I’m really excited and proud to announce that Cabinet of Wonders is hosting the 14th edition of the Cabinet of Curiosities Blog Carnival!

Started by Tim Abbott of the excellent genealogy and history blog, Walking the Berkshires, the Cabinet of Curiosities is basically a show-and-tell of wonders, marvels and oddities (something close to our own hearts here at CoW) from museum collections, barely trodden corners of the internet and our own cabinets and shelves.

In keeping with our Fortean predilection, we’re away with the fairies for this Cabinet of Curiosities:

The Luck of Edenhall is a glass beaker decorated in gold and coloured enamels that was said to have been left behind by a troop of fairies who had been disturbed while drinking from a well in the grounds of Edenhall, Cumbria.

Considered to be linked to the fortunes of the Musgrave family, it was said to have been left behind when the fairies were interrupted in their merry-making by a butler, who had gone to draw water from St Cuthbert’s well. The last fairy to make a hasty retreat, screamed; ‘If this cup should break or fall, Farewell the Luck of Edenhall’.

The first printed account of the tale appeared in The Gentleman's Magazine for August 1791 and even inspired an 1834 ballad ‘Das Glück von Edenhall’ by Johan Ludwig Uhland (translated by Longfellow) that imagined the downfall of the family when the Luck was broken:

As the goblet ringing flies apart,
Suddenly cracks the vaulted hall;
And through the rift the wild flames start;
The guests in dust are scattered all,
With the breaking Luck of Edenhall!
In storms the foe with fire and sword;
He in the night has scaled the wall,
Slain by the sword lies the youthful Lord,
But holds in his hand the crystal tall,
The shattered Luck of Edenhall.

The Luck is 13th century Syrian in design but other than this, it’s early history is unknown. It may have been brought to Europe by a crusader returning from the Holy Land and it survived throughout the years thanks to a leather case - stamped and decorated with cut work - thought to have been made in France during the 14th century, made specifically for the beaker.

The glass eventually entered into the possession of the Musgrave family, of Edenhall in Cumberland, England, but its real origin was forgotten and gained the reputation of a fairy cup.

An account from the 1844 journal of nine-and-a-half year old Georgiana Rosetta Smyth, god-daughter of Sir George Musgrave, records:

'At our dinner Sir George brought the enchanted Cup, he told us that Duke Wharton used to throw it up in the air, and have a manservant to catch it again. We all drank out of it, the little Musgraves were not allowed to come into the room for fear of breaking it. Sir George showed us where the cup was kept, there was an Iron door and stone wall, in case of fire, the Cup was then put into a tin box.'.

The glass remained in the possession of the Musgrave family until 1926 when it was loaned to the V&A Museum. In 1958 it was finally acquired for the nation and now remains on permanent view in the Glass gallery.

Cumbria is also home to other such ‘lucks’ and you can find more about the Luck of Muncaster and of Burrell Green, here.