The crown of William the Conqueror and his immediate successors seems to
have been a plain circlet with four uprights, which terminated in
trefoils (fig. 5), but Henry I. enriched the circlet with pearls or gems
(fig. 6), and on his great seal the trefoils have something of the
character of fleurs-de-lys. The effigy of Richard I. at Fontevrault
shows a development of the crown; the trefoil heads are expanded, and
are chased and jewelled. The crown of John is shown on his effigy at
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 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 tomb was
opened in 1774, and on the king's head was found an imitation crown of
tin or latten gilt, with trefoils rising from its upper edge. This,
although only made of base metal for the king's burial, may nevertheless
be taken as exhibiting the form of the royal crown at the time, and it
may be usefully compared with that on the effigy of the king, which was
made in Edward I.'s reign (fig. 8). Edward I. used a crown of very
similar 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 Canterbury evidently represents
one of great magnificence, both of design and ornament. What is perhaps
lost of the 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. 10). 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
arches rising from the circlet, but in the accounts of the coronation of
Henry IV. by Froissart and 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 surety for the loan required by Henry V. when
he was about to embark on his expedition to 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 hawthorn 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 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 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 south door
of King's College chapel, Cambridge, has the motto of the 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 illustration) began of flattening
the arches of the crown, and on some of the coins of 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 silver
coins of the 19th century prior to 1887. The crowns of James I. and
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 shield with the arms of the Commonwealth on the coins of
Oliver 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 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 Victoria having
been proclaimed empress of India in 1877. In the foregoing account the
changes of the form of the crowns of the kings have been briefly
noticed. Those crowns were the personal crowns, worn by the different
kings on various state occasions, but they were all crowned before the
Commonwealth with the ancient crown of St Edward, and the queens consort
with that of Queen Edith. There were, in fact, two sets of 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 Tower. The crowns
of this latter set were the personal crowns made to 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 rose alternately four crosses and four fleurs-de-lys, and
from the crosses sprang two arches, which at their 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 pearl at the 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 filigree or "wirework" as it is called, and was set with stones,
and was valued at L248. Queen Edith's crown was found to be only of
silver-gilt, with counterfeit pearls, sapphires and other stones, and
was only valued at L16. 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 possession of Lady Amherst of
Hackney. The crowns of James II., William III. and 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 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 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 Scotland, preserved with the Scottish regalia at
Edinburgh, is believed to be composed of the original circlet worn by
King Robert the Bruce. James V. made additions to it in 1535, and in
general characteristics it much resembles an English crown of that date.
[Illustration: FIG. 16.]
[Illustration: FIG. 17.]
[Illustration: FIG. 19.