A Complete Guide to Heraldry Part 45

The origin of the crown or coronet is, of course, to be met with in the diadem and fillet. In one of the Cantor Lectures delivered by Mr. Cyril Davenport, F.S.A., in February 1902, on "The History of Personal Jewellery from Prehistoric Times," he devoted considerable attention to the development of the diadem, and the following extracts are from the printed report of his lecture:--

"The bandeau or fillet tied round the head was probably first used to keep long hair from getting into the eyes of primitive man. Presently it became specialised, priests wearing one pattern and fighting men another.

"The soft band which can be seen figured on the heads of kings in early coins, is no doubt a mark of chieftains.h.i.+p. This use of a band, of special colour, to indicate authority, probably originated in the East. It was adopted by Alexander the Great, who also used the diadem of the King of Persia. Justinian says that Alexander's predecessors did not wear any diadem. Justinian also tells us that the diadems then worn were of some soft material, as in describing the accidental wounding of Lysimachus by Alexander, he says that the hurt was bound up by Alexander _with his own diadem_. This was considered a lucky omen for Lysimachus, who actually did shortly afterwards become King of Thrace.

"In Egypt diadems of particular shape are of very ancient use. There were crowns for Upper and Lower Egypt, and a combination of both for the whole country. They were also distinguished by colour. The Uraeus or snake worn in the crowns and head-dresses of the Pharaohs was a symbol of royalty.

Representations of the Egyptian G.o.ds always show them as wearing crowns.

"In a.s.syrian sculptures deities and kings are shown wearing diadems, apparently bands of stuff or leather studded with discs of _repousse_ work.

Some of these discs, detached, have actually been found. Similar discs were plentifully found at Mycenae, which were very likely used in a similar way.

Some of the larger ornamental head-dresses worn by a.s.syrian kings appear to have been conical-shaped helmets, or perhaps crowns; it is now difficult to say which, {351} because the material of which they were made cannot be ascertained. If they were of gold, they were probably crowns, like the wonderful openwork golden Scythian head-dress found at Kertch, but if of an inferior metal they may have been only helmets.

"At St. Petersburg there is a beautiful ancient Greek diadem representing a crown of olive. An Etruscan ivy wreath of thin gold, still encircling a bronze helmet, is in the British Museum.

"Justinian says that Morimus tried to hang himself with the diadem, evidently a ribbon-like bandeau, sent to him by Mithridates. The Roman royal diadem was originally a white ribbon, a wreath of laurel was the reward of distinguished citizens, while a circlet of golden leaves was given to successful generals.

"Caesar consistently refused the royal white diadem which Antony offered him, preferring to remain perpetual dictator. One of his partisans ventured to crown Caesar's bust with a coronet of laurel tied with royal white ribbon, but the tribunes quickly removed it and heavily punished the perpetrator of the offence.

"During the Roman Empire the prejudice against the white bandeau remained strong. The emperors dared not wear it. Caligula wished to do so, but was dissuaded on being told that such a proceeding might cost his life.

Eliogabalus used to wear a diadem studded with precious stones, but it is not supposed to have indicated rank, but only to have been a rich lady's parure, this emperor being fond of dressing himself up as a woman.

Caracalla, who took Alexander the Great as his model as far as possible, is shown on some of his coins wearing a diadem of a double row of pearls, a similar design to which was used by the kings of Parthia. On coins of Diocletian, there shows a double row of pearls, sewn on a double band and tied in a knot at the back.

"Diadems gradually closed in and became crowns, and on Byzantine coins highly ornate diadems can be recognised, and there are many beautiful representations of them in enamels and mosaics, as well as a few actual specimens. At Ravenna, in mosaic work in the church of San Vitale, are crowned portraits of Justinian and his Empress Theodosia; in the enamel portrait of the Empress Irene in the Pal d'Oro at Venice, can be seen a beautiful jewelled crown with hinged plaques, and the same construction is used on the iron crown of Lombardy, the sacred crown of Hungary, and the crown of Charlemagne, all most beautiful specimens of jewellers' work.

"On the plaques of the crown of Constantine Monomachos are also fine enamel portraits of himself and his queen Zoe, wearing similar crowns. The cataseistas, or jewelled chains, one over each ear and one at the back, which occur on all these crowns, may be the survival of the loose ends of the tie of the original fillet. {352}

"In later times of Greece and Rome, owing to the growth of republican feeling the diadem lost its political significance, and was relegated to the ladies.

