crown

Official headdress worn by a king or queen. The modern crown originated with the diadem, an embroidered fillet worn by Eastern rulers, for which a golden band was later substituted. A laurel crown was granted by the Greeks to a victor in the games, and by the Romans to a triumphant general. Crowns came into use among the Byzantine emperors and the European kings after the fall of the Western Empire in 476.

Perhaps the oldest crown in Europe is the Iron Crown of Lombardy, made 591. The crown of the Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne, preserved in Vienna, Austria, consists of eight gold plates. The crown is one of the emblems bestowed at a coronation. A small crown for peers is a coronet.

Ancient origins Crowns were used by the Egyptian kings, often very elaborate in style, but extremely simple at the time of the Ptolemies 304 BC–30 BC. In classical times the crown was usually a circular ornament of metal, in the form of a chaplet of leaves or flowers, worn on solemn and festive ocasions. Among the Greeks it was an emblem of office, or a reward for victors in the Hellenic games. As used in modern times for an emblem of sovereignty, the crown was borrowed from the diadem (fillet of silk or wool) of Oriental origin. Alexander the Great adopted this from the Persian kings. Roman emperors are represented with the diadem, laurel crown, or radiating crown (symbolizing the deification of the emperors). The diadem of Constantine the Great was replaced in the 6th century under Justinian by the stemma, an elaborated golden fillet.

Roman crowns As a reward for exceptional services to the state, a crown was a much-prized honour among the Romans. Among the various kinds were the corona obsidionalis of grass or wild flowers, given to the general who rescued a besieged army; the corona civica of oak leaves and acorns, given to the soldier who saved a fellow citizen's life in battle; the corona navalis, a gold circlet ornamented with beaks of ships for the winner of a naval victory; the corona muralis, similarly adorned with battlements, for the first who scaled the walls of a besieged city; the corona vallaris, with palisades, for the first to break into the enemy's camp; and the corona triumphalis, awarded to the general who was granted a triumph. Among the emblematical crowns were the corona sacerdotalis, worn by those engaged in sacrifice; the corona funebris, or sepulchralis, for the dead; the corona convivialis of banqueters; and the corona nuptialis, or bridal crown.

British crowns At the Norman Conquest a circle of pearls set in gold was the crown of English kings. In the 12th and 13th centuries this was heightened by strawberry leaves or trefoils. The crown of Henry IV had strawberry leaves and fleurs-de-lis alternately, with 16 small groups of pearls. Edward IV's was arched over with jewelled bands of gold closing under a mound surmounted by a cross, crosses replacing the strawberry leaves, and roses or fleurs-de-lis the pearl clusters. The British sovereign now uses two crowns: St Edward's crown is used only for the actual coronation ceremony; on all other occasions the jewelled imperial state crown is worn (see crown jewels).

Other European crowns The pope's crown, or tiara, is a high, uncleft mitre. The crown of the former Austrian empire was cleft in the centre, and resembled the mitre in appearance. This style was adopted 1570 by Maximilian II; a single arch surmounted by mound and cross rose from the cleft. The crown of Scotland, discovered 1818 with other regalia in Edinburgh Castle, probably dates (with the exception of its arches) from the time of Robert I (Robert Bruce, crowned 1306). The Iron Crown of Lombardy consists of a broad band of gold with rosettes of enamel and precious stones, with an inner circlet of iron supposed to have been wrought from a nail of the True Cross. The crown of the German empire had two shields, the larger bearing the cross, the smaller the imperial eagle; there were four arches surmounted by mound and cross. In Germany, Norway, and medieval England, bridal wreaths or crowns were often of metal.

crown

In architecture, the highest point of an arch, vault, or dome. The term also refers to a type of steeple formed by curved buttresses converging onto a central pinnacle, and thus resembling a crown. Examples of the latter type can be found in England at Newcastle Cathedral, and in Scotland at St Giles' Cathedral.