''Der Weise'' (

Middle High German Middle High German (MHG; german: Mittelhochdeutsch (Mhd.)) is the term for the form of German spoken in the High Middle Ages. It is conventionally dated between 1050 and 1350, developing from Old High German and into Early New High German. High ...

; german: die Waise; la, orphanus; literally 'the orphan', but often rendered as 'the Orphan Stone' or 'Orphan Jewel'; sometimes also la, pupilla) was an exceptionally large precious stone, perhaps an

opal Opal is a hydrated amorphous form of silica (SiO2·''n''H2O); its water content may range from 3 to 21% by weight, but is usually between 6 and 10%. Due to its amorphous property, it is classified as a mineraloid, unlike crystalline forms ...

, set into the crown of the

Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans ( la, Imperator Romanorum, german: Kaiser der Römer) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period ( la, Imperat ...

until being lost sometime in the fourteenth century. The term ''der Weise'' was accordingly used in Middle High German, including in the political verse of

Walther von der Vogelweide Walther von der Vogelweide (c. 1170c. 1230) was a Minnesänger who composed and performed love-songs and political songs (" Sprüche") in Middle High German. Walther has been described as the greatest German lyrical poet before Goethe; his hundr ...

, as a

metonym Metonymy () is a figure of speech in which a concept is referred to by the name of something closely associated with that thing or concept. Etymology The words ''metonymy'' and ''metonym'' come from grc, μετωνυμία, 'a change of name' ...

for the office of Holy Roman Emperor.Thomas Kerth, review of Richard J. Berleth, ''The Orphan Stone: The Minnesinger Dream of Reich'', Contributions to the Study of World History, 15 (New York: Greenwood, 1990), in ''Speculum'', 67 (1992), 936-37 (p. 936); . ''Der Weise'' is first mentioned in the late thirteenth-century German poem ''

Herzog Ernst ''Herzog Ernst'' is a German Epic poetry, epic from the early high Middle Ages (c. 1180), first written down by an anonymous author from the Rhine River, Rhine region. Story The main theme of the story is an argument between a Bavarian duke (Her ...

'', which associates the jewel with a crown that some scholarship links to the 962 coronation of

Otto I Otto I (23 November 912 – 7 May 973), traditionally known as Otto the Great (german: Otto der Große, it, Ottone il Grande), was East Francia, East Frankish king from 936 and Holy Roman Emperor from 962 until his death in 973. He was the olde ...

, linked in turn in some scholarship with the

Reichskrone The Imperial Crown of the Holy Roman Empire (german: Reichskrone), a hoop crown (german: Bügelkrone) with a characteristic octagonal shape, was the coronation crown of the Holy Roman Emperor, probably from the late 10th century until the dissolu ...

(Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Schatzkammer der Hofburg, SK XII). ''Herzog Ernst'' says that ''der Weise'' was situated on the crown's front plate, in the middle of the upper row of four rows of three stones. It has been suggested that the German idea of ''der Weise'' was inspired by Arabic traditions of a similar peerless stone,

al-Yatīma ''Al-Yatīma'' ( ar, اليتيمة, meaning 'the orphan', apparently named for its unique size) was a pearl 'considered to be the most celebrated Islamic jewel of the Middle Ages'. How it came into Muslim hands is not clear: it might have come fro ...

Avinoam Shalem Avinoam Shalem (born 1959) is the Riggio Professor of the History of the Arts of Islam at Columbia University. He served as director of the American Academy in Rome from 2020 to 2021. Biography Shalem was born in Haifa, Israel in 1959. He receiv ...

,
Jewels and Journeys: The Case of the Medieval Gemstone Called al-Yatima
, ''Muqarnas'', 14 (1997), 42-56 (pp. 50-52).

References

{{HolyRomanEmpire-stub Imperial Regalia of the Holy Roman Empire Crown jewels