At the coronation of Edward VII., the official description of a Marquis's coronet is "of silver gilt, and on the circle four gold strawberry leaves and four silver balls alternately, the latter a little raised on points above the rim." Pictorially three strawberry leaves and two pearls are shown.
The title of Earl, or Eorl, is one of Anglo-Saxon origin, and probably derived from the Danish Jarl. Eorls were warriors and had charge of shires, but by the Normans they were called Counts. It is the oldest English title of nobility.
The Saxon form of name has, however, in this case, proved the most lasting, but the remains of the Norman nomenclature exist in the title of Countess, and also in the name County. The Earl or Shire man had his deputy, the Sheriff, and he became the Vice-count or "Viscount." Hugh Lupus, created Earl of Chester by the Conqueror, is said to have been the first properly constituted English hereditary Earl. The coronet worn by Henry Lacy, Earl of Lincoln, in the early fourteenth century, and which is said by Sandford to have been shown on the Earl's tomb in St. Paul's Cathedral, was a simple circlet; and so is that worn by William de Valence, Earl of Pembroke, who died in the thirteenth century, on his tomb at Westminster.
Margaret, Countess of Richmond, the mother of Henry VII., wears, on her tomb at Westminster, a coronet with eight leaves and eight pearls on points; essentially the same form of a Countess's coronet as used now. But on her seal she uses a circlet from which rise alternately roses and fleurs-de-lys, five roses and four fleurs-de-lys, each on a short pyramidal point. This shows that at that time there was no definite pattern.
On the tomb, at Windsor, of Charles Somerset, Earl of Worcester, who died about the middle of the sixteenth century, is a coronet with nine trefoils, or leaves, of equal size, and his son Henry, Earl of Worcester (d. 1549), on his tomb in the Parish Church at Chepstow, shows a coronet of leaves and pearls, all on short pyramidal stems, rising from the circlet. Except for the proportion of the stems this coronet is the same as that now used. At a little later date, in Elizabeth's reign, I think the Earl's coronet took definite shape, and, among others, it shows both on the seals of Dudley, Earl of Leicester, and Charles Howard, Earl of Nottingham, essentially in its present form.
At the coronation of Edward VII. the official description of an Earl's coronet is "of silver gilt, and on the circle eight silver balls raised upon points, with gold strawberry leaves between the points." Pictorially five points with pearls and four strawberry leaves are shown.
A Viscount is a Vicecomes, or deputy for a Count or Earl. The Earls have retained their Saxon name, but the Viscount has kept the Norman equivalent of their rank as Sheriffs. Both the Earl and his Viscount were originally county officials. Since 1441 the title has been one of hereditary rank. The first English Viscount was John, Viscount Beaumont, so created by Henry VI. The first English Viscount to wear a coronet was Robert, Lord Cecil of Effingdon, who was created Viscount Cranbourn by James I. in 1605, and his coronet was essentially the same as is now used.
At the coronation of Edward VII., the official description of a Viscount's coronet is "of silver gilt and on the circle sixteen silver balls." Pictorially nine of these silver balls are shown.