MACE, originally a weapon of offence, made of iron, steel or latten, capable of breaking through the strongest armour. The mace was carried in battle by mediaeval bishops (Odo of Bayeux ' is represented on the Bayeux tapestry as wielding one) instead of the sword, so as to conform to the canonical rule which forbade priests to shed blood. The earliest ceremonial maces, as they afterwards became, though at first intended to protect the king's person, were those borne by the serjeants-at-arms, a royal body guard established in France by Philip II., and in England prob ably by Richard I. By the 14th century a tendency towards a more decorative serjeant's mace, encased with precious metals, is noticeable. The history of the civic mace (carried by the ser jeants-at-mace) begins about the middle of the 13th century, though no examples of that period are in existence to-day. Orna mented civic maces were considered an infringement of one of the privileges of the king's serjeants, who, according to the Com mons' petition in 1344, were alone deemed worthy of having maces enriched with costly metals. This privilege was, however, granted to the serjeants of London, and later to those of York (in 1396), Norwich (in 1403-4) and Chester (in 1506). Maces covered with silver are known to have been used at Exeter in 1387-8; two were bought at Norwich in and others for Launceston in 1467-8. Several other cities and towns had silver maces in the next century, and in the 16th they were almost uni versally used. As the custom of having serjeants' maces ceased (about 1650), the large maces, borne before the mayor or bailiffs, came into general use. Thomas Maundy was the chief maker of maces during the Commonwealth. He made the mace for the House of Commons in 1649, which is the one at present in use there, the original head having been replaced by one with regal symbols at the Restoration. There are two maces in the
House of Lords, the earliest dating from the reign of William III. The eight large and massive silver-gilt maces of the serjeants-at arms, kept in the jewel-house at the Tower of London, are also of the type which was almost universally adopted, with slight differences, at the Restoration. The civic maces of the i8th cen tury follow this type, with some modifications in shape and ornamentation. The historic silver maces of the i8th century include the one of 1753 at Norfolk, Virginia, and that of 1756 of the State of South Carolina, both in the United States of America.
Among other maces, more correctly described as staves, in use at the present time, are those carried before ecclesiastical digni taries and clergy in cathedrals and parish churches and the maces of the universities. At Oxford there are three of the second half of the 16th century and six of 1723-24, while at Cambridge there are three of 1626 and one of 1628, but altered at the Common wealth and again at the Restoration. The silver mace with crystal globe of the lord high treasurer of Scotland, at Holyrood palace, was made about 1690. The remarkable mace or sceptre of the lord mayor of London is of crystal and gold and set with pearls; the head dates from the 15th century, while the mounts of the shaft are early mediaeval.