The Crown Jewels at the Tower of London [antikvár]

THE CROWN JEWELS OF ENGLAND |x| HE treasures of the Jewel House in the Tower of London are, (jjl for the most part, connected with the coronation of the kings and queens of England, and almost all are of seventeenth-century and later date. The execution of Charles I in 1649 had been followed by the systematic destruction of the royal ornaments, somé of which would seem to have dated from the early Middle Ages, and possibly from the time of Edward the Confessor himself, so that a new set had to be made for the coronation of Charles II in 1661. Since then, additional pieces have been provided from time to time, generally following the earlier forms. Processional Objects, Maces Of the great silver-gilt maces, for instance, two bear the royal cypher of Charles II, two of James II, three of William and Mary and one of Queen Anne, subsequently altered to that of George I. This last mace has no traceable date-marks, but seems by its style to have been made originally for Charles II, whose other maces are likewise undated, most of the later examples bearing the stamp of the noted London silversmith, Francis Garthorne. Their shape illustrates how the functions of the fighting-mace were almost forgottén as it developed into the ceremóniái staff carried by a king's officer as a sign of his authority, for the great crowned mace-head is an elaboration of