CREST (Lat. crista, a tuft, from cresco, to grow up). Though popularly regarded as the most important feature in heraldic emblems, the C., in the eyes of heralds, is an external adjunct to the shield, without which the bearing is complete, and which may consequently be altered without materially affecting its significance. Occupying the highest place on the helmet, it is the member of the 'bearing by which the knight was commonly known in battle; and from this circumstance, it is to it that the term cognizance (from cognosco, to know) is properly given. Its claim to a classical origin' is probably better than that of any other portion of coat armor. Jupiter Ammon is represented as having borne a ram's head on his helmet, and Mars the figure of a lion or a tiger. Alexander the great, on the pretense that he was sprung from Jupiter, assumed the ram's head; and Julius Cxsar bore a star, to denote that he was descended from Venus. The helmet, as we see it represented on ancient statues and gems, was frequently adorned with a crest. Sometimes it was of horse-hair; at other times a lion or other animal was placed on the helmet, either erect or couchant.
Newton, in his _Display of Heraldry, says that the first C. to be met with in the monuments of English chivalry, is that on the great seal of Richard Cur de Lion. The helmets in this instance, and in that of Roger de Quincy, earl of Winchester, differ in form from those afterwards used, the C. occupying a much larger space. Crests are said to have come into general use about the time of Henry III., and to have been used as marks of distinction by commanders in the holy wars, as they had formerly been by the Roman centurions. For lightness they were often made of stuffed leather, which was gilt, silvered over, or painted—a circumstance which explains their greater size then than in later times, when they were made either of wood or metal. The earliest example of the wreath on which the C. is now invariably placed, is that on the monu ment of sir John Harsick. It consisted of two pieces of silk, of the colors of the armo rial bearings of the wearer, twisted together by the lady who had chosen him for her knight. Though crests are now invariable appendages to shields, and many of them are appropriated to particular families by hereditary descent, they are believed to have been originally assumed at the pleasure of the wearers; and they are even now less strictly under the cognizande of the heralds than the devices on the shield, which must always be assigned by competent authority. Crests are so various that a classification of
them is scarcely possible. The following is an abridgment of that given by Newton, who has written very fully on the subject in his Disp'ay of Heraldry. The most ancient class of crests he believes to have consisted of ferocious animals, which were regarded as figuratively representing the bearer and his pursuits. Secondly, they were devices assumed as memorials of feats of chivalry, and for the purpose of perpetuating tradi tions and family legends, either in addition to, or differing from, those represented on the shield. Thirdly, they served only to give a more prominent place to objects already represented on the shield. Fourthly, they commemorated religious vows, or expressed the religious or knightly aspirations of the bearer. Fifthly, they were mere whims, and were adopted for no very definite reasOn, and served no very definite purpose. As many of them belonged to persons not only unconnected by family, but of different names, they no longer served the purpose of distinction when separated from the shield. To this latter class belong the vast majority of modern crests assumed at the suggestion of seal-engravers and coach-painters.
The ]ion assumed by Richard L, during the crusade in the Holy Land, to express the bravery for which he was proverbial, was borne by Edward III., Henry VII., Edward VI., and James I.; and since that time has been recognized as the appropriate C. of the royal family of England. In early times, the same C. was not always borne even by the same person. Besides the lion, Edward III. occasionally bore a white raven crowned; and other monarchs made use of similar additions. Anciently, the nobility mostly bore plumes of feathers. But several of the earls of Warwick, of the Beau champ family—the last of whom died in 1445—bore for C. a bear with a rugged staff, muzzled, collared, and chained, as it is still to be seen on signs. The origin of the wreath has been already mentioned. It is now represented as consisting of two stripes of gold or silver lace, twisted into a circular cord. Its tinctures are always those of the principal metal and color of the arms. It is a rule in delineating the wreath, which is shown edgewise above the shield, that the first coil shall be of metal, and the second of color. Civic, triumphal, and other crowns were used as wreaths; and this practice is supposed to have given rise to the use of coronets, out of which crests are sometimes represented as issuing, even in the case of persons who are not noble.