Editing Engagement ring (section)

==History==
===Ancient times===
Although the ancient Egyptians are sometimes credited with inventing the engagement ring, and the ancient Greeks with adopting the tradition, the history of the engagement ring can only be reliably traced as far back as ancient Rome.<ref name="Toliver2003">{{cite book|last=Toliver|first=Wendy|title=The Little Giant Encyclopedia of Wedding Etiquette|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YvImGEVrAO8C&pg=PA19|access-date=6 November 2013|date=1 March 2003|publisher=Sterling Publishing Company, Inc.|isbn=978-0-8069-9389-8|pages=19–20}}</ref><ref name="PatrickThompson2009">{{cite book|last1=Patrick|first1=Bethanne Kelly|last2=Thompson|first2=John Milliken|title=An Uncommon History of Common Things|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bcaXzXPP8ooC&pg=PA81|access-date=6 November 2013|year=2009|publisher=National Geographic Books|isbn=978-1-4262-0420-3|page=81}}</ref><ref name="Inc.2008">{{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Ring |volume= 23 |last1= Middleton |first1= John Henry |last2= Smith |first2= Arthur Hamilton Smith | pages = 349&ndash;351 }}</ref><ref name="Hersch2010">{{cite book|last=Hersch|first=Karen K.|title=The Roman Wedding: Ritual and Meaning in Antiquity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TZEJQPjc4sIC&pg=PA41|access-date=6 November 2013|date=24 May 2010|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-12427-0|pages=41–42}}</ref><ref name="Slate">{{cite web |url=http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/weddings/2007/06/diamonds_are_a_girls_worst_friend.html |title=Diamonds Are a Girl's Worst Friend |last=O'Rourke |first=Meghan |date=11 June 2007 |work=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]] |access-date=7 April 2013}}</ref>

In many countries, engagement rings are placed on the ring finger of the left hand. At one time it was believed that this finger contained a vein (the [[vena amoris]]) that led to the heart. This idea was popularized by [[Henry Swinburne (lawyer)|Henry Swinburne]] in ''A treatise of Spousals, or Matrimonial Contracts'' (1686).<ref name="Kacirk1999">{{cite book|last=Kacirk|first=Jeffrey|title=Forgotten English|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1Yo1MDLLTT0C&pg=PA190|access-date=6 November 2013|date=17 February 1999|publisher=HarperCollins|isbn=978-0-688-16636-6|page=190}}</ref>  The story seems to have its origin in the ancient Roman book ''Attic Nights'' by [[Aulus Gellius]] quoting [[Apion]]'s ''Aegyptiacorum'', where the alleged vein was originally a ''nervus'' (a word that can be translated either as "nerve" or "sinew").<ref name="Holford-Strevens2003">{{cite book|last=Holford-Strevens|first=Leofranc|title=Aulus Gellius : An Antonine Scholar and Leofranc Holford-Strevenshis Achievement: An Antonine Scholar and his Achievement|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nXTWaXWlzSsC&pg=PA321|access-date=6 November 2013|date=6 November 2003|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-151468-5|page=321}}</ref>

The popular belief that an engagement ring was originally part of the [[bride price]] which represented purchase and ownership of the bride, has been called into question by contemporary scholarship.<ref name="Baker2001">{{cite book|last=Baker|first=Maureen|title=Families, Labour and Love|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DV9dTHVX9sAC&pg=PA34|access-date=7 November 2013|date=1 January 2001|publisher=UBC Press|isbn=978-0-7748-0849-1|page=34}}</ref><ref name="Hersch2010" />{{rp|42 note 105}}

