Everything about Livery Collar totally explained
A
livery collar or
chain of office is a
collar or heavy
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 best-known livery collars is the
Collar of Esses, which has been in continuous use in the United Kingdom since the
15th 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; really the badge was the most important part of the ensemble for contemporaries. Equally gold collars that had no livery connotations were worn.
Livery collars seem to be first recorded in the
14th century.
Charles V of France in 1378 granted to his
Chamberlain Geoffrey de Belleville the right of bearing in all feasts and in all companies the collar of the
Cosse de Geneste or Broomcod, a collar which was accepted and worn even by the English kings,
Charles VI sending such collars to
Richard II and to his three uncles.
This French type of collar, a chain of couples of broomcods linked by jewels, is seen in the contemporary
Wilton Diptych portrait of Richard II, with Richard's own
device of the white
hart hanging below (the angels accompanying the Virgin also wear Richard's livery badges). The same collar was worn by
Henry IV on the way to his
crowning. During the sitting of the
Parliament of England in 1394 the complaints of
Richard FitzAlan, 11th Earl of Arundel against Richard II are recorded, one of his grievances being that the king had been wearing the livery collar of his uncle
John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, and that people of the king's following wore the same livery. To which the king answered that soon after the return from
Spain (in 1389) of his uncle, the duke, he himself took the collar from his uncle's neck, putting it on his own, which collar the king would wear and use for a sign of the good and whole-hearted love between them, even as he wore the liveries of his other uncles. Livery collars of the king of France, of
Queen Anne and of the dukes of
York and Lancaster are recorded amongst the royal plate and jewels which in the first year of Henry IV had come to the king's hands. The inventory shows that Queen Anne's collar, was made up of sprigs of
rosemary garnished with
pearls. The York collar had
falcons and
fetterlocks, and the Lancaster collar was doubtless that
Collar of Esses (or S S) used by the duke's son,
Henry of Bolingbroke (Henry IV), as an earl, duke and king.
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's that in Spratton church of Sir
John Swinford, who died in 1371. Swinford 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. During the reigns of Henry IV, 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 usually being its pendant.
In one of Henry VI's own collars the S was joined to the Broomcod of the French device, thus 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, when young, had a collar of red and white roses.
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 the
Lord Berkeley (d. 1392) wears one set with
mermaids.
In the Renaissance, gold chains tended to replace collars, and
portrait miniature of the donor tended to replace the earlier badges with symbolic devices, although "picture boxes" containing miniatures could be highly extravagant pieces of jewellery. The Elizabethan artist
Nicholas Hilliard was both a goldsmith and miniaturist, and so produced the whole of pieces like the
Armada Jewel, given by
Queen Elizabeth I of England to a courtier. When the
Earl of Rutland returned from an embassy to Denmark, sixteen members of his party were given chains of gold with the
James I of England's picture, and others received just a picture. During the sixteenth century collars became marks of a specific office or Order, and subsequently remained so.
Mayoral collars
Most English
mayors (which is a mainly a ceremonial office in most places) wear a collar of office, and new ones are still designed for new municipalities. The mayor's spouse may have a much smaller version. These are worn over normal clothes when on official duties. Following English practice, most Canadian mayors also wear chains of office.
Collars of Orders of Knighthood
Collars of various devices are worn by the knights of some of the European
orders of knighthood. The custom was begun by
Philip III, Duke of Burgundy, who gave his knights of the
Golden Fleece, badges of a golden fleece hung from a collar of flints, steels and sparks. Following this new fashion,
Louis XI of France, when instituting his
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 got 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 wear a collar but the collars of the Grand-crosses are more ellaborate.
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
Legion of Honour. In other countries such as Brazil the collar is a rank above that of a Grand Cross and it's reserved for the president and foreign heads of state.
Napoleon I introduced "the Grand aigle", a collar as the highest rank in his Legion of Honour. It didn't survive his downfall.
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.
Most of the British orders of knighthood have collars and they're still worn on special occasions.
The
Distinguished Service Order, the
Order of Merit, The
Order of the Companions of Honour and the
Imperial Service Order are the exceptions. The
Royal Victorian Chain is a collar and there are no other insignia.
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. Many times these collars are quite valuable, featuring gold and precious jewels.
Further Information
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