Ceremonial mace
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A ceremonial mace is a highly ornamented staff of metal or wood, carried before a sovereign or other high officials in civic ceremonies by a mace-bearer, intended to represent the official's authority. The mace, as used today, derives from the original mace used as a weapon. Processions often feature maces, as on parliamentary or formal academic occasions.
History
Ancient Near East
Ceremonial maces originated in the
Eastern Roman Empire
Some officials of the medieval
Medieval and Renaissance Europe
The earliest ceremonial maces in France and England were practical weapons intended to protect the King's person, borne by the
The history of the civic mace (carried by the sergeants-at-arms) begins around the middle of the 13th century, though no examples from that period remain today. The oldest civic mace in England (still remaining today) is that of Hedon. It was granted (along with an important charter) in 1415.[6] At the time, ornamented civic maces were considered an infringement of one of the privileges of the king's sergeants, who alone deserved to bear maces enriched with costly metals, according to a House of Commons petition of 1344. However, the sergeants of London later gained this privilege, as did later those of York (1396), Norwich (1403–1404), and Chester (1506). Records exist of maces covered with silver in use at Exeter in 1387–1388; Norwich bought two in 1435, and Launceston others in 1467 and 1468. Several other cities and towns subsequently acquired silver maces, and the 16th century saw almost universal use.[5]
Early in the 15th century, the flanged end of the mace (the head of the war mace) was carried uppermost, with the small button bearing the royal
Craftsmen often pierced and decorated the flanged ends of the maces of this period beautifully. These flanges gradually became smaller, and by the 16th or early 17th century had developed into pretty projecting scroll-brackets and other ornaments, which remained in vogue until about 1640. The next development in the embellishment of the shaft was the reappearance of these small scroll-brackets on the top, immediately under the head of the mace. They disappear altogether from the foot in the last half of the 17th century, and remain only under the heads, or, in rarer instances, on a knob on the shaft. The silver mace-heads were mostly plain, with a cresting of leaves or flowers in the 15th and 16th centuries. In the reign of
As the custom of having sergeants' maces began to die out about 1650, the large maces borne before the mayor or
Commonwealth
Most Commonwealth countries were formerly part of the British Empire and continue the tradition of using a mace, especially to represent the authority of the Sovereign in the parliaments of the Commonwealth realms.
United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom there are thirteen surviving royal maces in the
Australia
The ceremonial maces of the Australian House of Representatives and the Australian Senate symbolise both the authority of each chamber and the royal authority of Australia's monarch.
Senate
The ceremonial mace of the Australian Senate is the Black Rod. The ceremonial custodian of the Black Rod is the
House of Representatives
The
The current mace is made of gilded silver, and was a gift to the House from
In May 1914, Labor MP William Higgs played a practical joke on the House by hiding the mace under one of the opposition frontbenches. It was not found for two hours, and police were called in as it was assumed to have been stolen.[13] After initially denying his role in the incident,[14] Higgs apologised to his colleagues the following week, stating he had acted in "a spirit of frivolity". His admission that he was "entirely to blame" was met with cheers.[15]
Queensland Parliament
A silver-gilt mace was produced for the
Bahamas
The ceremonial maces in the Bahamas symbolise both the authority of each chamber and the Royal authority of Charles III, the King of the Bahamas.
On 27 April 1965, a day known in the Bahamas as "Black Tuesday", Lynden Pindling, then Opposition Leader, threw the 165-year-old Speaker's Mace out of a House of Assembly window to protest against the unfair gerrymandering of constituency boundaries by the then ruling United Bahamian Party (UBP) government. The Speaker tried to restore order but he was reminded by Labour leader Randol Fawkes that the business of the House could not legally continue without the mace. The badly damaged mace was recovered by the police and returned to the House.
The House of Assembly reconvened with a temporary wooden mace loaned by Canada; this was the same temporary mace used by the House of Commons of Canada after it lost its own mace to a fire in 1916. The temporary mace ultimately returned to Canada freshly gilded.[17] In November 1975, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom donated a new mace to the House of Assembly.[18]
On 3 December 2001, Cassius Stuart and Omar Smith, leader and deputy leader of the Bahamas Democratic Movement, a minor political party, charged from the public gallery onto the floor of the House of Assembly and handcuffed themselves to the Mace in protest against "unfair gerrymandering" of constituency boundaries by the Free National Movement (FNM) government. The Mace was unable to be separated from the men and the sitting of the House had to be suspended. The pair were jailed for almost two days but no charges were brought against them.
Canada
The ceremonial maces in the Canadian Senate and House of Commons embody the authority each chamber derives from the country's sovereign. The current mace in the Commons is the fourth mace, a replica of the third one destroyed by fire at the Centre Block in 1916.[19]
A similar practice is employed in each of the
Protocol surrounding the mace
In Canada, each of the legislatures follow a relatively standard protocol in relation to the ceremonial mace; the
History of the maces
The oldest documented use of a ceremonial mace in a legislature of a
A second mace was introduced in 1813 and used until 1841.[17]
The third mace was not purchased until 1845. In 1849, when the Parliament for the
Being a symbol of the power and authority of a legislative assembly, a precedent was set in 2002 as to the severity of acts of disrespect toward the mace in Canada and, by proxy, the monarch. After
Parliament of Ontario
The ceremonial mace of the Legislative Assembly is the fourth mace to be used in Upper Canada or Ontario. The first, second and third maces are mentioned above, and were used by the Parliament of Upper Canada and Union Parliament. Only the first survived with second unaccounted and third mostly destroyed in 1916 with remains used to produce the current House of Commons' mace.
