Part 48 (1/2)
The present official rules are that crests must be upon, or must issue from, a wreath (or torse), a coronet, or a chapeau. It is not at the pleasure of the wearer to choose which he will, one or other being specified and included in the terms of the grant. If the crest have a lawful existence, one or other of them will unchangeably belong to the crest, of which it now is considered to be an integral part.
In Scotland and Ireland, Lyon King of Arms and Ulster King of Arms have always been considered to have, and still retain, the right to grant crests upon a chapeau or issuing from a crest. But the power is (very properly) exceedingly sparingly used; and, except in the cases of arms and crests matriculated in Lyon Register as of ancient origin and in use before 1672, or ”confirmed” on the strength of user by Ulster King of Arms, the ordinary ducal crest coronet and the chapeau are not now considered proper to be granted in ordinary cases.
Since about the beginning of the nineteenth century the rules which follow have been very definite, and have been very rigidly adhered to in the English College of Arms.
Crests issuing from the ordinary ”ducal crest coronet” are not now granted under any circ.u.mstances. The chapeau is only granted in the case of a grant of arms to a peer, a mural coronet is only granted to officers in the army of the rank of general or above, and the naval coronet is only granted to officers in his Majesty's Royal Navy of the rank of admiral and above. An Eastern coronet is now only granted in the case of those of high position in one or other of the Imperial Services, who have served in India and the East.
The granting of crests issuing from the other forms of crest coronets, the ”crown-vallary” and the ”crown palisado,” is always discouraged, but no rule exists denying them to applicants, and they are to be obtained if the expectant grantee is sufficiently patient, importunate, and pertinacious.
Neither form is, however, particularly ornamental, and both are of modern origin. {371}
There is still yet another coronet, the ”celestial coronet”. This is not unusual as a charge, but as a coronet from which a crest issues I know of no instance, nor am I aware of what rules, if any, govern the granting of it.
Definite rank coronets have been in times past granted for use as crest coronets, but this practice, the propriety of which cannot be considered as other than highly questionable, has only been pursued, even in the more lax days which are past, on rare and very exceptional occasions, and has long since been definitely abandoned as improper.
In considering the question of crest coronets, the presumption that they originated from coronets of rank at once jumps to the mind. This is by no means a foregone conclusion. It is difficult to say what is the earliest instance of the use of a coronet in this country as a coronet of rank. When it is remembered that the coronet of a baron had no existence whatever until it was called into being by a warrant of Charles II. after the Restoration, and that differentiated coronets for the several ranks in the Peerage are not greatly anterior in date, the question becomes distinctly complicated. From certainly the reign of Edward the Confessor the kings of England had worn crowns, and the great territorial earls, who it must be remembered occupied a position akin to that of a petty sovereign (far beyond the mere high dignity of a great n.o.ble at the present day), from an early period wore crowns or coronets not greatly differing in appearance from the crown of the king. But the Peerage as such certainly neither had nor claimed the technical right to a coronet as a mark of their rank, in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. But coronets of a kind were used, as can be seen from early effigies, long before the use of crests became general. But these coronets were merely in the nature of a species of decoration for the helmet, many of them far more closely resembling a jewelled torse than a coronet. Parker in his ”Glossary of Terms used in Heraldry” probably correctly represents the case when he states: ”From the reign of Edward III. coronets of various forms were worn (as it seems indiscriminately) by princes, dukes, earls, and even knights, but apparently rather by way of ornament than distinction, or if for distinction, only (like the collar of SS) as a mark of gentility. The helmet of Edward the Black Prince, upon his effigy at Canterbury, is surrounded with a coronet totally different from that subsequently a.s.signed to his rank.”
The instance quoted by Parker might be amplified by countless others, but it may here with advantage be pointed out that the great helmet (or, as this probably is, the ceremonial representation of it) suspended above the Prince's tomb (Fig. 271) has no coronet, and the crest is upon a chapeau.
Of the fourteen instances in the {372} Plantagenet Garter plates in which the _torse_ appears, twelve were peers of England, one was a foreign count, and one only a commoner. On the other hand, of twenty-nine whose Garter plates show crests issuing from coronets, four are foreigners, seven are commoners, and eighteen were peers. The coronets show very great variations in form and design, but such variations appear quite capricious, and to carry no meaning, nor does it seem probable that a coronet of gules or of azure, of which there are ten, could represent a coronet of rank. The Garter plate of Sir William De la Pole, Earl of (afterwards Duke of) Suffolk, shows his crest upon a narrow black fillet. Consequently, whatever may be the conclusion as to the wearing of coronets alone, it would seem to be a very certain conclusion that the heraldic crest coronet bore no relation to any coronet of rank or to the right to wear one. Its adoption must have been in the original instance, and probably even in subsequent generations, a matter of pure fancy and inclination. This is borne out by the fact that whilst the Garter plate of Sir Henry Bourchier, Earl of Ess.e.x, shows his crest upon a torse, his effigy represents it issuing from a coronet.
