The herald., 1895-10-06
CROWNS OUT OF STYLE.

Together with many other ancient
customs and venerable usages, that of
the habitual use of the crown as an ar
ticle of royal headgear has long since
fallen into decay.
At the present day. save at the mon
arch's coronation and on few impor-
tant state occasions, kings and queens
have given up the practice of appear
ing in public with this mark of royalty
gracing their brows.
The oldest, if not the most famous,
of all European crowns eXtant is cer-
tainly the so-called iron crown of Lom-
hardy. This crown, which was made
in Rome during the sixth century, was
originally presented by Pope Gregory
the Great to the Gothic Queen Theo-
dolina, as a mark of gratitude for hav-
ing prosecuted and driven from her
dominions the Arian heretics.
This crown is really a broad, fat
ring of gold, adorned with enameled
flowers, emeralds, rubies and sapphires
in their rough and uncut state, but
derives its name of the iron crown
from a thin band of iron inside the
circle of gold and jewels. According
to tradition, this thin band of iron is
one of the nails taken from the true
cross and hammered out into a ring.
Almost as old were the eight crowns
belonging to the time of the old gothic
kings of Spain. which some forty years
ago were found in the neighborhood of
Toledo.
The largest, a circle of gold one foot
in diameter. bears the name of Recess
winthus. whose date was somewhere
Ok ~, 81,
tury.
Although legend imputes the manu-
facture of the sacred crown of Hun
gary to the hands of angels, and that
it was made by them especially to
adorn the sacred brows of the sainted
King Stephen. history gives its origin
somewhat differently. 1t appears to
be of twofold origin, partly Roman and
partly Byzantine, being in reality two
crowns, placed one upon the other.
How many times this crown has been
lost and recovered only to be again lost
and again subsequently found one is
unable to say. Even so late as 1S4S, on
the defeat and flight of Kossuth, this
crown, which up to then had been safe
in the hands of the provisional govern
ment, suddenly disappeared.
lie OlQ crown OIL SCOtlanQ, winch is
supposed to have been made for King
Robert Bruce, consisting of two circles
of gold, the upper one being surmount-
ed by row of crosses and fleur-de-lis
the lower by the usual precious stones
in their rough state, is now at Edin-
burgh castle.
During the usurption of Cromwell
this crown, with the rest of the royal
regalia, was very nearly lost.
July 8, 1862, Lambert, the parliamen.
tary general. closely invested castle
DunHottar. The commander had pre-
viously asked for a ship to be sent
whereby the crown might be carried
over to France; but Charles, with his
usual dilatoriness, had not sent the
vessel
The wife of Rev. James Granger Of
Kinnaff obtained permission from Gen
Lambert to pass through his lines il
order to visit the lady of the castle, and
on her return she brought away the
crown. Her maid followed her, bear
ing two long bundles of lint, apparent
ly for spinning, one of which, however
contained the sword of state and the
other the scepter.
These Mrs. Granger and her husband
buried beneath the stones in the churci
the same evening. AT the restoration
lcthe Changers dug up the regalia of the
! Scottish kings and presented them tt
Charles II.-London Standard.