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CROWN

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Originally appearing in Volume V07, Page 518 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CROWN and CORONET, an See also:

official or symbolical See also:ornament worn on or See also:round the See also:head. The crown (See also:Lat. See also:corona) at first had no See also:regal significance. It was a See also:garland, or See also:wreath, of leaves or See also:flowers, conferred on the winners in the athletic See also:games. After-wards it was often made of See also:gold, and among the See also:Romans was bestowed as a recognition of See also:honourable service performed or distinction won, and on occasion it took such a See also:form as to correspond with, or indicate the See also:character of, the service rendered. The corona obsidionalis was formed of grass and flowers plucked on the spot and given to the See also:general who conquered a See also:city. The corona civica, made of See also:oak leaves with acorns, was bestowed on the soldier who in See also:battle saved the See also:life of a See also:Roman See also:citizen. The mural crown (corona muralis) was the decoration of the soldier who was the first to See also:scale the walls of a besieged city, and was usually a circlet of gold adorned with a See also:series of turrets. The See also:naval crown (corona navalis), decorated in like manner with a series of See also:miniature prows of See also:ships, was the See also:reward of him who gained a notable victory at See also:sea. These latter crowns form charges in See also:English See also:heraldry (see HERALDRY). Many other forms of crown were used by the Romans, as the conqueror's triumphal crown of See also:laurel, the See also:myrtle crown, and the convivial, bridal, funeral and other crowns. Some of the emperors wore crowns on occasion, as Caligula and See also:Domitian, at the games, and stellate or spike crowns are depicted on the heads of several of the emperors on their coins, but no See also:idea of imperial See also:sovereignty was indicated thereby. The Roman See also:people, who had accepted imperial See also:rule as a fact, were very jealous of the employment of its See also:emblem on the See also:part of their rulers.

That emblem was the diadem, and although the diadem and crown are frequently confused with each other they were quite distinct, and it is well to See also:

bear this in mind. The diadem, which was of eastern origin, was a See also:fillet or See also:band of See also:linen or See also:silk, richly embroidered, and was worn tied round the forehead. See also:Selden (Titles of See also:Honour, See also:chap. viii. See also:sect. 8) says that the diadem and crown " have been from See also:ancient times confounded, yet the diadem strictly was a very different thing from what a crown now is or was, and it was no other then than only a fillet of silk, linen, or some such thing." It is desirable to remember the distinction, for, although diadem and crown are now used as synonymous terms, the two were originally quite distinct. The confusion between them has, perhaps, come about from the fact that the See also:modern crown seems to be rather an See also:evolution from the diadem than the lineal descendant of the older crowns. The linen or silk diadem was eventually exchanged for a flexible band of gold, which was worn in its See also:place round the forehead. The further development of the crown from this was readily effected by the addition of an upper See also:row of ornament. Thus the See also:medieval and modern crowns may be considered as radiated diadems, and so the diadem and crown have become, as it were, merged in one another. Among the See also:historical crowns of See also:Europe, the See also:Iron Crown of See also:Lombardy, now preserved at See also:Monza, claims See also:notice. It is a band of iron, enclosed in a circlet formed of six plates of gold, 516 hinged one to the other, and richly jewelled and enamelled. It is regarded with See also:great reverence, owing to a See also:legend that the inner band of iron has been hammered out of one of the nails of the true See also:cross. The crown is so small, the See also:diameter being only 6 in., and the circlet only 21 in. in width, that doubts have been See also:felt as to whether it was originally intended to be worn on the head or was merely meant to be a votive crown.

