Jacob must have had a very hard head. And this assumption is not intended to be blasphemy, but a possible deduction if we believe that he used a stone as a pillow, according to Genesis. Sleeping on it, the patriarch dreamed of that ladder that linked earth to heaven and of angels going up and down endlessly.
This inspiring rock that weighs 150 kilos will today be one of the main elements of the coronation of King Carlos III. historic day. With historical elements. The oldest is undoubtedly this rock that receives different names. The most poetic, the stone of destiny. The most geographical, the stone of Scone. And the most functional, the coronation stone.
According to tradition, Jacob’s rude pillow did not remain in Israel, but ended up in Scotland after passing through Egypt, Spain and Ireland, where it received other names, such as the speaking stone because it made a sound when it sensed that a candidate for the throne belonged to royalty. It was precisely an Irish king who brought it to Scotland in the 5th century and in the mid-9th century, Kenneth I, considered the first Scottish king, moved it to Scone Abbey.
Since then it has been part of the coronation ceremonies of the monarchs of this country. Even a chronicler recorded in the fourteenth century a supposed phrase that was inscribed: “As long as fate plays fair, where this stone lies, the Scots will reign.” Until King Edward I of England arrived in 1296 and seized the stone. The English monarch gave it a new location in Westminster Abbey, under the coronation chair, also called Saint Edward’s or King Edward’s, in which 38 monarchs have sat. Carlos III will be 39.
A booty or a robbery that did not end here. In addition to its religious significance, it is one of the most significant symbols of Scottish royalty and, obviously, of the country’s political aspirations. Thus, the stone has often been claimed. Three years before the coronation of Elizabeth II, some young people stole it to take it to Scotland.
Negotiations paid off and he returned in time for the ceremony. In 1996, the Government decided to return her on one condition: that she always be part of the royal coronations at Westminster Abbey. And the promise has been fulfilled for the first time. Of course, the relic has traveled secretly and with security measures.
But if up to here the history of the stone is already attractive enough, there is still one more chapter. Maybe the juiciest. The monks of Scone, who could see this coming, are said to have replaced the stone with another when King Edward I made an appearance at his abbey. Recent research would corroborate this legend. To begin with, it is a block of sandstone and not limestone, as it would be if it came from the Holy Land. And there’s more: analysis indicates that the material is of the same type as that found at Scone. Did the monks make the change? For now, only God knows, the same one who will save the King today, with or without an authentic biblical stone under the throne.