In the second century BC, the Roman bride-to-be was given two rings, a gold one which she wore in public, and one made of iron which she wore at home while attending to household duties. At one time Roman citizens wore rings made of iron. In later years senators who served as ambassadors were given gold [[Seal (emblem)#The Western tradition|seal rings]] for official use when abroad. Later the privilege of wearing gold rings was extended to other public officials, then to the knights, later to all [[Social class in ancient Rome|freeborn]], and finally under [[Justinian]], to [[freedmen]]. For several centuries it was the custom for Romans to wear iron rings at home, gold rings in public. During this period a girl or woman might receive two engagement rings, one of iron and one of gold.<ref name="SmithWayte1890">{{cite book|editor=William Smith|others=William Wayte, George Eden Marindin|title=A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities|url=https://archive.org/details/adictionarygree00marigoog|access-date=8 November 2013|year=1890|publisher=J. Murray|page=[https://archive.org/details/adictionarygree00marigoog/page/n144 130]}}</ref><ref name="Lord1869">{{cite book|last=Lord|first=John|author-link=John Lord (historian)|title=The old Roman world: the grandeur and failure of its civilization|url=https://archive.org/details/oldromanworldgr00lordgoog|access-date=8 November 2013|year=1869|publisher=C. Scribner and company|pages=[https://archive.org/details/oldromanworldgr00lordgoog/page/n237 235]–6}}</ref>[[Image:Carolina-bespoke_custom_made-diamond_alexandrite_engagement_ring-Lizunova_Fine_Jewels-Sydney-jeweller_Chifley_Square.jpg|thumbnail|An engagement ring]]

===Middle Ages===
The mid-7th century [[Visigothic Code]] required "that when the ceremony of betrothal has been performed ... and the ring shall have been given or accepted as a pledge, although nothing may have been committed to writing, the promise shall, under no circumstances, be broken."<ref name="Scott1910">{{cite book|last=Scott|first=Samuel Parsons|author-link=Samuel Parsons Scott|title=Forum Judicum|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nYNGpUUxVtEC&pg=PA91|access-date=3 November 2013|year=1910|publisher=Wm. S. Hein Publishing|isbn=978-0-8377-1233-8|page=77}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = http://libro.uca.edu/vcode/vg3-1.htm| title = The Visigothic Code: (Forum judicum) - Book III: Concerning Marriage - Title I: Concerning Nuptial Contracts}}</ref>

In 860 AD, [[Pope Nicholas I]] wrote a letter to [[Boris I of Bulgaria]] in reply to questions regarding differences between Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox practices. Pope Nicholas describes how in the Western church the man gives his betrothed an engagement ring.<ref name="Scott1980">{{cite book|author=Stephen N. Scott|title=The Replies of Pope Nicholas I to the Inquiries of the Bulgarians|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2wkZNAAACAAJ|year=1980}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/866nicholas-bulgar.asp| title = The Responses of Pope Nicholas I to the Questions of the Bulgars A.D. 866 (Letter 99) Chapter 3}}</ref><ref name="Bingham1846">{{cite book|author=Joseph Bingham|title=Origines Ecclesiasticæ: The Antiquities of the Christian Church : with Two Sermons and Two Letters on the Nature and Necessity of Absolution|url=https://archive.org/details/originesecclesi06binggoog|year=1846|publisher=H. G. Bohn|page=[https://archive.org/details/originesecclesi06binggoog/page/n549 1215]|quote=Apud nostrates post sponsalia qua futurarum nuptiarum sunt promissio foedera quaeque consensu eorum qui haec contrahunt et eorum in quorum potestate sunt celebrantur. Postquam arris sponsam sibi sponsua per digitum fidei annulo insignitum desponderit...}}</ref> At the [[Fourth Council of the Lateran]] in 1215, convoked by [[Pope Innocent III]], the [[banns of marriage]] was instituted, prohibiting clandestine marriages and requiring that marriages be made public in advance.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.ewtn.com/library/councils/lateran4.htm#50| title = Fourth Lateran Council (1215) Constitution 51. Clandestine marriages forbidden| access-date = 2013-11-05| archive-date = 2016-08-20| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160820183422/http://www.ewtn.com/library/councils/lateran4.htm#50| url-status = dead}}</ref> Some{{who|date=December 2014}} legal scholars have seen in this a parallel with the engagement-ring tradition described by Pope Nicholas I.{{citation needed|date=December 2014}}