The legend as to the iron being that of one of the nails of the cross is rejected by See also:

Muratori and others, and cannot be traced far back. How it arose or how any See also:credence came to be reposed in the legend, it is difficult to surmise. Another historical crown is that of See also:Charlemagne, preserved at See also:Vienna. It is composed of a series of four larger and four smaller plaques of gold, rounded at the tops and set together alternately. The larger plaques arc richly ornamented with emeralds and sapphires, and the smaller plaques have each an enamelled figure of Our See also:Lord, See also:David, See also:Solomon, and See also:Hezekiah respectively. A jewelled cross rises from the large front See also:plaque, and an See also:arch bearing the name of the See also:emperor See also:Conrad springs across from the back of this cross to the back of the crown. At See also:Madrid there is preserved the crown of Svintilla, See also:king of the Visigoths, 621-631. It is a circlet of thick gold set with pearls, sapphires and other stones. It has been given as a votive offering at some See also:period to a See also:church, as was often the See also:custom. Attached to its upper rim are the chains whereby to suspend it, and from the See also:lower rim hang letters of red-coloured See also:glass or See also:paste which read +SVINTILANVS REX OFFERET. Two other Visigothic crowns are also preserved with it in the Armeria Real. In 1858 a most remarkable See also:discovery was made near See also:Toledo, of eight gold crowns of the 7th See also:century, fashioned lavishly with barbaric splendour.

They are now in the See also:

Cluny Museum at See also:Paris, having been See also:purchased for L4000, the See also:intrinsic value of the gold, without reckoning that of the jewels and See also:precious stones, being not less than £600. The largest and most magnificent is the crown of Reccesvinto, king of the Visigoths from 653 to 675. It is composed of a circlet of pure gold set with pearls and precious stones in great profusion, which gives it a most sumptuous See also:appearance. It is 9 in. in diameter and more than 1 in. in thickness, the width of the circlet being 4 in. It has also been given as a votive offering to a church, and hassoon afterwards followed they were buried out of sight for safety, where they were eventually discovered absolutely unharmed centuries afterwards. For a detailed description of these most remarkable crowns the reader must be referred to a See also:paper by the See also:late Mr See also:Albert Way (Archaeological See also:Journal, XVi. 253). Mr Way, in the See also:article alluded to, says of the custom of offering crowns to churches that frequent notices of the usage may be found in the lives of the Roman pontiffs by See also:Anastasius. " They are usually described as having been placed over the See also:altar, and in many instances mention is made of jewelled crosses of gold appended within such crowns as an See also:accessory ornament. . The crowns suspended in churches suggested doubtless the sumptuous pensile luminaries, frequently designated from a very See also:early period as coronae, in which the form of the royal circlet was preserved in much larger proportions, as exemplified by the remarkable corona still to be seen suspended in the See also:cathedral at See also:Aix-la-Chapelle over the See also:crypt in which the (without the infulae). See also:body of Charlemagne was deposited." Of modern See also:continental crowns the imperial crown of See also:Austria (fig. 4) may be mentioned. It is composed of a circlet of gold, adorned with precious stones and pearls, heightened with fleurs-de-lys, and is raised above the circlet in the form of a cap which is opened in the See also:middle, so that the lower part is See also:crescent-shaped; across this opening from front to back rises an arched fillet, enriched with pearls and surmounted by an See also:orb, on which is a cross of pearls.

The papal See also:

tiara (a See also:Greek word, of See also:Persian origin, for a form of ancient Persian popular head-See also:dress, See also:standing high erect, and worn encircled by a diadem by the See also:kings), the triple crown worn by the popes, has taken various forms since the 9th century. It is important to remember that the tiaras in old See also:Italian pictures are inventions of the artists and not copied from actual examples. In its See also:present shape, dating substantially from the See also:Renaissance, it is a peaked head-covering not unlike a closed See also:mitre (q.v.), round which are placed one above the other three circlets or open See also:Figs. 2-4 from See also:Meyer's Konversations Lexikon. the chains to hang it by attached to the upper rim, while from the lower rim depend pearls, sapphires and a series of richly jewelled letters 2 in. each in See also:depth, which read +RECCESVINTHVS REX OFFERET. The second of these crowns in See also:size is generally thought to be that of the See also:queen of Reccesvinto. It has no legend, but merely a cross See also:hanging from it. The six others are smaller, and are all most richly ornamented. They are believed to have been the crowns of Reccesvinto's See also:children. From one of them hangs a legend which relates that they were an offering to a church, which has been identified with much See also:probability as that of Sorbas, a small See also:town in the See also:province of See also:Almeria. It has been surmised that in the disturbances which crowns.' Two bands, or infulae, as they are called, hang from it as in the See also:case of a mitre. The tiara is the crown of the See also:pope as a temporal See also:sovereign (see TIARA).

