The degradation of the proper use of a crest, other than by those entitled to wear one, began as soon as the kings-of-arms presumed to grant armorial bearings by their bestowing crests upon impersonal corporate bodies like the London livery companies, such as the Tallow Chandlers (1456), Masons (1472), and Wax Chandlers (1485-6).
Arms were borne by the mayor and commonalty of a city or town at least as early as 1283 in the case of Chester, and of 1305 in the case of Dover (or the Cinque Ports), but none presumed to use a crest until London did so on the making of a new seal in 1539, and no crest was granted to a town before 1561.
Before leaving crests a word must be said as to their comparative sizes.
Throughout the best period of heraldic art the crested helm and the shield in pictorial representations practically balance one another, but there is occasionally a tendency to diminish the shield, and so apparently to enlarge the crest. This may be seen, for example, in several of the early stall-plates at Windsor (figs. [67], [68]), which otherwise are admirable models as to the treatment of crests in general. They also show very clearly how easily and comfortably the crests surmount the helms.
Fig. 67. Stall-plate of Humphrey duke of Buckingham as earl of Stafford, c. 1429.
