Crown (headgear)
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A crown is a symbolic form of headgear worn by a monarch or by a god, for whom the crown is traditionally one of the symbols of power and legitimacy (See Regalia for a broader treatment).
Terminology
Three distinct categories of crowns exist in those monarchies that use crowns or state regalia.
- Coronation crowns - only worn by monarchs at the point of coronation, i.e. installaton by taking possession of the crown;
- state or Imperial crowns - crowns worn by monarchs on other state occasions.
- *Similar headgear, worn by nobility and other high ranking people below the ruler, is in English called a coronet. However in many languages the same word is used, e.g. French couronne, German Krone, Dutch kroon;
- Consort crowns - crowns worn by Queens consort; these are however not signifying any power vested in her, just of protocollary rank that is, constitutionally, just a courtesy
History
The precursor to the crown was the browband called the diadem (see Diadem), which had been worn by the Achaemenid Persian emperors, was adopted by Constantine the Great, and was worn by all subsequent rulers of the later Roman Empire.
In the Christian tradition of Byzantine and European cultures, where ecclesiastical sanction authenticates monarchic power, when a new monarch assumes the throne in a coronation ceremony, the crown is placed on the new monarch's head by a religious official. Some, though not all early Holy Roman Emperors travelled to Rome at some point in their careers to be crowned by the pope. Napoleon, according to legend, surprised Pius VII when he reached out and crowned himself, although in reality this order of ceremony had been pre-arranged: see Coronation.
The corona radiata, the "radiant crown" known best on the Statue of Liberty, and perhaps worn by the Helios that was the Colossus of Rhodes, was worn by pagan Roman emperors, part of the cult of Sol Invictus. It was referred to as "the chaplet studded with sunbeams” by Lucian, about 180 AD (in [Alexander the false prophet]).
Today, only the British Monarchy continues this tradition as the sole remaining anointed and crowned monarch, though many monarchies retain a crown as a national symbol in heraldry. The French Crown Jewels were sold in 1885 on the orders of the Third French Republic, with only a token number, with their precious stones replaced by glass, held on to for historic reasons and displayed by the Louvre. The Spanish Crown Jewels were destroyed in a major fire in the eighteenth century while the Irish Crown Jewels (actually merely the Sovereign's insignia of the Most Illustrious Order of St Patrick) were stolen from Dublin Castle in 1907.
Special headgear to designate rulers dates back to pre-history, and is found in many separate civilizations around the globe. Commonly, rare and precious materials are incorporated into the crown, but that is only essential for the notion of crown jewels. Gold and precious jewels are common in western and oriental crowns. In the Native American civilizations of the Pre-Columbian New World, rare feathers, such as that of the quetzal, often decorated crowns; so too in Polynesia (e.g. Hawaii).
- Coronation is often combined with other rituals, such as enthronement (the throne is as much a symbol of monarchy as the crown) and anointing (again religious sanction, the only defining act in the Biblical tradition of Israel).
As an emblem
A Crown is often an emblem of the monarchy, a monarch's government, or items endorsed by it; see The Crown. A specific type of crown (or coronet for lower ranks of peerage) is employed in heraldry under strict rules. Indeed some monarchies never had a physical crown, just a heraldic representation, as in the constitutional kingdom of Belgium, where no coronation ever took place; the royal installation is done by a solemn oath in parliament, wearing a military uniform: the King is not acknowledged as by divine right, but assumes the only hereditary public office in the service of the law; so he in turn will swear in all members of "his" federal government.
- Costume headgear imitating a monarch's crown is also called a crown. Such costume crowns may be worn by actors portraying a monarch, people at costume parties, or ritual "monarchs" such as the king of a Carnival krewe, or the person who found the trinket in a king cake.
- The Eastern Orthodox marriage service has a section called the crowning, wherein the bride and groom are crowned as "king" and "queen" of their future household. In Greek weddings, the crowns are usually made of flowers (synthetic or real) and are kept by the couple as a reminder of their special day. In Slavic weddings, the crowns are usually made of metal and designed to resemble a monarch's crown, and a parish usually owns one set to use for all the couples that are married there since these are much more expensive than Greek-style crowns.
- Children, mainly girls, sometimes connect flowers together in a chain, and wear the wreath as if it were a crown (illustration, left).
- Crowns are also often used as symbols of religious status or veneration, by divinities (or their representation such as a statue) or by their representatives, e.g. the black crown of the Karmapa Lama, sometimes used a model for wider use by devotees.
- A Crown of thorns is believed to have been placed on the head of Jesus before his crucifixion and has become a common symbol of martyrdom. Rapper Kanye West raised controversy when he appeared on the February 2006 cover of Rolling Stone wearing a crown of thorns. So did Madonna when she wore one on the opening night of her World Tour in May 2006[link]
Numismatics
Because one or more crown, alone or as part of a more elaborate design, often appear on coins, several monetary denominations came to be known as 'a crown' or the equivalent word in the local language.This persists in the case of the national currencies of the Scandinavian currencies.
See also
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