Livery collar

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Sir Thomas More wearing the Collar of Esses, with the Tudor rose badge of Henry VIII, by Hans Holbein the Younger
(1527)

A

chain, usually of gold, worn as insignia of office or a mark of fealty or other association in Europe from the Middle Ages
onwards.

One of the oldest and best-known livery collars is the Collar of Esses, which has been in continuous use in England since the 14th century.

History

Origins

Various forms of livery were used in the Middle Ages to denote attachment to a great person by friends, servants, and political supporters. The collar, usually of precious metal, was the grandest form of these, usually given by the person the livery denoted to his closest or most important associates, but should not, in the early period, be seen as separate from the wider phenomenon of livery badges, clothes and other forms. From the collar hung a badge or device indicating the person the livery related to; the most important part of the ensemble for contemporaries. Equally gold collars that had no livery connotations were worn.[citation needed]

Livery collars seem to be first recorded in the 14th century.

Richard II and to his three uncles. Although he distributed "genet" badges much more widely, only about twenty collars per year were given out, and it was treated somewhat as the sign of a pseudo-chivalric order, although no such order formally existed.[1] The collar of Esses is first recorded earlier than this, as being given by John of Gaunt, and remained in use by the House of Lancaster throughout the Wars of the Roses.[2]

This French type of collar, a chain of couples of broomcods linked by jewels, is seen in the contemporary

Henry of Bolingbroke (Henry IV), as an earl, duke and king.[citation needed
]

Collar of Esses

This famous livery collar, which has never passed out of use, takes many forms, its Esses being sometimes linked together chainwise, and sometimes, in early examples, as the ornamental bosses of a garter-shaped strap-collar. The oldest effigy bearing it is that in Spratton church of Sir John Swynford, who died in 1371. Swynford was a follower of John of Gaunt, and the date of his death easily disposes of the theory that the Esses were devised by Henry IV to stand for his motto or "word" of Soverayne. Many explanations are given of the origin of these letters, but none has as yet been established: for example: Souvent me souvien or "Think of me often."[3] During the reigns of Henry IV,[4] his son (Henry V) and grandson (Henry VI), the collar of Esses was a royal badge of the Lancastrian house and party, the white swan, as in the Dunstable Swan Jewel, usually being its pendant.

In one of Henry VI's own collars the S was joined to the broomcod of the French device, symbolizing the king's claim to the two kingdoms. The kings of the house of York and their chief followers wore the Yorkist collar of suns and roses, with the white lion of March, the Clare bull, or Richard's white boar for a pendant device. Henry VIII brought back the collar of Esses, a portcullis or a Tudor rose hanging from it, although in a portrait of him, in the Society of Antiquaries, he wears the rose en soleil alternating with knots, and his son (later Edward VI) had a collar of red and white roses. It was presented to ministers and courtiers, and came to represent more a symbol of office by the time of Elizabeth I.

In modern times the Collar of Esses is worn, on state occasions only, by the Kings and Heralds of Arms, by the Lord Chief Justice and by Serjeants-at-Arms.[5]

The term "Collar of SS" was preferred by Victorian antiquaries.

Nazi
connotation.

Private livery collars

Drawing of detail of mermaid collar of Thomas de Berkeley, 5th Baron Berkeley (d. 1417), from his monumental brass at Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire

Besides these royal collars, the 14th and 15th centuries show many private devices. A monumental brass at Mildenhall shows a knight whose badge of a dog or wolf circled by a crown hangs from a collar with edges suggesting a pruned bough or the ragged staff. Thomas of Markenfield (d. c. 1415) on his brass at Ripon has a strange collar of park palings with a badge of a hart in a park, and Thomas de Berkeley, 5th Baron Berkeley (d. 1417) wears one set with mermaids, the Berkeley family heraldic badge.[7]

Renaissance chains

In the Renaissance, gold chains tended to replace collars, and

James I of England's picture, and others received just a picture.[8]
During the sixteenth century collars became marks of a specific office or Order, and subsequently remained so.

Mayoral collars

Brampton, Ontario
, Canada from 2000 to 2014, pictured wearing a modern mayoral collar

Most English, Welsh and Irish mayors, and Scottish provosts, wear a collar/chain of office, and new ones are still designed for new municipalities. The mayor's or provost's spouse may have a much smaller version. These are worn over normal clothes when on official duties. Following British practice, most Canadian, Australian and New Zealand mayors also wear chains of office. The custom also spread outside the Commonwealth, to Germany (originally only Prussia) in 1808, to the Netherlands by royal decree in 1852 and to Norway after the mayor of Oslo received one as a gift in 1950, and most Norwegian mayors now have mayoral chains.

