[Illustration: FIG. 79. Crest from the reverse of the stall-plate of Hugh Stafford lord Bourchier.]
[Illustration: FIG. 80. Two forms of the same crest, from the stall-plate of Richard lord Grey of Codnor.]
[Illustration: PLATE XVI. STALL-PLATE OF WILLIAM LORD WILLOUGHBY, C. 1421.]
One of the first instances of a crown about a crest is on the seal of William Montagu earl of Salisbury, 1337 (pl. XII).
Crowns were not by any means always of gold or silver, and quite a number of pre-Tudor stall-plates have them enamelled red, and in two cases blue.
These heraldic crowns must not be confounded with the coronets, as they are now called, worn of different patterns by peers and peeresses according to their degree; some reference to these will be made later.
The cap of estate is generally depicted in English heraldic art as a high crowned conical hat or cap with flattened top, and a broad brim lined with ermine. The brim is usually turned up high in front, but gradually lessens along the sides towards the back, where the brim extends horizontally to its full width.
The cap of estate first appears, surmounted by his leopard crest, on the head of King Edward III in the great seal made for him in February 1339-40 on his assumption of the title of King of France. Whether the cap has any connexion with the assumption of the king's new title it is difficult to say, but its more common name of 'cap of maintenance' would acquire a significant meaning could such connexion be proved. It is however more probable that the cap was worn by the king for his dignity of duke of Normandy and of Aquitaine, and it was long the custom for representatives of those duchies to take part in coronation processions wearing robes and caps of estate. According to the _Little Device_ for the coronation of Henry VII, there were to ride before the king in the procession from the Tower 'ij Squiers for the kinges bodie bearing in baudrick wise twoo mantells furred w^t Ermyns, wearing twoo hattes of Estate of Crymsen clothe of golde beked on, beks turnyd upp behinde, and furred also w^t Ermyns in reprecentacion of the kinges twoo duchesses of Gyen and Normandie.'[6]
[6] L. G. Wickham Legg, _English Coronation Records_ (Westminster, 1901), 223.