_Croziers and Pastoral Staves_ (Vol. ii., pp. 248, 313.).--The opinion
expressed by the REV. MR. WALCOT (in your No. 50.), that by the word
_crozier_ is to be understood the crossed staff belonging only to
archbishops and legates, while the staff with a crook at its end is to be
called the pastoral staff, cannot, I think, be considered satisfactory, for
the following, among other reasons.
Crozier is generally (I should formerly have said universally) understood
to mean the staff with a crook, the so well-known "ensign of bishops."
In the instances mentioned by MR. WALCOT, _croziers_ are repeatedly spoken
of as having been borne at the funerals of _bishops_, while the crosses
borne before Wolsey are called crosses, and not croziers.
The word _crozier_ seems to be derived from the mediæval Latin word
_crocia_. This is explained by Ducange: "Pedum, baculus pastoralis,
episcopalis." Crocia seems to be derived from, or closely connected with,
"crocha, uncinus, lamus," and "crochum, uncus quo arcubalistæ tenduntur"
(Ducange). Hence it appears that _crozier_ does not refer to a cross but to
a crook.
In such ancient authorities as I have had the opportunity of referring to
at the moment, as brasses, incised slabs, &c., bishops and archbishops are
alike represented with the crooked staff; a cross is of more rare
occurrence, and at the moment only two instances occur to me, one in the
fine brass of Frederic, son of Casimir, king of Poland, and a cardinal,
which is in the cathedral of Cracow, and in which he is represented holding
a crozier, while crosses are figured on the sides under the cardinal's hat.
The other is in the curious brass of Lambert, bishop of Bamberg, in the
cathedral of that city: in this the bishop holds a cross in his right and a
crozier in his left hand.
The statement that the crook of the bishop's staff was bent outwards, and
that of the abbot's inward, is one which is often made in books; I should,
however, be very glad to learn whether any difference has been observed to
exist either in mediæval representations of croziers on seals,
accompanying, effigies, or in paintings, or in the existing examples. So
far as I have seen, the crook, in all except a few early instances, is bent
in the same manner, _i.e._ inwards.