CREST (OF. crestc, Fr. crete, Sp., Port., It. cresta, crest, from Lat. crista, comb, tuft; con nected with Lat. crisis, hair). Though popu larly regarded as the most important feature in heraldic emblems, the crest, 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 ou the helmet, it is the member of the hearing by which the knight was commonly known in battle: and from this circumstance it is to the crest that the term cognizance (from cognoseo, to know) is properly given. Its claim to a classical origin is probably better than that of any other portion of coat armor. The hel met, as we see it represented on ancient statues and gems, was frequently adorned with a crest. Sometimes it was of horsehair: at other times a lion or other animal was placed on the helmet, either erect or couchant.
The first crest to be met with in the monu ments of English chivalry is that on the great seal of Richard Coeur de Lion. They came into general use about the time of Henry and were 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 crest is now invariably placed is that on the monument of Sir John Harsick. It con sisted of two pieces of silk, of the colors of the armorial hearings of the wearer, twisted together by the lady who had chosen him for her knight.
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 iule 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.
Consult: Fairbairn, Book of Crests of the Families of Great Britain and Ireland (Edin burgh, 1892) ; and for foreign crests, see Reit stap, Armorial general (Gouda, 1884-87). See, also, HERALDRY and the authorities referred to there.