Quezi

Claddagh rings - photo by Athena - CC-BY

Claddagh rings, with a crowned heart held by two hands, are named after a fishing community in Galway, on the west coast of Ireland, where they were used for betrothals and marriages, and handed down from mother to daughter.

When I first heard a well-known story about their origins it seemed too fanciful to be true – until I looked further, and began to believe some, if not all, of it. Could the Irish jeweller who is said to have made the “first” Claddagh ring around 1700 really have brought the design back from Algeria where he’d been sold into slavery by pirates who’d captured him? Was the young Richard Joyce really rescued from his master there, a goldsmith who taught him his craft? Was he offered the chance to marry one of his owner’s daughters if only he would stay in Algeria?

Before explaining why this story may be partly true I’m going to pour cold water on claims that the Claddagh ring was a special Moorish design from North Africa, or unique to Galway. Take a look at this English ring from 1706 – almost the same design except for the diamonds, isn’t it? Across Europe, love rings with hands and hearts were popular around this time, and before it, and after it. Some were gimmel rings, and some were “rings made for sweethearts with a heart enamelled held between two right hands” according to 17th century writer John Aubrey.

So what about Richard Joyce? He was certainly a leading goldsmith and silversmith in his part of Ireland in the early 18th century. The oldest surviving Claddagh rings are gold, with his initials stamped on them. A short account of his capture and rescue (but without the bit about a girlfriend left weeping in Galway) was published in 1820 by a respected Irish scholar, James Hardiman. It was just a footnote in a history book, but it gives the impression the writer had heard it from descendants of Joyce, less than 100 years after his death.

And there’s another reason to think the family tradition is quite plausible. Algerian corsairs regularly captured voyagers leaving Ireland for the Americas, and at intervals the London government sent ransom money to free them. Could there be some truth in the story, even if it was distorted by passing through a couple of generations before being written down?

19th century English and Irish travel writers “discovered” the ring in the small community of fisherfolk with their own rules and traditions. When Queen Victoria visited Galway she was presented with a Claddagh ring made by a Galway jeweller.

In the later 19th century and early 20th century the Claddagh ring came to symbolise pride in Ireland’s heritage. One was worn by Jack Yeats, artist brother of poet W.B. Yeats.

In the 1990s there were a few high profile ‘celebrity with claddagh ring‘ stories in the media.  Now, in the 21st century, the rings have a huge appeal, and a huge body of varied traditions about their symbolism. I wonder how many of them are true Claddagh folk traditions?