CRESTS AND CROWNS, CAPS OF ESTATE, AND WREATHS
Crests within Crowns; Nature and treatment of Crowns; Caps
of Estate: Their possible origin and introduction into
Heraldry; The colour of Caps; The placing of Crests upon
Caps; Wreaths or Torses; Their Colour; Crests and Mottoes;
Use of Crests by Bishops; The ensigning of Arms with
Mitres, Cardinals' and Doctors' Hats, and Caps of Estate.
The treatment of the crest varies. In the earliest examples it is set
directly upon the mantled helm (fig. 77 and pls. XIV A and XVII B), to
which it was actually attached by wires through holes on top. But from
the first large numbers of crests were fixed, or rose as it were, from
within a crown or coronet encircling the helm, or stood upon a cap or
hat of estate that surmounted it. (See figs. 65, 67, 72, 73, 74, 75, and
pls. XIII E and F, XVII A, XXI, XXII, XXVII A, etc.)
[Illustration:
A Walter lord FitzWalter, 1415-31.
B
C Henry duke of Lancaster, 1341.
D Robert Shottesbroke, 1458-9.
E Thomas lord Dacre of Gilsland, 1412.
F Sir John Cheyny, 1395.
PLATE XIII.--Various treatments of crests.]
[Illustration: FIG. 77. Stall-plate of Hugh lord Burnell, _c._ 1421.]
[Illustration:
A Edmund Grey earl of Kent, 1442.
B Thomas Ballard, Esq.
C Sir Henry Ingelose, of Loddon, 1451.
PLATE XIV.--Examples of crests and mantlings.]
The crown was merely ornamental, and had no reference to the dignity of
the wearer, but was used alike heraldically by prince and peer, knight
and esquire, and the same may be said of the cap of estate.
Crowns were anciently formed of a number of leaves or fleurons set
upright upon the band, sometimes with lesser leaves or jewels between
them; the bands too were often jewelled. But in practice only three
(fig. 78), or sometimes five, principal leaves are shown when the crown
is drawn in profile (fig. 83).
[Illustration: FIG. 78. Arms of St. Edmund, from the tomb of Edmund duke
of York (_ob._ 1402) at King's Langley.]
[Illustration: PLATE XV. STALL-PLATE (REDUCED) OF HUGH STAFFORD LORD
BOURCHIER, C. 1421.]
Beyond the fact that the thing was a crown, there was no strict rule as
to the design, which varied according to the taste of the artist. Two
examples among the early stall-plates at Windsor, those of Hugh Stafford
lord Bourchier (fig. 79 and pl. XVI) and Richard lord Grey of Codnor
(both _c._ 1421), illustrate this in a pretty way (fig. 80). In both
cases the plate after being finished has been cut up, partly reversed,
and in part re-engraved; not because anything was wrong with the
heraldry, but to make the crested helms face the other way. These have
accordingly been turned over, but in cutting them afresh the engraver
has slightly varied the designs of the crests and of the crowns with
which each is encircled, without however in any way altering their
heraldic character. In the earliest existing plates the crested helms
are all drawn turned towards the high altar, consequently those on the
north side of the quire face heraldically towards the sinister. The two
plates just noted, and at least one other, have been transferred from
one side of the quire to the other.
[Illustration: FIG. 79. Crest from the reverse of the stall-plate of
Hugh Stafford lord Bourchier.]
[Illustration: FIG. 80. Two forms of the same crest, from the
stall-plate of Richard lord Grey of Codnor.]
[Illustration: PLATE XVI. STALL-PLATE OF WILLIAM LORD WILLOUGHBY, C.
1421.]
One of the first instances of a crown about a crest is on the seal of
William Montagu earl of Salisbury, 1337 (pl. XII).
Crowns were not by any means always of gold or silver, and quite a
number of pre-Tudor stall-plates have them enamelled red, and in two
cases blue.
These heraldic crowns must not be confounded with the coronets, as they
are now called, worn of different patterns by peers and peeresses
according to their degree; some reference to these will be made later.
The cap of estate is generally depicted in English heraldic art as a
high crowned conical hat or cap with flattened top, and a broad brim
lined with ermine. The brim is usually turned up high in front, but
gradually lessens along the sides towards the back, where the brim
extends horizontally to its full width.
