The use of the Chapeau, or Cap of Estate, instead of a Crest-Coronet, to support a Crest upon a helm, I have already illustrated with Nos. [198] and [199], severally the Lion-Crests of the Black Prince and of his son Richard II. Like [No. 199], No. 384 is from one of the unrivalled series of helms sculptured in Westminster Hall, with the Crest and Ostrich-feather Badge of King Richard II. In both of these examples the adjustment of the Mantling is shown. Two famous Lion-Crests are those borne by the great families of Howard and Percy, severally Dukes of Norfolk and Northumberland. The Howard lion, originally granted by Richard II. to Thomas Mowbray, Earl Marshal, and now borne by the Duke of Norfolk, is a lion statant guardant, his tail extended or, and ducally gorged arg.: the Percy lion is statant, his tail extended or: each lion stands upon a chapeau. The Lion-Crest of the Black Prince, being charged with the silver Label (which he may be said to wear after the fashion of a collar), exemplifies the prevailing practice of differencing Crests with marks of Cadency. Crests admit every variety of Difference: and Mantlings also are frequently differenced with small charges, or with badges; as in the Garter-plate of Sir John Beaumont, K.G., and in the Brass at Little Easton, Essex, to Sir Henry Bourchier, K.G., Earl of Essex.
The Crest-Wreath first appears about the middle of the fourteenth century. The earliest example to which I can refer is represented in the Brass to Sir Hugh Hastings, at Elsyng, in Norfolk, A.D. 1347. In this most remarkable engraven memorial, the finial of the principal canopy is surmounted by a helm with mantling, wreath, and the crest of Hastings—a bull’s head sable; No. 385. In the effigy of Sir R. de Pembridge, K.G., already noticed, the date of which is 1375, the crest is united to the great helm that supports the head of the knight by a wreath formed of a band of four-leaved flowers. A little later, A.D. 1384, at Southacre, in Norfolk, the Brass of Sir John Harsyck has a Crest-Wreath formed of two rolls, probably of silk, twisted as in No. 386. In the second half of the next century, amongst many good examples of Crest-Wreaths I select as typical specimens those which appear in the Brasses to Sir William Vernon, A.D. 1467, at Tong, in Shropshire, No. 386; and to Sir Robert Harcourt, K.G., No. 387, at Staunton Harcourt, Oxfordshire.
The Crest-Wreath in the form shown in the last examples, and now almost universally used in representations of such Crests as are without the Crest-Coronet and the Chapeau, may fairly be considered to have been derived from the rich ornamentation, generally, as it would seem, formed of costly textile fabrics, if not executed in jewelled or enamelled goldsmith’s work, that was frequently wreathed about knightly basinets. These wreath-like ornaments are represented in numerous effigies both sculptured and engraven; and they are shown to have been worn either flat, as in No. 388, or wrought to high relief, as in No. 389. These two examples are severally from the effigies of a knight in Tewkesbury Abbey Church, about A.D. 1365, and of Sir Humphrey Stafford, A.D. 1450, at Bromsgrove, in Worcestershire. The enamelled effigy of Earl William de Valanece, A.D. 1296, at Westminster, has a wreath of delicate workmanship in relief, which once was set with real or imitative jewels.
No. 389.— Basinet with Crest-Wreath,
Effigy of Sir Humphrey Stafford, A.D. 1450.
For many years after their first appearance, heraldic Crests were regarded as insignia of great dignity and exalted estate; and it was not till a considerably later period that the right to bear a Crest came to be regarded as an adjunct of the right to bear arms. Still later, when they were granted with Coat-Armour to corporate bodies, communities, and institutions, Crests altogether lost their original significance; and they became, in their use, Badges in everything except the habit of placing them, with their accessories of Wreath or Crest-Coronet, of Chapeau and Mantling, upon representations of helms.
When they were actually worn, Crests were undoubtedly constructed of some very light materials. It is probable that cuir bouilli (boiled leather), the decorative capabilities of which were so well understood by mediæval artists, was generally employed.
It has been sometimes held that Crests are personal bearings only; and, therefore, not hereditary, though capable of being bequeathed or granted by their possessors. This theory is not sustained by early or general usage; and, accordingly, Crests must be pronounced to be hereditary, as is Coat-Armour.