The design of modern mayoral chains mimics the ancient gold collar of Esses worn by the Lord Mayor of London which was bequeathed to his successors by Sir John Aleyn (who died in 1545) and which has a large jewelled pendant added in 1607.

Collars of orders of knighthood

Collars of various devices are worn by the knights of some of the European

order of St. Michael
in 1469, gave the knights collars of scallop shells linked on a chain.

The chain was doubled by Charles VIII, and the pattern suffered other changes before the order lapsed in 1830.

At the end of the 18th century most of the European orders had only one rank—that of Knight—and although they usually had collars the cross or badge was now worn on a ribbon around the neck or over the right shoulder. When the orders became more democratic several ranks were introduced and only the highest grade, the Grand Commanders or Grand Crosses, wore collars. The Netherlands never had collars but several Belgian, most of the Austrian and Prussian orders and several Portuguese orders had collars. In Portugal all the members of these orders of knighthood wore a collar but the collars of the Grand-crosses were more elaborate.

In England, until the reign of Henry VIII, the Order of the Garter, most ancient of the great knightly orders had no collar. But the Tudor king must needs match in all things with continental sovereigns, and the present collar of the Garter knights, with its golden knots and its buckled garters enclosing white roses set on red roses, has its origin in the Tudor age.

Knights of most of the British orders have collars which are worn on special occasions, but not the Knights Bachelor or holders of decorations such as the Distinguished Service Order, the Order of Merit, the Order of the Companions of Honour and the Imperial Service Order. The Royal Victorian Chain is a collar and there are no other insignia.

In France, Emperor

Légion d'honneur
. It did not survive his downfall.

Sometimes the collar is the insignia of office of the

Grand Master
of the order; the French president therefore wears the collar of the Order of the Légion d'honneur. In other countries such as Brazil the collar is a rank above that of a Grand Cross and it is reserved for the president and foreign heads of state.

  • Collar of the Order of the Golden Fleece, shown in the Schatzkammer in Vienna, Austria
    Collar of the Order of the Golden Fleece, shown in the
    Schatzkammer in Vienna, Austria
  • Charles d'Amboise in the cockleshell collar of the Order of Saint Michael, 1507
    Charles d'Amboise in the cockleshell collar of the Order of Saint Michael, 1507
  • The insignia of a knight of the Order of the Garter
    The insignia of a knight of the Order of the Garter

Collars of Freemasonry

Collars also have a long history within Freemasonry. Collars are often worn by officers of high rank. Nearly all Grand Lodge officers wear collars as an emblem of their office. In history, many such collars are quite valuable, featuring gold and precious jewels.

Collars vary widely among Masonic Grand Lodges. While those Lodges working under the Grand Lodge of England have fairly uniform designs, Grand Lodges in the United States vary widely, employing collars made from metal chains backed by velvet, to those made of velvet and embroidered with gold and silver bullion thread.

Today, English lodge officers wear a fabric collar with a simple jewel of their office pendant to it. Each jewel represents a skill or virtue which he possesses and instructs the brothers of Masonry in. In some jurisdictions, these jewels are silver-plated for the Craft or Blue Lodges under 100 years old, or gold-plated for lodges older than 100 years. The collars generally sit on the wearer's shoulders and fall over the chest, ending in a point between the breasts.

See also

Citations

  1. ^ Crane, 19
  2. ^ Collar of Esses
  3. ^ Vitullo-Martin, Julia (24 March 2022). "At the Frick Madison, a Daring New Program Juxtaposes Old Masters and Queer Art". Untapped New York.
  4. ^ "Henry VIII-era chain up for sale", 5 October 2008, BBC.com
  5. ^ Fox-Davies, Arthur Charles (1909), A Complete Guide to Heraldry, London{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link).
  6. ^ Boutell, Charles (1863), Heraldry Historical & Popular, London, p. 298{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link).
  7. ^ Davis, C. T. The Monumental Brasses of Gloucestershire, London, 1899. Davis correctly states the date of death as 1417, yet incorrectly calls him 4th Lord in place of 5th.
  8. ^ Strong 1975, pp. 16–17

General and cited references

Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domainChisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Collar". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 6 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 684–685.

Further reading

  • Ward, Matthew, The Livery Collar in Late Medieval England and Wales: Politics, Identity and Affinity (The Boydell Press: Woodbridge, 2016).

External links