The cap of estate first appears, surmounted by his leopard crest, on the
head of King Edward III in the great seal made for him in February
1339-40 on his assumption of the title of King of France. Whether the
cap has any connexion with the assumption of the king's new title it is
difficult to say, but its more common name of 'cap of maintenance' would
acquire a significant meaning could such connexion be proved. It is
however more probable that the cap was worn by the king for his dignity
of duke of Normandy and of Aquitaine, and it was long the custom for
representatives of those duchies to take part in coronation processions
wearing robes and caps of estate. According to the _Little Device_ for
the coronation of Henry VII, there were to ride before the king in the
procession from the Tower 'ij Squiers for the kinges bodie bearing in
baudrick wise twoo mantells furred w^t Ermyns, wearing twoo hattes of
Estate of Crymsen clothe of golde beked on, beks turnyd upp behinde, and
furred also w^t Ermyns in reprecentacion of the kinges twoo duchesses of
Gyen and Normandie.'[6]
[6] L. G. Wickham Legg, _English Coronation Records_ (Westminster,
1901), 223.
Although the cap may at first have been restricted to the king, it was
certainly used by the sons of Edward III, and may be seen of like form
and fashion upon the seals of Edward as prince of Wales (1343), of John
of Gaunt as duke of Lancaster (1362) and of Edmund of Langley as duke of
York (pl. XXI), and of Thomas of Woodstock as duke of Gloucester in
1385. It was no doubt in each case given by personal investiture by the
Sovereign, but only to those who were made dukes.
In heraldry, however, the cap of estate was used after 1350 by many who
were not only dukes who had been invested with it, but by earls and
barons who had not been so invested, and even by mere knights (pl. XIII
F).
It would be as rash to argue from this that such persons were all
entitled to wear for dignity the cap of estate as it would be to insist
that the equally common use of a crown round the base of a crest
entitled every knight or baron on whose seal it occurs to wear a
coronet.
The colour of the cap of estate was almost invariably red, with a lining
of ermine, but in two of the early stall-plates it is blue. The crest is
generally placed directly upon it, but representations of two-legged or
four-legged creatures often stand upon the brim with their feet on
either side of the flat-topped cap (figs. 112, 138). It is hardly
necessary to say that the crested cap is always placed upon the helm,
with the mantling issuing from under it.
It is a common practice nowadays, quite wrongly, to represent crests
apart from the helm, and as standing upon a twisted bar, or wreath as it
is called. A little research will show that this bar represents the
twisting together of two or three differently coloured stuffs, and
fixing the wreath so formed round the base of the crest to mask its
junction with the top of a helm. Once invented it came into common use,
and crests of all kinds were fixed within it.
When seen sideways the rounded top of the helm causes the crest to
appear as if standing upon the wreath, and this has no doubt given rise
to the present malpractice.
The Rev. C. Boutell in his smaller _English Heraldry_ quotes the
Hastings brass at Elsing, of the year 1347, as the earliest instance of
a wreath about a crest (fig. 81). But this brass is probably French, and
in English work the wreath does not come into being much before the
close of the fourteenth century, and was not regularly used until about
1450.
[Illustration: FIG. 81. Helm with crest and wreath, from the Hastings
brass at Elsing, 1347.]
The wreath or torse, as it was also called, from being a twist, was
usually of two colours, derived from the principal metal and colour of
the arms; but the fifteenth century stall-plates show many variations
from this rule. Thus Lewis lord Bourchier (_c._ 1421) has a torse of
blue, gold, and black, and John earl of Tankerville (_c._ 1421) one of
green, red, and white. John lord Bourchier (_c._ 1421) and Henry lord
Bourchier (_c._ 1452) both have black and green torses. Richard Wydville
lord Rivers (_c._ 1450) has the crest issuing from a green torse,
crested with a crown of holly leaves. Thomas lord Stanley (_c._ 1459)
has a torse of gold and blue with red spots or jewels between, and Sir
William Chamberlayne (_c._ 1461) a red and blue torse.
The modern practice is that the twists of a torse shall be only six in
number; but in old heraldry there was no such rule, and any number from
four may be found, whatever would look best. In the Harsick brass (fig.
82) there are eleven twists.
[Illustration: FIG. 82. Helm with crest and torse and simple form of
mantling, from the Harsick brass at Southacre, 1384.]
Crests occasionally had mottoes or 'words' associated with them, quite
apart from the ordinary 'word' or 'reason' of the family or individual.
Thus the ermine bush of feathers that formed the crest of Sir Simon
Felbrigge is accompanied on his stall-plate (_c._ 1421) by a scroll
lettered ~Sanz muer~ (fig. 83), and on that of John lord Scrope (el.