' A coloured See also:

drawing, done in the first See also:half of the 18th century, of the magnificent tiara made by the celebrated See also:goldsmith, Caradosso, for See also:Julius II., is in the See also:Print-See also:Room, See also:British Museum. It was re-fashioned by See also:Pius VI., but went with other treasure as part of the See also:indemnity to See also:Napoleon. The splendid See also:emerald at the See also:summit, which was engraved with the arms of See also:Gregory XIII., was restored by Napoleon and now adorns another papal tiara at See also:Rome. In this drawing the three crowns (a feature introduced at the beginning of the 14th century) are represented by three bands of X-shaped ornament in enamelled gold. Pictorial representations in early See also:manuscripts, and the See also:rude See also:effigies on their coins, are not very helpful in deciding as to the form of crown worn by the Anglo-Saxon and Danish kings of See also:England before the See also:Norman See also:Conquest. In some cases it would appear as if the diadem studded with pearls had been worn, and in others something more of the character of a crown. We reach surer ground after the Conquest, for then the great See also:seals, monumental effigies, and coins become more and more serviceable in determining the forms the crown took. The crown of See also:William the Conqueror and his immediate successors seems to have been a See also:plain circlet with four uprights, Royal Crowns. William I. to See also:Henry IV. which terminated in trefoils (fig. 5), but Henry I. enriched the circlet with pearls or gems (fig. 6), and on his great See also:seal the trefoils have something of the character of fleurs-de-lys.

The effigy of See also:

Richard I. at See also:Fontevrault shows a development of the crown; the See also:trefoil heads are See also:expanded, and are chased and jewelled. The crown of See also:John is shown on his effigy at See also:Worcester, though unfortunately it is rather badly mutilated. It shows, however, that the upper ornament was of fleurons set with jewels. Fig. 7 shows generally this development of the crown in a restored form. The crown on the effigy of Henry III. at See also:Westminster had a beaded row below the circlet, which is narrow and plain, and from it rises a series of plain trefoils with slightly raised points between them. The See also:tomb was opened in 1794, and on the king's head was found an See also:imitation crown of See also:tin or See also:latten gilt, with trefoils rising from its upper edge. This, although only made of See also:base See also:metal for the king's See also:burial, may nevertheless be taken as exhibiting the form of the royal crown at the See also:time, and it may be usefully compared with that on the effigy of the king, which was made in See also:Edward I.'s reign (fig. 8). Edward I. used a crown of very similar See also:design. In the crown of Edward II. we have perhaps the most graceful and elegant of all the forms which the English medieval crown assumed (fig. 9), and it seems to have continued without any marked alteration during the reigns of Edward III. and Richard II.

The crown on the head of the effigy of Henry IV. at See also:

Canterbury evidently represents one of great magnificence, both of design and ornament. What is perhaps lost of the See also:grace of form of the crown of Edward II. is made up for by a profusion of adornment and ornamentation unsurpassed at any later period (fig. Io). The circlet is much wider and is richly chased and jewelled, and from it rise eight large leaves, the intervening spaces being filled with fleurs-de-lys of definite outline. It will be noted that this crown is, like its predecessors, what is known as an open crown, without any See also:arches rising from the circlet, but in the accounts of the See also:coronation of Henry IV. by See also:Froissart and See also:Waurin it is distinctly stated that the crown was arched in the form of a cross. This is the earliest mention of an arched crown, which is not represented on the great seal till that of Edward IV. in 1461. The crown, as shown on Henry IV.'s effigy, very probably represents the celebrated " Harry crown " which was afterwards broken up and employed as See also:surety for the See also:loan required by Henry V. when he was about to embark on his expedition to See also:France. Fig. 11 shows the crown of Henry V. The crown of Henry VI. seems to have had three arches, and there is the same number shown on the crown of Henry VII., which ensigns the See also:hawthorn See also:bush badge of that king. The crown of Edward IV. (fig.