===Renaissance===
[[File:Bibliotheek Brugge, ms. 437, f384r.png|thumb|upright|Maximilian offers an engagement ring to [[Mary of Burgundy]]. [[Miniature (illuminated manuscript)|Miniature]] in a medieval manuscript copy of the Excellent Chronicle of Flanders by [[Anthonis de Roovere]]. Ca. 1485-1515. ([[Bruges Public Library]] Ms. 437)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Roovere |first=Anthonis de |title=Ms. 437 - [Excellente cronike van Vlaenderen en Gedicht op de bijeenkomst van Frederik III en Karel de Stoute] {{!}} Bibliotheek Brugge |url=https://www.bibliotheek.be/catalogus/anthonis-de-roovere/ms-437-excellente-cronike-van-vlaenderen-en-gedicht-op-de-bijeenkomst-van-frederik/library-v-obbrugge-oudedrukken_2980 |access-date=2022-04-01 |website=www.bibliotheek.be |language=nl}}</ref>]]
The first well-documented use of a diamond ring to signify engagement was by the [[Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor|Archduke Maximilian of Austria]] in the imperial court of Vienna in 1477, upon his betrothal to [[Mary of Burgundy]]. This then influenced those of higher social class and of significant wealth to give diamond rings to their loved ones.<ref name="Hesse2007">{{cite book|last=Hesse|first=Rayner W.|title=Jewelrymaking Through History: An Encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DIWEi5Hg93gC&pg=PA76|access-date=6 November 2013|date=1 January 2007|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-313-33507-5|page=76}}</ref>

===Reformation===
During the [[Protestant Reformation]] the wedding ring replaced the betrothal ring as the primary ring associated with marriage.<ref name="Kunz1917">{{cite book|last=Kunz|first=George F.|author-link=George Frederick Kunz|title=Rings for the Finger, from the Earlieast Known Times to the Present...|url=https://archive.org/details/ringsforfingerf00kunzgoog|access-date=11 November 2013|year=1917|publisher=and Lond.|page=[https://archive.org/details/ringsforfingerf00kunzgoog/page/n29 205]}}</ref> In Catholic countries the transition took place somewhat later.<ref name="SalzmanLawler2008">{{cite book|author1=Todd A. Salzman|author2=Michael G. Lawler|title=The Sexual Person: Toward a Renewed Catholic Anthropology|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p8nrAR3Oi1QC&pg=PA199|year=2008|publisher=Georgetown University Press|isbn=978-1-58901-726-9|page=199}}</ref>

===Enlightenment===
During the [[Age of Enlightenment]] both the [[gimmal ring]]s and [[posie ring]]s were popular, although the latter was more often used as an expression of sentiment than to indicate a formal engagement.<ref name="White2005">{{cite book|last=White|first=Carolyn L.|title=American Artifacts of Personal Adornment, 1680–1820: A Guide to Identification and Interpretation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aWsnAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA94|access-date=5 November 2013|date=8 September 2005|publisher=Rowman Altamira|isbn=978-0-7591-1465-4|page=94}}</ref>

===Victorian era===
In South Africa, diamonds were first found in 1866, although they were not identified as such until 1867.<ref name="Hazen1999">{{cite book|author=Robert M. Hazen|title=The Diamond Makers|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fNJQok6N9_MC&pg=PA11|date=22 July 1999|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-65474-6|pages=11–}}</ref><ref name="Chisholm1911">{{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Diamond |volume= 08 |last1= Miers |first1= Henry Alexander |author-link= Henry Alexander Miers | pages = 158&ndash;164; see page 160, para five |quote= South Africa.—-The first discovery was made in 1867 by Dr W. G. Atherstone....}}</ref> By 1872, the output of the diamond mines exceeded one million carats per year.<ref name="Reunert1893">{{cite book |last=Reunert |first=Theodore |title=Diamonds and gold in South Africa |url=https://archive.org/details/diamondsandgold01reungoog |access-date=5 November 2013 |year=1893 |publisher=J. C. Juta & Co. |page=[https://archive.org/details/diamondsandgold01reungoog/page/n193 126]}}</ref> As production increased, those of lesser means were able to join in on this movement. However, diamond engagement rings were for a long time seen as the domain of the nobility and aristocracy, and tradition often favoured simpler engagement bands.{{citation needed|date=December 2014}}

