358 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 289. 



indeed it bears so near a resemblance to it, that 

 there is all the reason in the world to think so, 

 and consequently that it is not a cap and a crown, 

 but a helmet adorned with a fillet, and thereon 

 three high raised points, that in the middle of the 

 front, which is the highest, terminating in a cross, 

 the other two at the sides being like rays inverted ; 

 the points being downwards may probably be de- 

 signed for nails, for such we see accompanying the 

 cross upon the reverse of some coins of the Con- 

 queror. But after the Confessor, Harold appears 

 with the diadem of one row of pearls, and on some 

 of his money, says Selden, bears the diadem of 

 pearls upon a helm ; and this on a helm, says 

 Selden, I conceive to be properly that which they 

 called cynehelme, as the diadem without the helm, 

 that which was their cyneboend, or royal fillet, for 

 those two words with the Saxons denoted a royal 

 ensign of the head ; and the royal helmet, I appre- 

 hend, is what we see upon the great seal of Ed- 

 ward the Confessor and the Conqueror. 



After the Norman Conquest the first William 

 appears upon his great seal with a helmet and 

 diadem composed of a circle and three rays raised 

 very high, their points terminating In crosses, 

 having a pearl or pellet at each point of the cross, 

 and two fleurs-de-lis between the rays. Selden 

 calls this likewibe a cap with a crown ; but it is 

 manifestly a helmet, and of the same form as that 

 he wears upon the counterseal. This seems to 

 have been compounded of the royal helmet and 

 crown fleurl of Edward the Confessor ; but on the 

 coins attributed to this first William (supposing 

 all those with the full face to be his), he appears 

 in a cap, or the crown of the head appearing like 

 one, having a pearled diadem with one row of pearls, 

 and three larger pearls upon the upper part of the 

 diadem, one at each end, and one m the middle, 

 jafter the manner they are now placed upon our 

 barons' coronets, having likewise labels of pearl, 

 like eai'rings, hanging at each ear ; others have 

 three rays with pearls on the points, and some 

 seem to have flowers or leaves between. Some 

 have thought what I call a cap to be an arched 

 crown, and Selden thought it to be an arch that 

 went across the head, as is frequently seen in those 

 of the Eastern emperors ; but we have no Instance 

 of arched crowns with us, upon the great seals or 

 otherwise, till long afterwards, nor has this the 

 form of such an arch as he supposes. In some 

 coins it makes a double arch by sinking in the 

 middle, which shows It was intended to represent 

 a cap which naturally falls Into that shape ; some 

 have likewise three rays with pearls at the points. 

 William Rufus upon his great seal has a coronet 

 ■with high rays and pearls upon the points, like 

 those of Edred and Edmund Ironside, with this 

 difference, that they had but three rays, and 

 Kufus's crown has five : the coins attributed to 

 him having his head in profile, have some of them, 



the cap like an arched crown, the arch being com- 

 posed of pearls, but without any ornament at the 

 ^top, which all arched crowns are supposed to have, 

 and therefore, as well as for the reasons before 

 mentioned, I cannot admit it to be any other than 

 a cap. 



Henry I., both upon his great seal and money, 

 has the open crown fleurl with three fleurs-de-lis,, 

 one in the middle, and half flowers at each end ; 

 the fillet is usually plain, but some of his coins 

 show a single row of pearls, like Edward the Con- 

 fessor, upon whose coins it first appeared. And of 

 this crown with fleurs-de-lis it is remarkable, as 

 Selden observes, that though the coins of the 

 Saxon times show us no other than what we have 

 mentioned ; yet there are extant some volumes 

 written under King Edgar, and by his command, 

 touching the reformation of the monastic life in 

 England, wherein he is pfctured, and in a draught 

 of his own time, with a crown fleurl, also rudely 

 drawn. And whencesoever it proceeded, the 

 crowns that are put on the heads of most ancient 

 kings In pictures of the holy story of Genesis 

 (^MSS. in Bibl. Cottoniana), translated Into Saxon 

 in those times, and in such draughts as designed 

 the holy story belonging to the Psalms of near 

 or about a thousand years since, are no otherwise 

 than fleurs-de-lis. This ancient use and attribute 

 of the crown fleuri with fleurs-de-lis to the sacred 

 history, and the fleur-de-lis being likewise an. 

 ancient emblem of the Trinity, was perhaps the 

 reason that King Edward assumed It, and that it 

 was afterwards used, and Is still continued, as an 

 ornament in the crowns of almost all the Christian 

 princes. Leake. 



(7'o he continued.') 



CARVINGS IN BELGIAN CHURCHES. 



I forward to you for insertion, if you deem the 

 subject deserving a place in your journal, a list of 

 the principal works in carving In the churches in 

 Belgium, with the artists' names and dates of exe- 

 cution as correct as I could obtain them. I am 

 aware there are many others equalling in merit 

 those I have noticed ; but as I could not obtain 

 the name of the artist, or the date of the woi-k, I 

 have omitted them, trusting to some other corre- 

 spondent to supply the deficiencies I am unable to 

 avoid. 

 Pulpit. St Gudule, Brussels. Henry Verbruggen. Built 



for the church of the Jesuits at Louvaine, in 1699, and 



placed as it now stands in 1776. 

 Piilpit. Notre Dame de Finesterre, Brussels. DurO}'. 

 Pulpit. St. Andrew's, Antwerp. Von Gheel. Figures by 



Von Roel. Medallions by Von der Hayden. 

 Pulpit. St. Augustine's. Antwerp. Verbruggen. 

 Pulpit. St. Jacques, Antwerp. Williamsens. 

 Medallions near the altar of St. Paul's Church, Antwerp. 



Pompe, 1765. 



