纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 053洛泰尔一世水晶雕刻（4）（在线收听）

"This desirable treasure was made at the request of the famed King of the Franks. A beryl stone placed in the middle contains a depiction of how, in Daniel, Susannah was evilly condemned by the old judges.The stone... shows the skill of its art by the variety of its work."

这件诱人的珍宝…是奉著名的法兰克国王洛泰尔之命而制作 的。中间的绿宝石包含了《圣经?但以理书》中记载的苏撒拿如何被两个士师诬陷的故事。这块水晶展现了多种精湛的工艺。

It probably remained at Waulsort until French Revolutionary troops looted the abbey in the 1790s. Perhaps it was they who threw the crystal - clearly made for a hateful king - into the nearby River Meuse. When it was found it was cracked, but otherwise completely undamaged, because rock crystal is astonishingly tough. It is very hard and cannot be chiselled, but must be ground instead with abrasive powders. The whole thing would have taken an immense amount of time and great skill to work, which is why these crystals were such luxury objects. We don't know what the original purpose of our Susannah Crystal was, possibly it was an offering to a shrine, but it was in every sense an object fit for a king.

它很可能一直被收藏在这个修道院，直到十八世纪九十年代这里被法国革命军洗劫。也许正是他们将水晶扔进了附近的默兹河中，因为它明显是他们所厌恶的王室的物品。当它被重新发现时已有了一道裂缝，除此之外没有任何残缺，因为水晶的质地极为坚硬，它无法用凿子凿，只能用金刚砂慢慢磨。整件物品所耗费的时间与运用的工艺应该都十分惊人，价值也必然非凡。我们并不了解制作这一水晶盘的初衷—也许是神殿的供奉物—但它显然与一国之君的身份相衬。

By the time the crystal was made, Charlemagne's empire had broken down, and the whole of north-west Europe was divided between three members of his squabbling and profoundly dysfunctional family. The squabbles ultimately resulted in the empire being divided into three parts: an eastern kingdom that would later become Germany, a western one that would become France, and Lothair's Middle Kingdom, called Lotharingia, which ran from modern Belgium down through Provence into Italy. But Lothair's Middle Kingdom was always the weakest of the three, forever threatened by wicked uncles on either side. Lotharingia needed to be able to defend itself. It needed a strong king. Here's Professor Rosamund McKitterick from Cambridge University.

这个水晶盘制作之时，查理曼大帝的王国已经四分五裂。整个欧洲西北部被他那内讧不休的家族中的三位成员争相瓜分，导致帝国—分为三:东边的王国日后发展为德国，西边的是法国的前身，洛泰尔那名为洛塔林基亚的中部王国则从现今的比利时经普罗旺斯一直延伸到意大利。中部王国因被两位邪恶的叔叔左右夹击，向来是最弱小的，洛塔林基亚 需要自卫的能力：它需要一位强悍的国王。罗莎蒙德麦基特里克教授是剑桥大学研究中世纪历史。