After Confederation, the third mace was adopted by the new House of Commons of Canada. The current mace used in the Legislative Assembly was acquired in 1867. It was provided by Charles E. Zollikofer of Ottawa for $200. The 4-foot (1.2 m) mace is made of copper and richly gilded, a flattened ball at the butt end. Initially, the head of the mace bore the crown of Queen Victoria and in a cup with her monogram, V.R. When she was succeeded by Edward VII in 1901, her crown and cup were removed and a new one bearing Edward's initials on the cup was installed. Eventually, it was replaced with the current cup which is adorned in gleaming brass leaves.[21]
Through some careful detective work on the part of Legislative Assembly staff, the original cup with Queen Victoria's monogram was recently[when?] found in the Royal Ontario Museum's collection and returned to the Legislature. It is now on display in the Legislative Building.[21]
In 2009, two diamonds were installed in the mace. The diamonds were a gift to the people of Ontario from
Parliament of Quebec
The ceremonial mace of the National Assembly was made by Charles O. Zollikoffer in 1867, after the transfer of the maces of the Province of Canada to the new federal parliament in Ottawa. The current mace is of gold with a crown and a cross on its top as well as the letters "ER" (Elizabeth Regina) - added after 1952.
The mace was saved from a fire by Sergeant-at-Arms Gédéon Larocque in 1883 as well as recovered after being stolen in 1967.[25]
Cook Islands
In 2023, the
During sittings of the parliament it is placed by the
Fiji
On 10 October 1874, Fiji's former king, Seru Epenisa Cakobau, gave his war club to Queen Victoria when the Deed of Cession by which the sovereignty of Fiji passed to the British Crown was signed, and the war club was taken to Britain and kept at Windsor Castle. In October 1932, King Cakobau's war club was repatriated to Fiji, on behalf of the British king George V, for use as the ceremonial mace of the Legislative Council of Fiji.[28]
The mace is a gadi, a traditional Fijian club[29]: 85 named for the type of hardwood tree it is made from,[30] and was decorated with silver palm leaves and doves upon Cakobau's conversion to Christianity. Cakobau gave the club the name Ai Tutuvi Kuta I Radini Bau, meaning "The sedge blanket of the Queen of Bau (wife of the Roko Tui Bau)".[31][29]: 279
The mace is used as a symbol of the authority of the
An image of the mace is used on the emblem of the Fijian parliament.[31]
Guyana
The
India
The legislative bodies of several
New Zealand
A ceremonial mace for the New Zealand House of Representatives has been used since 1866, when one was presented to Parliament by former Speaker Sir Charles Clifford.[39] The mace is considered to be a symbol of the authority of both the Speaker and of the House, and is carried by the Serjeant-at-Arms.[40][41]
The first mace was destroyed on 11 December 1907 when a fire consumed most of Parliament Buildings.[42] A wooden mace made of pūriri and designed by the Government Architect was temporarily used until a new mace was gifted by then Prime Minister Joseph Ward in 1909 at the prompting of Speaker Arthur Guinness.[39][43] This mace is the one currently in use.
The present mace is modeled on that of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, differing only in that one of the panels instead depicts the Southern Cross and the initials "NZ".[44] The mace is 1.498 metres long, made of sterling silver coated with 18 carat gilt gold and weighs 8.164 kilograms.[39][41][45]
Wellington
The capital city of Wellington also possesses a silver-gilt ceremonial mace, gifted to it by its sister city of Harrogate in 1954, which is used during meetings of the Wellington City Council and on ceremonial occasions.[46][47]
Singapore
The Parliament of Singapore has a mace which had been originally commissioned in 1954 by Governor John Nicoll for the Legislative Council of Singapore.
The mace head is a winged lion holding a trident. Just below the mace head, on the shaft of the mace are the crest of the coat of arms of the Colony of Singapore and the crest of Coat of arms of the United Kingdom, on opposite sides. The rest of the shaft is embossed with lion heads and Chinese junks, and the bottom of the shaft is decorated with waves and fish. The base of the mace depicts a gryphon's head above a crown, the crest of the coat of arms of Stamford Raffles.[48] An image of the mace appears on the crest of Singapore's parliament.
South Africa
As a Dominion of the British Empire, the Union of South Africa House of Assembly used a mace modelled on that of the UK House of Commons from 1910 to 1961.
When South Africa became a republic outside the Commonwealth in 1961, a Stinkwood mace was used temporarily until 1963 when the Gold Producers' Committee of the Transvaal and Orange Free State Chamber of Mines gifted a mace to the chamber.
