The Black Prince's Ruby and Other Cursed Gems

Submitted for your consideration: A collection of gems whose acquisition has often been synonymous with terrible loss but whose sparkle still holds fatal attraction. Meet some of the most cursed and feared - gems in history.

- BY L.A. BERRY

Margaret of Austria, Queen of Spain, wearing the pearl (c. 1606), in portrait by Joan Pantoja de la Cruz Wikipedia Public Domain

THE BLACK PRINCE AND PEDRO THE CRUEL

Bram Stoker’s Dracula is compared to the real-life 15th-century royal, Vlad III of Wallachia, known as Vlad the Impaler. But the gothic horror king of the vampires would have met his match in the monstrous reputations earned a century earlier by the deposed Spanish king, Don Pedro the Cruel, of Castile, and the man ready to help him keep that crown, Edward of Woodstock, the Black Prince of Wales.

Two men bound by royal politics and a ruby as red as bloodlust. That's the romanticized rendition. In truth, the gem awarded Prince Edward for helping King Pedro hold his throne was a spinel. A 170-carat imposter to the gemological throne, gifted in deceit and cloaked in a curse after the murder of its owner, Abu Said, the last Sultan of Grenada, who was wearing it when he died after accepting an invitation, under the pretext of a peace accord, to meet with King Pedro.

As life left the Sultan's body (some say at Pedro's own cruel hand), the Sultan's Curse began. Soon after the Sultan's death and Pedro's convenient acquisition of the gem, the king's brother, Henry of Trastamara, launched a bitter war to claim the Spanish throne as his own.

"To aid in battle, King Pedro enlisted the help of Edward the Black Prince of England. After a series of battles, Henry was kept at bay, successfully preserving the throne of King Pedro. For his service, the ruby was given to Edward the Black Prince," Natalie Woodward wrote in her November 30 blog for Vulcan's Forge Custom Fine Jewelers.

That Pedro. What a guy. Gifts a cursed gem as thanks for saving his crown.