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A 'livery collar' or 'chain of office' is a collar or heavy gold chain worn as insignia of office or a mark of fealty in medieval Europe and the United Kingdom.
The best-known livery collar is the 'Collar of Esses', which has been in continuous use in the United Kingdom since the 15th century.

Contents

History

Origins

Collars of Orders of Knighthood

Collars of Freemasonry

See also

References

External links

History

Origins

Livery collars first appeared 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 collar, a chain of couples of broomcods linked by jewels, is seen in the contemporary portrait of Richard II at Wilton. The like collar was worn by Henry IV on the way to his crowning. During the sitting of the English parliament in 1394 the complaints of Richard FitzAlan, 11th Earl of Arundel against Richard II are recorded, one of his grievances being that the king was wont to wear the livery of the collar of his uncle John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, his uncle, 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 said 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 numbered with 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, bestowed as the ornamental bosses of a garter-shaped strap-collar. The oldest effigy bearing it is 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 fancy 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 with sufficient proof. 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 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 rose hanging from it, although in a portrait of this king, now possessed by the Society of Antiquaries, his neck bears the rose en soleil alternating with knots, and his son (later Edward VI, when young, had a collar of roses red and white.
Besides these royal collars, the 14th and 15th centuries show many of 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.

Collars of Orders of Knighthood

Main articles: Collar (Order 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 is 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 did not 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 are 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.

See also

★ Heraldic badge

★ Livery

★ Orders of Knighthood

References

External links

★ Collars of Orders of Knighthood and Livery Collars Portraits and other examples of collars of the Order of the Garter, Order of the Golden Fleece, Order of St. Michael, and livery collars