Why Did Kings Start Wearing Crowns?
Circular headgear has been used in various cultures since at least 3000 B.C. to confer special status on the wearer and to set him or her apart as an extraordinary (often divine) being with a right to supreme governance and/or as having exceptional skills and achievements. Crowns, depending on their design and the materials of their composition, would draw attention to the wearer, and could enhance physical attributes, for instance, making the wearer appear taller.
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Early Mesopotamian and Hebrew Crowns
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In early Mesopotamian and Hebrew cultures, crowns, or diadems, could be made of cloth or metal and set with jewels or precious stones. In the Hebrew Bible, crowns worthy of kings are described as being made of gold (Ps. 21:3), and even small-time kings are mentioned as having crowns containing gold and jewels (2 Sam. 12:29). Although the materials used for crowns were commonly precious metals and jewels, the shape of the crown could vary; there are no indications that all crowns were similar in design.
Egyptian Crowns
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Throughout Egypt's long dynastic history, kings and queens wore various crowns to represent the different offices and aspects of royal authority. From the Early Dynastic period and afterward, royalty used both crowns and scepters (the scepter being the most ancient sign of authority).
Although no ancient Egyptian crowns have survived for material analysis, there are numerous pictures and sculptures that depict them. Egyptian crowns are most often represented as being very tall, with symbolic materials (such as feathers) that function to convey messages. An example of this is the "Double Crown," one crown composed of the two separate crowns worn by leaders of Upper and Lower Egypt, and so symbolizing the unified reach of the king's authority.
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Assyrian and Persian Crowns
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Assyrian monarchs wore crowns similar in style to that of the Egyptian monarchs. The high, conical style was similar to the headgear of priests, and was essentially an elevated, dyed and usually jeweled turban.
In Persia, crowns were an important and highly individualized element contributing to the glory of a king. Each ruler wore his own distinctive crown that combined attributes of Persian deities, including eagles' wings and rams' heads; streamers were sometimes added.
Greek and Roman
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Beginning in 776 B.C., the Greeks crowned the victors at the Olympic games with laurel wreaths. The town in which the games were hosted provided head garlands made from the branches of local trees (incidentally it is speculated that the practice of hanging wreaths comes from the practice of victors hanging their 'crowns' up on the wall or elsewhere). It appears that crowns of leaves or flowers were also put on the heads of festival revelers; the Hebrew Bible mentions the practice in the book of Isaiah and in the apocryphal book of Wisdom.
In Rome, the purple toga and diadem signified kingship. Cicero writes in his third and thirteenth Phillipics about an incident in 44 B.C. when Marc Antony offered a diadem to Julius Caesar in the forum during the winter festival of Lupercalia. Caesar repeatedly refused the diadem, an act that made it clear that he did not intend to assume monarchical power over the Roman Republic. In Latin, the word for "crown" is "corona."
The Crown in the Medieval (and Modern) West
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In the Middle Ages, crowns were of two sorts. A crown was an object of state and a headpiece to be worn by kings and queens signifying their power on feast-days. There was also the diadem, the type of crown worn by Roman emperors and kings of pagan tribes. As state power mingled with the authority of the Church, crowns represented secular power mediated by or in partnership with ecclesiastical authority. Medieval art depicted Jesus and Mary with crowns, reminding secular leaders that true authority belonged to God. Sometimes crowns contained holy relics (such as the reliquary crown of St. Louis, which enclosed a splinter of the true cross). As in times past, the crown indicated that its wearer was divinely sanctioned to rule.
Because the crown itself, unlike people, survived through many generations, it came to independently symbolize the office of kingship and identify a particular lineage.
The British monarchy still today retains its "Crown Jewels," a set of regalia passed down through the generations since 1303. They are kept in the "Jewel House" in the Tower of London, on display to visitors and guarded by royal soldiers.
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Comments
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On the Wilton Diptych there is a striking difference in the size of the crowns between the kneeling figure ( supposedly Richard ) and the standing kings. This is one reason for suspecting that the image represents not Richard, but his queen, Anne, who died about the time of the painting. Does anyone know enough about crowns, their shape and size, and the relative difference in size between a king's and queens's crown to comment on this? Compare this crown with that worn by Richard in his westminster Abbey coronation portrait and you'll see my point.
