The "Luck of Edenhall" is a glass beaker that was made in Syria

Syria

Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....

 in the 13th century, elegantly decorated in blue, green, red and white enamel

Vitreous enamel

Vitreous enamel, also porcelain enamel in U.S. English, is a material made by fusing powdered glass to a substrate by firing, usually between 750 and 850 °C...

 with gilding

Gilding

The term gilding covers a number of decorative techniques for applying fine gold leaf or powder to solid surfaces such as wood, stone, or metal to give a thin coating of gold. A gilded object is described as "gilt"...

. Its inscription, ihs, suggests it may have been intended for a Christian purpose. Glass drinking vessels very rarely survive—or remain in one family—for long enough to acquire a legendary status, so the successful passing of this vessel through many generations of the Musgrave family of Edenhall

Edenhall

Edenhall is a village located about a mile south of Langwathby, in the Eden district, in the county of Cumbria, England. Edenhall has a church called St Cuthbert's Church...

, Cumberland

Cumberland

Cumberland is a historic county of North West England, on the border with Scotland, from the 12th century until 1974. It formed an administrative county from 1889 to 1974 and now forms part of Cumbria....

, is something of a miracle. Legend has it that this ancient beaker embodied the continuing prosperity of its owners. Telling the story in 1791, Sir William Musgrave of Edenhall wrote:

Tradition our only guide here, says, that a party of Fairies were drinking and making merry round a well near the Hall, called St. Cuthbert's Well; but being interrupted by the intrusion of some curious people, they were frightened, and made a hasty retreat, and left the cup in question: one of the last screaming out;

"If this cup should break or fall

Farewell the Luck of Edenhall!"

The beaker is now known to be an exceptionally fine and pristine example of 13th century luxury glass making. It may have found its way to England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 in the baggage of a returning Crusader

Crusades

The Crusades were a series of religious wars, blessed by the Pope and the Catholic Church with the main goal of restoring Christian access to the holy places in and near Jerusalem...

. The antiquity of the legend surrounding it has not been determined. It was the subject of a German ballad by Ludwig Uhland

Ludwig Uhland

Johann Ludwig Uhland , was a German poet, philologist and literary historian.-Biography:He was born in Tübingen, then Duchy of Württemberg, and studied jurisprudence at the university there, but also took an interest in medieval literature, especially old German and French poetry...

, later rendered in English by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was an American poet and educator whose works include "Paul Revere's Ride", The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline...

.

The glass remained intact in the possession of the Musgrave family. In 1926 the glass was loaned to the Victoria and Albert Museum

Victoria and Albert Museum

The Victoria and Albert Museum , set in the Brompton district of The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England, is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects...

, and in 1958 it was finally acquired for the nation. It remains on permanent view in the Medieval & Renaissance galleries. Eden Hall no longer exists, having been demolished in 1934.