Fig. 169. Alice duchess of Suffolk (ob. 1475), from her alabaster effigy in Ewelme church, Oxon.
The privilege of wearing coronets was not extended to viscounts until the reign of James I, and to barons until 1661.
The official patterns of coronets to which peers and peeresses are now restricted have, as may be seen from the examples above cited, practically no relation to the older forms, which exhibited the usual delightful medieval elasticity of design.
The present coronets too are rendered uglier than ever by the modern rule forbidding them to be jewelled in any way. This was not formerly the case. Among the stuff remaining in the palace of Westminster in 1553, and delivered to lady Jane Grey, was 'a coronet for a duke, set with five roses of diamonds, six small pointed diamonds, one table emerald, six great ballases, seven blue sapphires, and thirty-eight great pearls, with a cap of crimson velvet and a roll of powdered armyns about the same'; and a beautifully ornamented coronet of much earlier date than the painting is shown in a portrait of John marquess of Winchester, the defender of Basing House, who died in 1674.
It is the custom now for ladies of rank to wear their coronets only at coronations, and to display them on their note-paper, their spoons and forks, and on the panels of their carriages and motor-cars. Such coronets cannot however be considered artistic objects, even when depicted apart from the crimson velvet bonnets which they encircle, and there is no reason why ladies should not devise and wear coronet-like ornaments of their own invention.
A little research will show that crowns of every form and fashion have always been freely used in heraldic decoration, both by themselves and as ensigning letters or other devices, and so long as care be taken not to infringe what may be called official patterns, there are really no limits to a continuance of the ancient practice.
The lady Margaret Beaufort, countess of Richmond and mother of King Henry VII, has left us a delightful series of coronets. First, on a seal newly made for her on the accession of her son, her shield of arms is ensigned with a coronet or crown of roses and fleurs-de-lis placed alternately along the edge of a narrow band (pl. [XXX]). Shortly after 1505 the lady Margaret began to build Christ's College at Cambridge, and both the gatehouse (fig. [170]) and the oriel of the master's lodge (fig. [171]) are rich in heraldic decoration. In this case both her arms and her portcullis badge are ensigned with coronets set with a continuous row of triplets of pearls.[20] In the lady Margaret's later foundation of St. John's College, her arms, etc. again are displayed upon the stately gatehouse; in this case with a coronet of roses and fleurs-de-lis over the shield, as in her seal (fig. [172]). Her portcullis badge, on the other hand, has over it a fine coronet formed of clusters of roses, which recalls the circlet of roses set with emeralds and rubies of Alexandria mentioned earlier in this chapter. It is quite easy to conjure up visions of coronets or circlets formed of lilies or marguerites, or of roses red and white, or of any other suitable flower or device, wrought in gold or gilded silver, and either jewelled or bright with enamel. And let designers take heart when so recent and yet so picturesque an object as the so-called 'naval crown' can be produced, with its cresting of sterns and square sails of ships. This was used most effectively some years ago as one of the decorations encircling the Nelson Column in London on Trafalgar Day.