L4000

l4000, the intrinsic value of the gold, without reckoning that of the jewels and precious stones, being not less than l600. the largest and most magnificent is the crown of reccesvinto, king of the visigoths from 653 to 675. it is composed of a circlet of pure gold set with pearls and precious stones in great profusion, which gives it a most sumptuous appearance. it is 9 in. in diameter and more than 1/2 in. in thickness, the width of the circlet being 4 in. it has also been given as a votive offering to a church, and has the chains to hang it by attached to the upper rim, while from the lower rim depend pearls, sapphires and a series of richly jewelled letters 2 in. each in depth, which read +reccesvinthvs rex offeret. the second of these crowns in size is generally thought to be that of the queen of reccesvinto. it has no legend, but merely a cross hanging from it. the six others are smaller, and are all most richly ornamented. they are believed to have been the crowns of reccesvinto's children. from one of them hangs a legend which relates that they were an offering to a church, which has been identified with much probability as that of sorbas, a small town in the province of almeria. it has been surmised that in the disturbances which soon afterwards followed they were buried out of sight for safety, where they were eventually discovered absolutely unharmed centuries afterwards. for a detailed description of these most remarkable crowns the reader must be referred to a paper by the late mr albert way (_archaeological journal_, xvi. 253). mr way, in the article alluded to, says of the custom of offering crowns to churches that frequent notices of the usage may be found in the lives of the roman pontiffs by anastasius. "they are usually described as having been placed over the altar, and in many instances mention is made of jewelled crosses of gold appended within such crowns as an accessory ornament.... the crowns suspended in churches suggested doubtless the sumptuous pensile luminaries, frequently designated from a very early period as _coronae_, in which the form of the royal circlet was preserved in much larger proportions, as exemplified by the remarkable _corona_ still to be seen suspended in the cathedral at aix-la-chapelle over the crypt in which the body of charlemagne was deposited." of modern continental crowns the imperial crown of austria (fig. 4) may be mentioned. it is composed of a circlet of gold, adorned with precious stones and pearls, heightened with fleurs-de-lys, and is raised above the circlet in the form of a cap which is opened in the middle, so that the lower part is crescent-shaped; across this opening from front to back rises an arched fillet, enriched with pearls and surmounted by an orb, on which is a cross of pearls. the papal _tiara_ (a greek word, of persian origin, for a form of ancient persian popular head-dress, standing high erect, and worn encircled by a diadem by the kings), the triple crown worn by the popes, has taken various forms since the 9th century. it is important to remember that the tiaras in old italian pictures are inventions of the artists and not copied from actual examples. in its present shape, dating substantially from the renaissance, it is a peaked head-covering not unlike a closed mitre (q.v.), round which are placed one above the other three circlets or open crowns.[1] two bands, or _infulae_, as they are called, hang from it as in the case of a mitre. the tiara is the crown of the pope as a temporal sovereign (see tiara). pictorial representations in early manuscripts, and the rude effigies on their coins, are not very helpful in deciding as to the form of crown worn by the anglo-saxon and danish kings of england before the norman conquest. in some cases it would appear as if the diadem studded with pearls had been worn, and in others something more of the character of a crown. we reach surer ground after the conquest, for then the great seals, monumental effigies, and coins become more and more serviceable in determining the forms the crown took. [illustration: fig. 5.] [illustration: fig. 6.] [illustration: fig. 7.] [illustration: fig. 8.] [illustration: fig. 9.] [illustration: fig. 10. royal crowns. william i. to henry iv.] [illustration: fig. 11.] [illustration: fig. 12.] [illustration: fig. 13.] [illustration: fig. 14.] [illustration: fig. 15. royal crowns. henry v. to charles i.] 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