12) shows two arches, and a crown similarly arched appears on the great seal of Richard III. Crowns, both open and arched, are represented in See also:

sculpture and paintings until the end of the reign of Edward IV., and the royal arms are occasionally ensigned by an open crown as late as the reign of Henry VIII. The crown of Henry VII. on his effigy in Westminster See also:Abbey shows a circlet surmounted by four crosses and four fleurs-de-lys alternately, and has two arches rising from it. A similar crown appears on the great seal of Henry VIII. The crown of Henry VII. (fig. 13), which ensigns the royal arms above the See also:south See also:door of King's See also:College See also:chapel, See also:Cambridge, has the See also:motto of the See also:order of the Garter round the circlet. Fig. 14 shows the form of crown used by Edward VI., but a tendency (not shown in the See also:illustration) began of flattening the arches of the crown, and on some of the coins of See also:Elizabeth the arches are not merely flattened, but are depressed in the centre, much after the character of the arches of the crown on many of the See also:silver coins of the Igth century See also:prior to 1887. The crowns of See also:James I. and See also:Charles I. had four arches, springing from the alternate crosses and fleurs-de-lys of the circlet (fig. 15). The crown which strangely enough surmounts the See also:shield with the arms of the See also:Commonwealth on the coins of See also:Oliver See also:Cromwell (as distinguished from those of the Commonwealth itself, which have no crown) is a royal crown with alternate crosses and fleurs-de-lys round the circlet, and is surmounted by three arches, which, though somewhat flattened, are not See also:bent.

On them rests the orb and cross. The crown used by Charles II. (fig. 16) shows the arches depressed in the centre, a feature of the royal crown which seems to have been continued henceforward till 1887, when the pointed form of the arches was resumed, in consonance with an idea that such a form indicated an imperial rather than a regal crown, Queen See also:

Victoria having been proclaimed empress of See also:India in 1877. In the foregoing See also:account the changes of the form of the crowns of the kings have been briefly noticed. Those crowns were the See also:personal crowns, worn by the different kings on various See also:state occasions, but they were all crowned before the Commonwealth with the ancient crown of St Edward, and the queens See also:consort with that of Queen Edith. There were, in fact, two sets of See also:regalia, the one used for the coronations and kept at Westminster, and the other that used on other occasions by the kings and kept in the See also:Tower. The crowns of this latter set were the personal crowns made to See also:fit the different wearers, and are those which have been briefly described. The crown of St Edward; with which the sovereigns were crowned, had a narrow circlet from which See also:rose alternately four crosses and four fleurs-de-lys, and from the crosses sprang two arches, which at their See also:crossing supported an orb and cross. These arches must have been a later addition, and possibly were first added for the coronation of Henry IV. (vide supra). Queen Edith's crown had a plain circlet with, so far as can be determined, four crosses of pearls or gems on it, and a large cross patee rising from it in front, and arches of jewels or pearls terminating in a large See also:pearl at the See also:top.

A valuation of these ancient crowns was made at the time of the Commonwealth prior to their destruction. From this valuation we learn that St Edward's crown was of gold See also:

filigree or " wirework " as it is called, and was set with stones, and was valued at £248. Queen Edith's crown was found to be only of silver-gilt, with counterfeit pearls, sapphires and other stones, See also:Recent Forms of the English Crown. and was only valued at £16. At the Restoration an endeavour was made to reproduce as well as possible the old crowns and regalia according to their ancient form, and a new crown of St Edward was made on the lines of the old one for the coronation of Charles II. The framework of this crown, bereft of its jewels, is in the See also:possession of See also:Lady See also:Amherst of See also:Hackney. The crowns of James II., William III. and See also:Anne generally resembled it in form (fig. 16). The later crowns of the Georges and William IV. are represented in general form in fig. 17. Although the marginal See also:note in the coronation order of Queen Victoria indicates " K. Edward's crown " as that with which the late queen was to be crowned, it was actually the state or imperial crown worn by the sovereign when leaving the church after the ceremony that was used.

