[ANSTHRLD] crowns/coronets in armory

[Jennifer Smith]

Alden wrote:
> Are there any regulations on what kind of crown/coronet a 
> current/past 
> king/queen can include in their armory beyond the usual 
> duchy, county, 
> baronial coronets (as depicted in the coronet laws for 
> coronets as they 
> are worn)?

The Glossary, table 1 "Reserved Charges", simply says:
Crown/Coronet	Kingdom/Principality armory; Personal armory of Society
Royal Peers and Court Barons/Baronesses

...and makes no further note about the *type* of crown or coronet.

> For example, could a past king register a badge that included a crown 
> like this: http://www.heraldicclipart.com/catalog/coronet%203.html ?

An eastern crown, I believe. I rather suspect so.

> Also, can nobles register armory using English coronet styles 
> in lieu of 
> SCA coronet styles?
> 
> And what about mural crowns and naval crowns?

It seems the only real issue is whether or not a crown looks too close to a
ducal one, if the bearer is not entitled to such a rank. 

See the April 2002 LoAR (and for a bit of history, the September 2001 LoAR,
which I will not reproduce here):

Ghislaine d'Auxerre. Badge. (Fieldless) A pantheon's head erased azure semy
of compass stars argent, gorged of a coronet of trefoils and pearls Or. 

	This submission was pended on the September 2001 LoAR for discussion
of whether this sort of coronet should be reserved for any particular rank
in the SCA. As a general administrative policy decision concerning reserved
charges, the final decision on this matter is Laurel's, not Wreath's. Wreath
does support the decision. The submitter is a baroness but is not a royal
peer.

	The idea that a coronet used in armory (as opposed to an external
portion of an achievement) indicates the rank of its owner owes little or
nothing to period practice. Woodward's discussion in A Treatise on Heraldry
British and Foreign pp. 379-380 mentions a number of families using crowns.
While some of these families use crowns in token of some royal association
or appointment, others use the crowns to cant, or have no clear rationale
for using crowns. There is no association between the type of crown used and
the family using the crown. Some of the non-royal arms Woodward mentions as
using crowns can be found in period sources: the canting Landskron (from
Cologne) in the late 14th C Armorial Bellenville, using an imperial coronet,
and Grant (from Scotland), in the 16th C roll of David Lindsay of the Mount,
using a crown of demi-fleurs-de-lys or pointed trefoils (it is hard to tell
in the artwork). Because our SCA practice of reserved coronets in armory
lacks period equivalents, SCA customs and perceptions have more weight in
this decision than they would in most College of Arms decisions.

	Research into coronets of rank from period sources is difficult
because there were no designated heraldic coronets of rank for most of our
period. Pastoureau states that crowns in an achievement (atop the helmet and
at the base of the crest) are simple decorative elements, not insignia of
rank, throughout the Middle Ages. It is not until the 16th C that coronets
begin to be reserved for certain categories of people (Traité d'Héraldique,
p. 210). Baron Bruce Draconarius of Mistholme has done further research in
armorial manuscripts and period funerary monuments specifically concerning
ducal coronets. His findings are consistent with Pastoureau's
generalization, although he notes that one can find funerary monuments for
dukes using what has become a ducal coronet in the latter part of the 15th
C.

	The Glossary of Terms section on reserved charges does not address
this issue well: it is somewhat behind the times (oops) and states that a
crown/coronet is reserved to "Kingdom/Principality armory; personal armory
of Society royal peers". Use of coronets was extended in the LoAR of May
1999, where Laurel stated that a "court baron/ess may use a coronet in their
arms, so long as it does not use the embattlements of county rank, or the
strawberry leaves of ducal rank". This coronet clearly does not use the
embattlements of county rank. The question therefore is whether it uses the
strawberry leaves of ducal rank.

	Neither precedent nor the Armorial and Ordinary are completely clear
about the reserved regalia for dukes and duchesses. Is the regalia a coronet
using exclusively strawberry leaves or a coronet using any strawberry
leaves? The regalia registered in the Armorial and Ordinary for dukes and
duchesses is, (Tinctureless) A coronet with strawberry leaves. The strict
interpretation of both the May 1999 ruling on coronets for barons and the
regalia registration, and the consensus of the College of Arms, is that any
strawberry leaves on a coronet will indicate ducal rank in SCA armory. There
is some period support for this interpretation as well. The 16th C roll of
David Lindsay of the Mount gives different types of coronets in the
achievements of royalty, dukes and earls, and the ducal coronets alternate
strawberry leaves with pearls on points.

	This leaves the question of whether the trefoils on the coronet in
this submission should be considered equivalent to strawberry leaves.
Strawberry leaves found on ducal coronets in period did not always resemble
the natural, serrated-edged, strawberry leaf. They were drawn in a variety
of trefoil-like shapes, including a trefoil with smooth-edged pointed foils.

	The trefoils in this submission are not exactly the same as any of
those in the documented period ducal coronets. These trefoils have
smooth-edged round foils without points, like the club card suit. Evidence
was presented indicating that coronets with similar round-foil trefoils were
used in artwork as "generic" crowns for during the time immediately
predating the establishment of coronets of rank. One can find 14th and early
15th C illuminations showing sovereigns, dukes, princes and unspecified
legendary nobility all wearing crowns with round-foiled trefoils at the end
of some of the points. It is not clear whether such crowns continued to be
"generic" in artwork of our period after the idea of coronets of rank became
established.

	However, when considering crowns, it is difficult to draw strong
conclusions about heraldic practices from period non-heraldic artwork.
Period practices for artwork, apparel and heraldry do not parallel each
other closely. In artwork, crowns are generally used to illustrate
high-ranking people and are mostly used to illustrate royalty. In period
clothing, crowns and coronets were also worn by the lesser nobility and by
wealthy commoners, although sumptuary laws were then passed to keep the
commoners from wearing coronets (Lightbown, Medieval European Jewellery,
chapter 13). In heraldry, as noted above, crowns could be found in the arms
of a wide range of people, and types of crown were not distinct in
achievements until the 16th C.

	Regardless of whether or not there was some distinction drawn in the
16th C between ducal coronets with pointed-foil trefoils and the previously
"generic" coronet with round-foil trefoils, this change is not visually
sufficient to avoid the appearance of ducal status in the SCA. We have
precedent indicating that such presumption is determined based on visual
similarity to the reserved charge:

	The quadruple mount overwhelmingly resembles a crown, and the
submitter is not entitled to display one on her arms. (Laurel had been
inclined to allow the charge, but at the Laurel meeting where it was viewed,
my staff, who had not seen the LoI, immediately started looking for evidence
of her entitlement to use a crown, since they all thought it was one until
the blazon was read. This served to change our mind.). The submitter is
correct in stating that it is a period charge. However, that is not relevant
in matters of presumption. (LoAR 5/99)

	The commentary from the College showed a strong consensus that this
form of coronet visually appeared to use strawberry leaves. By the May 1999
precedent on quadruple mounts, it must therefore be treated as a ducal
coronet, and reserved for the use of dukes and duchesses. As the submitter
does not hold this rank, she may not register this form of coronet.



-Emma