Heraldic crown
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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.
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 may be used as the motive of the coat of arms it self or as a device set upon the shield in order to display the status of the owner of the coat of arms.
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[edit] As a display of rank
If the bearer of a coat of arms has the title of baron or higher (or hereditary knight in some countries), he or she may display a coronet of rank above the shield, usually below the helm in British heraldry, often above the crest (if any) in Continental heraldry.
In this case the appearance of the crown follows a strict set of rules. A royal coat of arms may display a royal crown such as that of Norway. Princely coats of arms display a princely crown and so on right down to the mural crown which is commonly displayed on coats of arms of towns and some republics. These forms of crowns are often inspired by the actual appearance of the respective country's royal and princely crowns.
Ships and other units of some navies have a naval crown above the the shield of their coats of arms.
[edit] Commonwealth usage
In formal English the word crown is reserved for the crown of a monarch where as the word coronet is used for all other noble crowns.
In the peerage of the United Kingdom, the design of a coronet shows the rank of its owner, as in German, French and various other heraldic traditions. The coronet of a duke has eight strawberry leaves, that of a marquess has four strawberry leaves and four silver balls (known as "pearls", but not actually pearls), that of an earl has eight strawberry leaves and eight "pearls" raised on stalks, that of a viscount has sixteen "pearls", and that of a baron has six "pearls". Since a person entitled to wear a coronet customarily displays it in their coat of arms above the shield and below the helm and crest, this can provide a useful clue as to the owner of a given coat of arms.
Members of the British Royal Family have coronets on their coats of arms, and may wear them at coronations. They are according to regulations made by King Charles II in 1661 shortly after his return from exile in France (getting a taste for its lavish court style; Louis XIV started monumental work at Versailles that year) and Restoration, and vary depending upon the prince's relationship to the Monarch. Occasionally additional royal warrants vary the designs for individuals.
[edit] Continental usages
The Holy Roman Empire and consequently its successor states - Austria, Germany and others - had a very similar system to the British, though the design varied.
- The normal Adelskrone for lower nobility(= Laubkrone) is a golden ring with pearls and precious stones that features eight tines of which typically only five are visible. Out of those the center and the outer tines are normally leaves, whereas the others are headed by pearls. In the southern states of Bavaria and Württemberg quite often all tines are headed by pearls.
- The Freiherrnkrone (baron's coronet)shows seven tines with pearls.
- The Grafenkrone (count's coronet)shows nine tines with pearls. Some of the senior houses used coronets showing five leaves and four pearls (Some mediatized counties and minor principalities had other types of coronets that distinguished them from normal counts).
- The Fürstenkrone (coronet of a prince; similar in rank to a marchess) is a golden ring with precious stones and five leaves and a crimson cap, that is surrounded by three visible arches with an imperial globe on top.
- The Herzogskrone (duke's coronet) has five arches, but only four tines. Between the arches crimson cloth is visible.
Considering the highly religious nature of the Holy Roman Empire, one can say that, except for the short-lived Napoleonic states, no continental secular system of heraldry historically was so neatly regulated as under the British crown. Still, there are often traditions (often connected to the Holy Roman Empire, e.g. those in Sweden, Denmark or Russia), including the use of crown and coronets. While most languages don't have a specific term for coronets, but simply use the word meaning crown, it is possible to determine which of those crowns are for peerage or lower level use, and thus can by analogy be called coronets.
Precisely because there are many traditions and more variation within some of these, there is a plethora of continental coronet types. Indeed there are also some coronets for positions that don't exist in the Commonwealth tradition, or do entitle to a coronet.
Such a case in French ('old', i.e. royal era) heraldry, where coronets of rank did not come into use before the 16th century, is the vidame, whose coronet (illustrated) is a metal circle mounted with three visible crosses (no physical headgear of this type known).
Often coronets are substituted by helmets, or only worn on a helmet.
[edit] Spain
[edit] As a charge
In heraldry, a charge is an image occupying the field on an escutcheon (or shield). Many coats of arms display a crown as a charge. Most often in order to allude to royal or noble connections of the owner.