It had been altered for the coronation, and the arches were formed of oak leaves (fig. 18). Fig. 19 shows Queen Victoria's crown with raised arches and without the inner cap of See also:

estate, which since the reign of Henry VII. has been degraded into forming a lining to the crowns of the sovereigns and the coronets of the peers. Fig. 20 shows the coronation crown of King Edward VII. The crown of See also:Scotland, preserved with the Scottish regalia at See also:Edinburgh, is believed to be composed of the See also:original circlet worn by King See also:Robert the See also:Bruce. James V. Coronation Crowns of Queen Victoria and King Edward VII. made additions to it in 1535, and in general characteristics it much resembles an English crown of that date. The kings of arms in England, Scotland and See also:Ireland See also:wear crowns, the ornamentation of which round the upper rim of the circlet is composed of a row of See also:acanthus or oak leaves. Round the circlet is the singularly inappropriate See also:text from See also:Psalm li., " See also:Miserere mei See also:Deus secundum magnam misericordiam See also:tuam." The form of these crowns seems to have been settled in the reign of Charles II.

Before that period they varied at different times, according to representations given of them in grants of arms, &c. This brings us to the crowns of lesser dignity, known for that See also:

reason as coronets, and worn by the five orders of peers. The use of crowns by See also:dukes originated in 1362, when Edward III. created his sons Lionel and John dukes of See also:Clarence and See also:Lancaster respectively. This was done by investing them with a See also:sword, a cap of See also:maintenance or estate, and with a circlet of gold set with precious stones, which was imposed on the head. Previous to this dukes had been invested at their creation by the girding on of a sword only. In 1387 Richard II. created Richard de See also:Vere See also:marquess of See also:Dublin, and invested him by girding on a sword, and by placing a See also:golden circlet on his head. The golden circlet was confined to dukes and marquesses till 1444, when Henry VI. created Henry See also:Beauchamp, See also:earl of See also:Warwick, premier earl, and the letters patent effecting this concede that the earl and his heirs shall wear a golden circlet on the head on feast days, even in the royal presence. As to the form of these circlets we have no clear knowledge. The dignity of a See also:viscount was first created by Henry VI. in 1439, but nothing is said of any insignia pertaining to that dignity. Coronets of Dukes, Marquesses and Earls. It is believed that a circlet of gold with an upper rim of pearls was first conferred on a viscount by James I., who conceded it to Robert See also:Cecil, Viscount Cranborne. However, in 1625–1626 it is definitely recorded that the viscounts carried their coronets in their hands in the coronation procession from Westminster See also:Hall to the Abbey church.

The use of a coronet by the barons See also:

dates from the coronation of Charles II., and by letters patent of the 7th of See also:August 1661 their coronet is de-scribed as a circle of gold with six pearls on it. At the present See also:day the coronet of a See also:duke (fig. 21) is formed of a circlet of gold, from which rise eight See also:strawberry leaves. The coronet of a marquess (fig. 22) differs from that of a duke in having only four strawberry leaves, the intervening spaces being occupied by four See also:low points which are surmounted by pearls. The coronet of an earl (fig. 23) differs again by having eight tall rays on each of which is set a pearl, the intervening spaces being occupied by strawberry leaves one-See also:fourth of the height of the rays. The coronet of a viscount (fig. 24) has sixteen small pearls fixed to the golden circlet, and the coronet of a See also:baron (fig. 25) has six large pearls similarly arranged. (T. M.

End of Article: CROWN

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