Crest-Wreath, or Torse. In the Middle Ages, of rich materials and costly workmanship; now represented as being formed of two rolls of silk of the principal metal and colour in the arms, which are twisted to show the metal and colour alternately. The earliest examples are about A.D. 1375. No. 233 shows three varieties of representation. (See [Chapter XIV.])
Crined. Having a mane or hair.
Cross. One of the Ordinaries. Nos. [90]-[110].
No. 234.— Crown
of H.M. The King.
Crown. The ensign of Royal and Imperial dignity; in Heraldry borne as a charge, and also used to denote the rank of a Sovereign Prince. The Crown that is generally borne as a charge is represented without arches, and resembling No. 232. Certain other crowns, each distinguished by an appropriate title, are also sometimes borne on shields, or introduced as heraldic accessories. (See Celestial, Eastern or Radiated, Mural, Naval, and Vallary Crowns.) The different forms assumed at different periods by the Royal Crown of England are faithfully exemplified in the seals and the coinage of the successive Sovereigns, and several fine examples are preserved in the Royal effigies. The adornment of the regal circlet was arbitrary before the fifteenth century; still, it always was enriched with gems and surmounted by golden foliage. Henry V. first arched his crown; and by Henry VI. the circlet was first heightened with alternate crosses-patée and fleurs de lys. This arrangement has since been retained, the subsequent alterations being restricted to changes in the number and in the contour of the arches. The crown of His Majesty the King has the circlet heightened with four crosses and as many fleurs de lys; from the crosses rise the arches, which are surmounted by a mound and a cross-patée. No. 234. This, the heraldic crown, is not an exact reproduction of the actual crown of the King.
Crozier. Strictly, the cross-staff of an archbishop; distinguished by its form from the pastoral-staff with a crook-head, of bishops; but the term is loosely and very generally applied also to the crook-headed pastoral-staff.
Crusilee, Crusily. Having the field semée of crosses-crosslets, or of other small crosses, their peculiar form (when not crosslets) being specified.
Cubit arm. A human arm couped between the elbow and the wrist.