Treasures rebuilt, trust misplaced
The jewels that Thomas Blood targeted in 1671 were symbols of a monarchy recently restored. After Charles I was executed in 1649, much of the old coronation regalia was destroyed. Charles II needed replacements for his coronation in 1661. The new objects did more than display wealth: they gave visible form to royal authority after a period without a king. Their political meaning helps explain why a theft at the Tower of London became a story larger than the value of its gold.
The Royal Collection Trust describes the Sovereign's Orb as a globe topped with a cross, expressing Christian kingship. It is decorated with emeralds, rubies, sapphires, diamonds and pearls. St Edward's Crown, also made in 1661, replaced a lost medieval crown rather than surviving unchanged from the Middle Ages. Robert Vyner received the commission. A historic-looking object can therefore be a deliberate renewal of tradition, not the original artifact that tradition remembers. Neither the age of an institution nor the age of a ceremony automatically dates its possessions.
Visitors could pay the keeper to see the Crown Jewels. On 9 May 1671 Blood and companions gained access through Talbot Edwards, the elderly keeper. The arrangement joined public display to personal trust. The important contrast is not between a valuable object and a supposedly foolish custodian: it is between the objects' exceptional significance and the comparatively informal way visitors encountered them. Soon that encounter would become an assault.
The precise reason for Charles II’s pardon is not established. The contemporary newsletter and modern summary disagree on capture totals; the newsletter’s opening day also differs from the accepted 9 May date. No assumption is made that the crown seized was the present St Edward’s Crown.
This excerpt and its puzzle come from the finished edition. Authoritative sources are linked below.