Until the reign of Henry VIII., the Royal crest, both in the case of the sovereign and all the other members of the Royal Family, is always represented upon a chapeau or cap of dignity. The Great Seal of Edward VI.
shows the crest upon a coronet, though the present form of crown and crest were originated by Queen Elizabeth. In depicting the Royal Arms, it is usual to omit one of the crowns, and this is always done in the official warrants controlling the arms. One crown is placed upon the helmet, and upon this crown is placed the crest, but theoretically the Royal achievement has two crowns, inasmuch as one of the crowns is an inseparable part of the crest. Probably the finest representation of the Royal crest which has ever been done is the design for one of the smaller bookplates for the Windsor Castle Library. This was executed by Mr. Eve, and it would be impossible to imagine anything finer. Like the rest of the Royal achievement, the Royal crest is of course not hereditary, and consequently it is a.s.signed by a _separate_ Royal Warrant to each male member of the Royal Family, and the opportunity is then taken to subst.i.tute for the Royal crown, which is a part of the sovereign's crest, a coronet identical with whatever may be a.s.signed in that particular instance as the coronet of rank. In the case of Royal b.a.s.t.a.r.ds the crest has always been a.s.signed upon a chapeau.
The only case which comes to one's mind in which the Royal crown has (outside the sovereign) been allowed as a crest coronet is the case of the town of Eye.
The Royal crown of Scotland is the crest coronet of the sovereign's {373} crest for the kingdom of Scotland. This crest, together with the crest of Ireland, is never a.s.signed to any member of the Royal Family except the sovereign. The crest of Ireland (which is on a wreath or and azure) is by the way confirmatory evidence that the crowns in the crests of Scotland and England have a duplicate and separate existence apart from the crown denoting the sovereignty of the realm.
The ordinary crest coronet or, as it is usually termed in British heraldry, the ”ducal coronet” (Ulster, however, describes it officially as ”a ducal crest coronet”), is quite a separate matter from a duke's coronet of rank.
Whilst the coronet of a duke has upon the rim five strawberry leaves visible when depicted, a ducal coronet has only three. The ”ducal coronet”
(Fig. 656) is the conventional ”regularised” development of the crest coronets employed in early times.
Unfortunately it has in many instances been depicted of a much greater and very unnecessary width, the result being inartistic and allowing unnecessary s.p.a.ce between the leaves, and at the same time leaving the crest and coronet with little circ.u.mferential relation. It should be noted that it is quite incorrect for the rim of the coronet to be jewelled in colour though the outline of jewelling is indicated.
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 656.--Ducal coronet.]
Though ducal crest coronets are no longer granted (of course they are still exemplified and their use permitted where they have been previously granted), they are of very frequent occurrence in older grants and confirmations.
It is quite incorrect to depict a cap (as in a coronet of rank) in a crest coronet, which is never more than the metal circlet, and consequently it is equally incorrect to add the band of ermine below it which will sometimes be seen.
The coronet of a duke has in one or two isolated cases been granted as a crest coronet. In such a case it is not described as a duke's coronet, but as a ”ducal coronet of five leaves.” It so occurs in the case of Ormsby-Hamilton.
The colour of the crest coronet must be stated in the blazon. Crest coronets are of all colours, and will be sometimes found bearing charges upon the rim (particularly in the cases of mural and naval coronets). An instance of this will be seen in the case of Sir John W. Moore, and of Mansergh, the label in this latter case being an unalterable charge and not the difference mark of an eldest son. Though the tincture of the coronet ought to appear in the blazon, nevertheless it is always a fair presumption (when it is not specified) that it is of gold, coronets of colours being very much less frequently met with. On this point it is interesting to note that in some of the cases where {374} the crest coronet is figured upon an early Garter plate as of colour, it is now borne gold by the present descendants of the family. For example on the Garter plate of Sir Walter Hungerford, Lord Hungerford, the crest [”A garb or, between two silver sickles”] issues from a coronet azure. The various Hungerford families now bear it ”or.” The crest upon the Garter plate of Sir Humphrey Stafford, Duke of Buckingham [”A demi-swan argent, beaked gules”], issues from a coronet gules. This crest as it is now borne by the present Lord Stafford is: ”Out of a ducal coronet per pale gules and sable,” &c.
Another instance of coloured coronets will be found in the crest of Nicholson, now borne by Shaw.[22]
Probably, however, the most curious instance of all will be found in the case of a crest coronet of ermine, of which an example occurs in the Gelre ”Armorial.”
A very general misconception--which will be found stated in practically every text-book of armory--is that when a crest issues from a coronet the wreath must be omitted. There is not and never has been any such rule. The rule is rather to the contrary. Instances where both occur are certainly now uncommon, and the presence of a wreath is not in present-day practice considered to be essential if a coronet occurs, but the use or absence of a wreath when the crest issues from a coronet really depends entirely upon the original grant. If no wreath is specified with the coronet, none will be used or needed, but if both are granted both should be used. An instance of the use of both will be found on the Garter Stall plate of Sir Walter Devereux, Lord Ferrers. The crest (a talbot's head silver) issues from a coronet or, which is placed upon a torse argent and sable. Another instance will be found in the case of the grant of the crest of Hanbury.
A quite recent case was the grant by Sir Bernard Burke, Ulster King of Arms, of a crest to Sir Richard Quain, Bart., the blazon of which was: ”On a wreath argent and azure, and out of a mural coronet proper a demi-lion rampant or, charged on the shoulder with a trefoil slipped vert, and holding between the paws a battle-axe also proper, the blade gold.”