"In the Middle Ages the diadem regained much of its earlier significance, and ceased to be only the simple head ornament it had become. Now it became specialised in form, reserved as an emblem of rank. The forms of royal crowns and diadems is a large and fascinating study, and where original examples do not now exist, the development can often be followed in sculpture, coins, or seals. Heraldry now plays an important part. Diadems or circlets gradually give way to closed crowns, in the case of sovereigns possessing independent authority."

But to pa.s.s to the crown proper, there is no doubt that from the earliest times of recorded history crowns have been a sign and emblem of sovereignty. It equally admits of no doubt that the use of a crown or coronet was by no means exclusive to a sovereign, but whilst our knowledge is somewhat curtailed as to the exact relation in which great overlords and n.o.bles stood to their sovereign, it is difficult to draw with any certainty or exact.i.tude definitive conclusions of the symbolism a crown or coronet conveyed. Throughout Europe in the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth, and well into the fourteenth centuries, the great territorial lords enjoyed and exercised many--in fact most--of the attributes of sovereignty, and in England especially, where the king was no more than the first amongst his peers, the territorial earls were in much the position of petty sovereigns.

It is only natural, therefore, that we should find them using this emblem of sovereignty. But what we do find in England is that a coronet or fillet was used, apparently without let or hindrance, by even knights. It is, however, a matter for thought as to whether many of these fillets were not simply the turban or "puggaree" folded into the shape of a fillet, but capable of being unrolled if desired. What the object of the wholesale wearing of crowns and coronets was, it is difficult to conjecture.

The development of the crown of the English sovereigns has been best told by Mr. Cyril Davenport in his valuable work on "The English Regalia" (Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co.). Mr. Davenport, whose knowledge on these matters is probably unequalled, may best be allowed to tell the story in his own words, he and his publishers having very kindly permitted this course to be taken:-- {353}

THE CROWN OF GREAT BRITAIN

BY CYRIL DAVENPORT, F.S.A.

"Crowns appear to have been at an early period worn by kings in battle, in order that they might be easily recognised; and although it is quite possible that this outward sign of sovereignty may have marked the wearer as being ent.i.tled to special protection by his own men, it is also likely that it was often a dangerous sign of importance. Upon the authority of their coins, the heads of the early British kings were adorned with variously formed fillets and ornamental wreaths. Helmets are also evidently intended to be shown, and on some of the coins of Athelstan the helmet bears upon it a crown of three raised points, with a single pearl at the top of each (Fig. 619). Other coins bear the crown with the three raised points without the helmet (Fig. 620). This crown of three points, bearing sometimes one and sometimes three pearls at the top of each, continued to be used by all the sole monarchs until Canute, on whose head a crown is shown in which the three points develop into three clearly-marked trefoils (Fig. 621). On the great seal of Edward the Confessor the king is wearing an ornamental cap, which is described by Mr. Wyon in his book about the Great Seals as bearing a crown with three points trefoiled; but the impressions of this Great Seal that I have been able to see are so indistinct in this particular that I do not feel justified in corroborating his opinion. On some of the coins, however, of Edward the Confessor, an arched crown is very clearly shown, and this crown has depending from it, on each side, ta.s.sels with ornamental ends (Fig. 622).

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 619.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 620.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 621.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 622.]

"In the list of the English regalia which were destroyed under the Commonwealth in 1649 is found an item of great interest, viz. 'a gold wyer work crown with little bells,' which is there stated to have belonged to King Alfred, who appears to have been the first English king for whom the ceremony of coronation was used; and it is remarkable that on several of the crowns on coins and seals, from the time of Edward the Confessor until Henry I., little ta.s.sels or tags are shown which may indeed represent little bells suspended by a ribbon.

"On King Alfred's own coins there is unfortunately nothing which can be recognised as a crown. {354}

"On the coins of Henry II. a crown is shown with arches, apparently intended to be jewelled, as is also the rim. There are also ta.s.sels with ornamental ends at the back of the crown (Fig. 623).

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 623.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 624.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 625.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 626.]

