Still the horn was forthcoming.
Other one-horned animals, notably the rhinoceros and narwhal, or Unicornu Gronlandicum, as it was termed, were to be found in plenty, and it was ascertained by experiment that their horns possessed the same qualities as those of the " true " unicorn, although in a less degree. Certain small differences existed which could only be detected by an expert, and his services were in as much demand as those of an assayer at the present time. Besides the horns of existing animals, fossil horn was in request. This was horn embedded in the earth, generally some species of ivory, and was found principally in caves. Cave-hunting was in consequence carried on in the seventeenth century almost as assiduously as in the nineteenth ; the Baumanshole at Riibeland in the Harz and a cave at Scharzfeld in the duchy of Grubenhagen were explored, and others were opened up in the neighbourhood of Hildesheim, and many in Hungary, Moravia, Silesia, Saxony, and elsewhere. The nature of these bones was much discussed, and many curious theories were propounded. The supposed skeleton was set up with one prominent horn on its head and is figured in books.
As time advanced the existence of the unicorn itself became matter of discussion, and much labour was expended in ascertaining the characteristics of the various one-horned animals that could be adced. Ambroise Pare (1509- 1590), the great French surgeon, doubted whether there was such an animal, and disputes the virtues attributed to the horn." As information accumulated, and was sifted, the truth was gradually arrived at, but by a long and tedious process ; and even yet there are some who live in hopes of seeing a "true" unicorn. Lord Bacon, writing in 1623, mentions that unicorn horn had lost its reputation as a cordial, but sixty years later Nehemiah Grew, and the rest of the Faculty, still believed in it for producing perspiration in fevers and curing other ailments.
Excerpted from Museums, their history and their use : with a bibliography and list of museums in the United Kingdom by Murray, David, 1842-1928 / Publication date 1904
Virgin and Unicorn by Domenico Zampieri (1581-1641)
Public Domain USA