1461) the crest, which is likewise a bush of feathers, has above it the
'reason' ~autre qz-elle~. Two of the fine seals of Richard Nevill earl
of Salisbury (1428-60) have behind his demi-griffin crest a scroll
lettered apparently ~ma~ [_or_ ~do~] ~ple[s]ier~ (pls. XVII A and XXII
B), and the seal of John Talbot earl of Shrewsbury, as marshal of France
(1445), has a scroll with his 'word' issuing from the mouth of his lion
crest (pl. XVII B).
[Illustration: FIG. 83. Stall-plate of Sir Simon Felbrigge, _c._ 1421.]
[Illustration:
A Richard Nevill earl of Salisbury, 1428-60.
B John Talbot earl of Shrewsbury, 1445.
PLATE XVII.--Crests with mottoes.]
From what has been said above as to the ancient association of helm and
crest, it follows that the present fashion of representing the crest by
itself, apart from the helm to which it was always attached, is entirely
wrong. It at once renders the crest meaningless: in appearance it
forthwith becomes insignificant; and attempts to treat it artistically
generally end in failure.
Let crests be shown as crests, properly set upon practicable helms, and
with competent mantlings treated with all the freedom that they are
capable of.
It may here be noted that it has not been customary, nor is it logically
correct, for ladies and other non-combatant persons, such as the
ministers of the Church, to use crests; arms they have ever been allowed
to bear. Examples, however, of the breach of the rule as to crests even
by bishops are afforded by several of their privy seals. Thus Henry le
Despenser bishop of Norwich (1370-1406) has his differenced shield of
arms surmounted by a mantled helm upon which a mitre, with a griffin's
head and wings issuing therefrom, is placed as a crest (fig. 84); and
Alexander Nevill archbishop of York (1374) shows his shield hanging
below a crowned helm surmounted by the bull's head crest of his house
and supported by two griffins.
[Illustration: FIG. 84. Privy seal of Henry le Despenser bishop of
Norwich, 1370-1406.]
William Courtenay, as archbishop of Canterbury (1381-96), similarly
displays a shield of his arms, ensigned by a helm surmounted by a cap of
estate with a dolphin on top. A helm crested with a lovely bunch of
columbines is also carved with his arms above the tomb of James
Goldwell bishop of Norwich (_ob._ 1498-9) in his cathedral church.
Robert Nevill on his privy seal as bishop of Durham (1438-57) surmounts
his shield with a beautiful labelled mitre, from which issues a bull's
head with a scroll lettered ~en grace affie~.
Many of the bishops of Durham, on their great seals in chancery, in
virtue of their secular palatinate jurisdiction, are represented as
riding in complete armour with helms on their heads. The first to be so
represented was Thomas Hatfield (1345), who wears a large crowned helm
surmounted by a mitre, from which issues a bush of feathers. John
Fordham (1381) also surmounts his crowned helm with a mitre, on which is
perched a bird. Walter Skirlaw (1388) and Thomas Langley (1406) set
within the crowns crests without mitres; in one case the bust of an
angel, in the other a bush of feathers. Robert Nevill (1438) surmounts
his crowned helm with a mitre, from which issues a bull's head, as on
his privy seal above noted. Cuthbert Tunstall (1530) has a mitre alone
upon his helm.
The usual practice in displaying a bishop's arms has been, for a long
time, to ensign them simply with his own official headgear in the shape
of a mitre, and the same custom prevailed with regard to the arms of
mitred abbots and priors. Robert Nevill's privy seal is an early
example.
Cardinals ensigned their shields with the tasselled hat of their order,
as may be seen on the seal-of-arms of Henry Beaufort bishop of
Winchester (1405), and in a carving of his arms in Southwark cathedral
church. A cardinal's hat is displayed, with his rebus and sundry royal
badges, on the arch about the cenotaph of John Morton archbishop of
Canterbury and cardinal in the undercroft of his cathedral church.
Doctors also sometimes surmounted their arms with the round cap
pertaining to their dignity.
On the monument at St. Albans of Humphrey duke of Gloucester (_ob._
1446) his arms are ensigned alternately by his mantled and crested helm,
and by a large cap of estate encircled by a crown or coronet. Jasper
duke of Bedford (1485) on his seal likewise surmounts his arms with a
cap of estate encircled by a delicate crown.
There is not any necessity at the present day to represent any crown or
coronet with the cap of estate within it.