"William I. on his Great Seal wears a crown with three points, at the top of each of which are three pearls (Fig. 624), and on some of his coins a more ornamental form of crown occurs having a broad jewelled rim and two arches, also apparently jewelled, and at each side are two pendants with pearl ends (Fig. 625). William II. on his Great Seal has a crown with five points (Fig. 626), the centre one being slightly bigger than the others, and at the top of each a single pearl. At each side of the crown are pendants having three pearls at the ends.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 627.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 628.]

"On some of the coins of Stephen a pretty form of crown is seen. It has three fleurs-de-lis and two jewelled arches (Fig. 627). The arches disappear from this time until the reign of Edward IV. On the Great Seal of Henry I. the king wears a simple crown with three fleurs-de-lis points, and two pendants each with three pearls at the ends (Fig. 628), and after this the pendants seem to have been discontinued.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 629.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 630.]

"On the first Great Seal of Henry III. a crown with three fleurs-de-lis is shown surmounting a barred helmet (Fig. 629), and Edward I. wore a similar crown with three fleurs-de-lis, but having supplementary pearls between each (Fig. 630), and this form lasted for a long time, as modifications of it are found on the coins of all the kings till Henry VII. On the third Great Seal of Edward IV. the king wears a crown with five fleurs-de-lis, the centre one being larger than the others, and the crown is arched and has at the top an orb and cross (Fig. 631). Henry VI. on his first seal for foreign affairs, on which occurs the English s.h.i.+eld, uses above it a crown with three crosses-patee and between each a pearl (Fig. 632), this being the first distinct use of the cross-patee on the English crown; and it probably was used here in place of the fleurs-de-lis. .h.i.therto worn in order to {355} make a clear distinction between it and the French crown, which has the fleurs-de-lis only and surmounts the coat of arms of that country.

The king himself wears an arched crown, but the impressions are so bad that the details of it cannot be followed.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 631.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 632.]

"Henry VII. on his Great Seal uses as ornaments for the crown, crosses-patee alternately with fleurs-de-lis, and also arches with an orb and cross at the top (Fig. 633) and, on some of his coins, he reverts to the three fleurs-de-lis with points between them, arches being still used, with the orb and cross at the top (Fig. 634). An ornamental form of crown bearing five ornamental leaves alternately large and small, with arches, orb, and cross at the top (Fig. 635), occurs on the s.h.i.+llings of Henry VII.

On the crowns of Henry VIII., as well as upon his Great Seals, the alternate crosses-patee and fleurs-de-lis are found on the rim of the crown, which is arched, and has an orb and cross at the top, and this is the form that has remained ever since (Fig. 636). So we may consider that the growth of the ornament on the rim of the crown has followed a regular sequence from the points with one pearl at the top, of aethelstan, to the trefoil of Canute; the arches began with Edward the Confessor, and the centre trefoil turned into the cross-patee of Henry VI. The fact that the remaining trefoils turned eventually into fleurs-de-lis is only, I think, a natural expansion of form, and does not appear to have had anything to do with the French fleur-de-lis, which was adopted as an heraldic bearing for an entirely different reason. The Royal coat of arms of England did bear for a long time in one of its quarterings the actual fleurs-de-lis of France, and this, no doubt, has given some reason to the idea that the fleurs-de-lis on the crown had also something to do with France; but as a matter of fact they had existed on the crown of England long anterior to our use of them on the coat of arms, as well as remaining there subsequently to their discontinuance on our Royal escutcheon.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 633.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 634.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 635.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 636.]

"The cross-patee itself may possibly have been evolved in a somewhat similar way from the three pearls of William I., as we often find the centre trefoil, into which, as we have seen, these three points eventually {356} turned, has a tendency to become larger than the others, and this difference has been easily made more apparent by squaring the ends of the triple leaf. At the same time it must not be forgotten that the cross-patee was actually used on the sceptre of Edward the Confessor, so it is just possible it may have had some specially English significance.

"I have already mentioned that as well as the official crown of England, which alone I have just been describing, there has often been a second or State crown, and this, although it has in general design followed the pattern of the official crown, has been much more elaborately ornamented, and in it has been set and reset the few historic gems possessed by our nation. The fact that these State crowns have in turn been denuded of their jewels accounts for the fact that the old settings of some of them still exist.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 637.]