archaeological and textual records - eCommons@Cornell - Cornell ...

also argues that the “rings were part of a strategy to “spread Christianity,” and this
rhetoric has been taken up by others such as Mandzy (1986:49) who referred to them
“Christianization rings” (Mason 2003:239). Speaking to this issue, Mason draws our
attention to the particular passages in the Jesuit Relations that have been repeatedly
cited by other scholars who have argued in favor of associating the rings with religion
and the Jesuits, (e.g.) (JR 53:251, 18:19, 15:159, 66:25-31) (Mason 2003:241). In
these passages, a few French terms are worth considering for future primary source
work: bague de laton (ring of brass); bagues (rings); bagues au cachet (rings
decorated with a specific seal) (Mason 2003:241).
In her most recent follow-up article published in the spring of 2010, “Reading
the Rings: Decoding Iconographic (Jesuit) Rings,” Mason breaks the chains linking
missions and priests to the rings. This portion of her research departs from New
France and examines the origins, meanings and purposes of both “Jesuit” and other
ring designs that were popular in Europe from the Renaissance to the eighteenth
century. This piece will be discussed in more detail subsequently.
Unlike “Jesuit-style” finger rings, however, the religious medals located on
Seneca sites have incurred far less scholarly attention until now. In “Metallic
Ornaments of New York Indians,” Beauchamp (1903) mentions the presence of
medals in passing and supplies a few illustrations, but relays nothing definitive about
the types of medals located, or their quantities, context or meaning. As my tables
show, religious medals have been located on primarily eighteenth century sites.
Unfortunately, many of the medals, which are housed at the Rochester Museum and
Science Center, are badly corroded and very difficult to assess. Thus, when it came
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