Archbishop Filippo Minutolo's ruby ring

Archbishop Filippo Minutolo's ruby ring is the most valuable object in the tomb robbery that concludes Andreuccio di Pietro's ordeal in Naples. Buried on the dead archbishop's finger and worth more than five hundred gold florins, it gives the thieves their target; concealed by Andreuccio, it becomes the one prize he carries away from a night of betrayal, danger, and accidental rescue. The ring does not merely compensate him for lost money: its possession marks his shift from a victim repeatedly stripped of control to a survivor who has learned to keep one advantage hidden.

Identity and Value

The ruby ring belongs to an archbishop buried in Naples in his richest ornaments. Its value is specified as more than five hundred gold florins, setting it apart from the crozier, mitre, and gloves that the thieves also hope to take. The exact price makes the ring the robbery's central prize and explains why the thieves insist that Andreuccio search for it after he passes the other grave goods out of the tomb.

The jewel's value is practical as well as descriptive. Andreuccio had come to Naples to buy horses, but after a series of deceptions and losses he returns to Perugia with the ring instead. The ending measures his altered fortune in the terms of his original errand: his money has gone, yet the ring gives him a substantial possession to bring home. The story does not say that he sells it or calculates its value against his losses; it leaves the ring as the tangible result of a night in which survival itself seemed uncertain.

The Ring in the Tomb Robbery

Andreuccio learns of the burial while seeking help from two thieves after his money has been stolen. They propose robbing the archbishop's tomb and tell him that the body was interred with a ruby ring worth more than five hundred florins. Before reaching the cathedral, they lower Andreuccio into a well under the pretext of washing him. When the watch arrives, the thieves flee; the watchmen haul the rope, then drop it in fright when Andreuccio appears at the well's edge. He climbs out, finds the watchmen's abandoned arms, and leaves without touching them, wary that the scene may be another trap.

The thieves meet him again and take him to the cathedral. They force him to enter the large marble tomb, threatening him when he refuses, while they remain outside to receive the grave goods. Andreuccio suspects that they mean to take everything and abandon him inside. Remembering the ring's value, he removes it from the archbishop's finger and puts it on his own before passing out the crozier, mitre, and gloves. He strips the corpse to its shirt and tells the thieves that he has found nothing else.

The ring changes the balance between the men, but only briefly. The thieves demand that Andreuccio search again, knowing the ring ought to be there. He pretends to comply and keeps them waiting, concealing his discovery while they watch from above. They then pull away the prop holding up the heavy tomb lid and leave him shut inside. The ring is thus secured, but its possessor is trapped in the grave with the dead archbishop, facing hunger, the stench of the tomb, or the prospect of being discovered and hanged as a thief.

Escape and Aftermath

Andreuccio's escape comes through another robbery, not through the ring itself. He hears new intruders open the tomb and argue over who will enter. When a priest puts his legs into the grave, Andreuccio catches one and makes as if to drag him down. The priest cries out and the group flees, leaving the tomb open. Andreuccio climbs out, leaves the cathedral by the way he entered, and makes his way to the seashore before returning to his inn as day approaches. The ruby ring remains on his finger through this escape.

At the host's advice, Andreuccio departs Naples immediately. He returns to Perugia with the ring, having arrived in search of horses and endured the loss of his money, the well, and the sealed tomb. The ending gives the jewel a double function: it is the material reward he has managed to retain, and the evidence of a new caution. Unlike the other goods he hands over, the ring is withheld from the thieves; unlike the watchmen's arms, it is not abandoned in confusion. Its concealment is the small, decisive act that lets Andreuccio leave the grave with something of value.

Narrative Significance

The ring concentrates the story's repeated reversals into a single object. It is first presented as a prized possession of the dead, then as the reason the thieves risk opening the tomb, and finally as a secret Andreuccio keeps from his supposed partners. Each change in its custody sharpens the contrast between apparent helplessness and opportunistic action: Andreuccio is coerced into the grave, but he has already chosen what to secure before surrendering the other ornaments.

Its ending is deliberately concrete rather than triumphant. Andreuccio survives, returns home, and retains a valuable jewel, but the narrative does not turn the ring into proof that he has mastered danger or recovered everything he lost. It records a narrow gain produced by alertness amid chance. The object that drew the thieves into the tomb also gives Andreuccio a reason to enter it; once inside, keeping it hidden becomes the one advantage that lasts beyond the robbery.