In 2004 a new mace was designed to reflect the history, tradition, diversity, culture and languages of South Africa. Based on an aluminium shaft with a gold drum featuring images of working South Africans, the mace remains in use today as the symbol of the authority of the National Assembly of South Africa.[49]
Sri Lanka
The ceremonial jeweled mace, symbolizing the authority of the
Other maces with Connection to the British monarch
There are two maces in Jamaica, made in 1753 and 1787; one belonging to the colony of Grenada, made in 1791, and the speaker's mace at Barbados, dating from 1812.
Ireland
Mace of former Parliament of Ireland
A mace made in 1765 for the Irish House of Commons is 1.5 m (58 in) long and weighs 8.4 kg (295 oz) and became redundant in 1801 with the creation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1937, the Bank of Ireland bought the mace from the descendants of John Foster, its last Speaker, the House having ceased to exist upon the Acts of Union 1800.[50] The bank paid IR£3,100 for the mace at a Christie's auction. In 2015, it represented Ireland at the 800th anniversary of the Lord Mayor's Show in the City of London.[51]
The Great Mace of Dublin
The Great Mace of Dublin is used at major civic and ceremonial events alongside the Great Sword, such as when the Lord Mayor awards the honorary Freedom of the city. It was made in 1717 and contains parts of an earlier mace made for the city's first Lord Mayor, Sir Daniel Bellingham.
Academic maces
The ceremonial mace of Trinity College Dublin was still in use in 2021,[52] and University College Cork also has a mace and a mace-bearer.[53]
Myanmar (Burma)
A ceremonial mace was an essential item of the regalia of Myanmar's legislative bodies during the British colonial period.[54] It kept its significance and symbolism in the early post-independence legislatures. Parliamentary democracy ceased in 1962, but when the regime of General Ne Win revived a one-party unicameral legislature in 1974, the mace-bearing ceremonial was abandoned. It was re-introduced in the new parliament, or Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, convened under the 2008 National Constitution.
The Philippines
The House of Representatives and the Senate of the Philippines each have a respective mace. The maces are almost identical.[55][56]
The
The
Provincial boards, city and municipal councils also have their own mace.
The constitutional body Commission on Appointments also uses their own mace during their plenary sessions.
The United States
The civic maces of the 18th century follow the British type with monarchical imagery, with some modifications in shape and ornamentation,[5] while later maces incorporated either republican or imperial Roman imagery.
The current Mace of the United States House of Representatives has been in use since December 1, 1842. It was created by William Adams at a cost of $400 to replace the first mace, which was destroyed on August 24, 1814, when the Capitol was destroyed in the burning of Washington by the British during the War of 1812. A simple wooden mace was used in the interim.
The current mace is nearly four feet tall and is composed of 13
When the House is in session, the mace stands in a
In accordance with the Rules of the House, when a member becomes unruly the sergeant-at-arms, on order of the speaker, lifts the mace from its pedestal and presents it before the offenders, thereby restoring order. This occurs very rarely.
Other, examples of English silver maces in North America include one dating to 1754 at Norfolk, Virginia,[57] and the mace of the state of South Carolina, dating to 1756, which has monarchical imagery. The Maryland House of Delegates also has a very old ceremonial mace, although it is the plainest of all, having no ornamentation save some carved vegetation designs at its head. The Mace of the Virginia House of Delegates also has monarchical motifs, though it was not created until the 1970s.
Bands
Drum majors carry a mace to convey commands or signals to their band.[58] According to the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association, "Drum Major’s maces have been in existence since the 17th century".[59]
Churches
Among other maces (more correctly described as staves) in use today are those carried before ecclesiastical dignitaries and clergy in cathedrals and some parish churches.[5] Other churches, particularly churches of the Anglican Communion, a verger ceremoniously precedes processions.
In the
Universities
Ceremonial maces, symbols of the internal authority over members and the independence from external authority, are still used at many educational institutions, particularly universities. The
At the
In the United States, almost all universities and free-standing colleges have a mace, used almost exclusively at
In Canada, some universities have a mace that is used as part of the ceremonial process of conferring degrees during convocation and other special events. The mace is carried by a special university official like a beadle.[67]
In South Korea, Pohang University of Science and Technology has a mace as a part of its ceremonial functions.[68]
In the Philippines, the
Other maces
- The mace of the
- The Judiciary of Hong Kong opens its legal year with a silver ceremonial mace carried by the mace bearer and used since the early 20th century with the butt end replaced with the emblem of the SAR in 1997.[70] All of the court's maces (pre and post Handover) are held in the Exhibition Gallery.
- Hetmans of Ukrainian Cossacks also had a ceremonial mace, called a bulava.
See also
- Baton (symbol)
- Ceremonial weapon
- Sceptre
- Staff of office
- Heraldry
- Sengol
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External links
- Media related to Ceremonial maces at Wikimedia Commons
- "German horseman's parade mace". Royal Collection Trust. Inventory no. 67259.
- "English mace". Royal Collection Trust. Inventory no. 31784.
- "Indian mace". Royal Collection Trust. Inventory no. 38133.
- "Zambian mace". Royal Collection Trust. Inventory no. 61781.