Fig. 159. Crowned effigy of Queen Joan at Canterbury.
Attention has already been drawn to the decorative use of crowns in heraldry, and a reference promised to the coronets of peers and peeresses.
Coronets, as they are now called, originated as early as 1343, when Edward duke of Cornwall and earl of Chester was created Prince of Wales, and invested by his father with a circlet (sertum) on his head, a gold ring on his finger, and a golden verge which was placed in his hand. The circlet in question passed into the possession of his brother, Lionel duke of Clarence, who in 1388 left in his will 'a golden circlet with which my brother and lord was created prince' as well as 'that circlet with which I was created duke.' This latter event happened in 1362, at the same time that his brother John of Gaunt was created duke of Lancaster, when King Edward girded his son with a sword and put upon his head a fur cap and over it 'un cercle d'or et de peres,' a circlet of gold and precious stones. This investiture with a coronet was for some time restricted to dukes, but in 1385 King Richard II bestowed upon Richard earl of Oxford the new dignity of marquess of Dublin, and invested him with a sword and a circlet of gold.
The investing of an earl with a coronet does not seem to have become customary before the reign of Edward VI, but earls had worn coronets in virtue of their rank for a long time previously. In April 1444, when Henry Beauchamp earl of Warwick was created premier earl by Henry VI, the letters patent of his appointment empower him 'to wear a golden circlet upon his head and his heirs male to do the same on feast days in all places where it is convenient as well in our presence as of others.' But the practice can perhaps be carried still further back, for Selden in his Titles of Honour (p. 680) quotes a receipt dated 1319 by William of Lavenham, treasurer of Aymer of Valence earl of Pembroke, of 'a gold crown of the said earl.'
By his will dated 1375 Richard FitzAlan earl of Arundel leaves to Richard his son 'my best crown (ma melieure coroune) charging him upon my blessing that he part not with it during his life, and that after his death he leave it to his heir in the same manner to descend perpetually from heir to heir to the lords of Arundel in remembrance of me and of my soul.' He also leaves to his daughter Joan 'my second-best crown' and to his daughter Alice 'my third crown,' under similar conditions. The earl's best crown may be that shown upon the alabaster effigy at Arundel of his grandson Thomas earl of Arundel; to whom it was bequeathed by his father (fig. [163]). It has alternate leaves and pearled spikes, similar to, but richer and better in design than, the earls' coronets of to-day. Sir N. H. Nicolas suggests that earl Richard's second and third coronets were bequeathed to his daughters because both were countesses; Joan being wife to Humphrey Bohun earl of Hereford, and Alice to Thomas Holand earl of Kent.
There are other bequests of coronets to ladies: Edmund Mortimer earl of March and Ulster left in 1380 to his daughter Philippa, afterwards wife to (1) John Hastings earl of Pembroke, (2) Richard earl of Arundel, and (3) John lord St. John, 'a coronal of gold with stones and two hundred great pearls (un coronal a'or ove perie et deuz cents grands perles) and also a circlet with roses, with emeralds and rubies or Alexandria in the roses (un cercle ove roses emeraudes et rubies d'alisaundre en les roses).' Michael de la Pole earl of Suffolk also left in 1415 to his wife Katherine the diadem or coronet which had belonged to her father Hugh earl of Stafford, who died in 1386.
The swan's head crest of Richard Beauchamp earl of Warwick (ob. 1439) on his effigy at Warwick is encircled by a crown of stalked pearls, not unlike those of an earl's coronet of the present day (fig. [160]).
