Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 6.djvu/654

Rh 620 from its early simple form into various aspects of elabo rate splendour. Before the Norman Conquest the head dress which appears to have been habitually worn by the Anglo-Saxon princes was a fillet of pearls ; their coins, however, and illuminations in MSS. of their era,- show them to have been by no means unfamiliar with a nearer approach to a true crown, in the form of a radiated diadem. The great seals, the coinage, monumental effigies, and various other contemporary representations, supply a complete series of examples of the crown in its varieties f design and enrichment, from the time &amp;lt; f the Conqueror. In addition to several modifications in both the treatment and the grouping of the adornments of the regal circlet, tho English crown has undergone a complete change in the character of the figures with which the circlet has been heightened ; and it also has had its original aspect of an open crown completely altered by its enriched circlet being arched over with jewelled bands of gold, when the diadem thus inclosed waa surmounted by a mound and cross. The crown worn by William I. and his successors was a plain circlet heightened with four spikes having trefoil- heads (fig. 1). Henry I. appears to have enriched the circlet with gems (fig. 2), and on his great seal the trefoils FIGS. 1-6. Royal Crowns William I. to Henry TV. of his father s crown assume a form resembling that of fleurs-de-lys. The effigies of Henry II., Richard I., John, and their queens, show ths crown to have made such an advance in the dignity of its aspect as is shown in fig. 3. The crowns of Richard and Berengaria, however, have four large leaves only heightening the circlets, while the crowns of Henry, Alianore, John, and Isabella have four smaller leaves alternating with the fo^r larger ones. The crown of Henry III. has a plain circlet heightened with trefoils, a slightly raised point intervening between each pair of the leaves (fig. 4). A similar crown was worn by Edward I., the trefoil-leaves being alternately large and comparatively small. The truly beautiful crown of Edward II. (fig. 5), as it is represented in his effigy, was formed of four large and as many smaller leaves of a deeply serrated type, rising with graceful curves from the jewelled circlet, and having eight small flowers alternating with the leaves. This form of crown appears to have remained unchanged during the reigns of Edward III. and Richard II. It would seem from the crown, fig. 6, sculptured with elaborate care upon the head of his effigy at Canterbury, that Henry IV. determined to distinguish the accession of a Lancastrian prince by displaying an unprecedented magnificence in the emblem of his sovereignty. The splendidly jewelled circlet of this crown is heightened with eight large and rich leaves, and as many true fleurs- de-lys their first appearance on an English crown, the whole alternating with sixteen small clusters of peirls, three in each. The famous &quot; Harry crown,&quot; of which this may be assumed to be a faithful representation, was broken up and employed as security for the loan required by Henry V., when he was about to embark on his expedition to France ; but the costly fragments are recorded to have been redeemed in the 8th and 9th years of Henry VI. The arched crown in its earliest form (fig. 7), was intro duced by Henry V.; and, with the arches crosses, which from the time of Henry VI. always have been crosses patees, appeared to supersede the earlier foliage upon the circlet. The arches at different periods have varied both in number and in contour. At first they were elevated almost to a point ; then they were somewhat depressed at their inter section ; still later this depression was increased, the arches themselves thus having an ogee contour, as in fig. 13; and finally, in the coronation crown of Queen Victoria (fig. 16), the arches, which bend over almost at right angles, are flattened where the mound rests on them at their inter section. The crown of Henry VI. appears to have had three arches, or six semi-arches ; and there are the same number in the crown that ensigns the hawthorn-bush badge of Henry VII. The crown of Edward IV. had two arches, or four semi-arches ; and a crown arched in the same manner (fig. 9) appears on the great seal of Richard III. Doth arched and open crowns are represented in sculpture, illuminations, and other works, until the close of the reign u Edward IV. ; and, occasionally, as late as the reign of Henry VIII. a royal shield displays an unarched crown. Whatever other changes or modifications the English crown may have experienced since the time of Henry V., the circlet has always been heightened with alternate crosses patees and fleurs-de-lys, with some minor accessories of jewels ; also, when the crown has two arches, each of the four semi-arches always has risen from within one of the crosses upon the circlet. Edward IV. sometimes has his royal shield of arms ensigned with an open crown, its circlet heightened with eight crosses and eight fleurs-de-lys. Upon his seal as earl of Chester, the same sovereign has the circlet of his open crown heightened with fleurs-de-lys only, alternating with small clusters of pearls (fig. 8). The crown actually worn by Henry VII. appears, from his monument at Westminster, to have had two arches, its circlet being heightened with four crosses and four fleurs- de-lys. A similar crown (fig. 9) appears on the great seal of Henry VIII. During the reigns of Edward VI., Mary, and Elizabeth, the crown experienced no change ; but in her great seal Elizabeth is represented wearing a small diadem having eight semi-arches. In fig. 11, drawn from -10 FIGS. 7-12. Royal Crowns Henry V. to Charles I. the royal achievement of Henry VII., sculptured with great spirit above the south entrance to King s College Chapel, Cambridge, the royal motto is inscribed upon the circlet. The interior of the same noble building is enriched with numerous other splendid crowns executed in full relief. In these examples of the crowns of Tudor sovereigns there are four crosses and as many fleurs-cle-lys ; it must be added, however, that eight crosses and the same number of fleurs- de-lys are commonly represented, though certainly only as variations from the more authoritative number, on Tudor