In 1852, the [[Koh-i-Noor]] diamond was re-cut and embellished in Queen Victoria's crown. This triggered a diamond rush throughout the world.{{citation needed|date=March 2024}}

===20th century===
In the United States, the popularity of diamond engagement rings declined after World War I, even more so than after the onset of the [[Great Depression]].<ref name="Russell2010">{{cite book|last=Russell|first=Rebecca Ross|title=Gender and Jewelry: A Feminist Analysis|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wx11yQK3J3QC&pg=PA50|access-date=10 November 2013|date=5 June 2010|publisher=Rebecca Ross Russell|isbn=978-1-4528-8253-6|page=50}}</ref>  

In 1938, the diamond [[cartel]] [[De Beers]] began a marketing campaign that would have a major impact on engagement rings. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, the price of diamonds collapsed.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-27371208|title=De Beers myth: Do people spend a month's salary on a diamond engagement ring?|last=Magazine|first=Laurence Cawley BBC News|work=BBC News|date=16 May 2014|access-date=2016-03-06}}</ref> At the same time, market research indicated that engagement rings were going out of style with the younger generation. Before World War II, only 10% of American engagement rings contained a diamond.<ref name=":0" /> While the first phase of the marketing campaign consisted of market research, the advertising phase began in 1939. One of the first elements of this campaign was to educate the public about the 4 Cs (cut, carats, color, and clarity). In 1947 the slogan "a diamond is forever" was introduced.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/05/fashion/weddings/how-americans-learned-to-love-diamonds.html|title=How Americans Learned to Love Diamonds|last=Sullivan|first=J. Courtney|date=2013-05-03|newspaper=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=2016-03-06}}</ref> Ultimately, the De Beers campaign sought to persuade the consumer that an engagement ring is indispensable, and that a diamond is the only acceptable stone for an engagement ring.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Otnes |first1=Cele C. |last2=Pleck |first2=Elizabeth |title=Cinderella Dreams: The Allure of the Lavish Wedding |date=2003 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=9780520236615 |page=64 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OYBB_DGQN7kC&pg=PA64 |language=en |quote=Ayer promoted diamonds as indispensable luxury items that all “proper” engaged women should acquire.}}</ref> The sales of diamonds in the United States rose from $23 million to $2.1 billion between 1939 and 1979.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Shotton|first=Richard|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Uc1MDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT149|title=The Choice Factory: 25 behavioural biases that influence what we buy|date=2018-02-12|publisher=Harriman House Limited|isbn=978-0-85719-610-1|language=en}}</ref>

Law professor Margaret F. Brining links the surge in engagement ring sales in the USA after 1945 to the abolishment of the "breach of promise", that had entitled a woman whose fiancé had broken off their engagement to sue him for damages.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Brining|first=Margaret F.|title=Rings and promises|url=http://homes.chass.utoronto.ca/~siow/332/rings.pdf|website=Originally printed in 6 Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization 203 (1990)}}</ref> This rule of law was especially important for many women who had been sexually intimate with the fiancé, but were socially expected to be virgins in a new marriage, therefore lost "market value". After the gradual abolishment of that law action in all states the expensive engagement ring rose to popularity as a new financial security in case of a break-up, since it was custom for the women to keep the ring (partly only under the condition that the break-up was not seen as her fault).

=== 21st century ===
In the early 21st century, the jewellery industry started marketing engagement rings for men under the name "mangagement rings".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/love-sex/mangagement-rings-engagement-rings-men-women-weddings-proposal-a7913041.html|title=Why millennial men are wearing engagement rings|date=2017-08-30|website=The Independent|language=en|access-date=2019-01-13}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/02/the-rise-of-the-man-gagement-ring/283827/|title=The Rise of the Man-gagement Ring|last=Zabell|first=Samantha|date=2014-02-14|website=The Atlantic|language=en-US|access-date=2019-01-13}}</ref>