HERALDR7
245
HERALDRY
be no descendants to claim pedigree whom it would be
necessary to place correctly in a family, whilst for the
individual concerned his ecclesiastical ornaments of
rank were sufficient distinction. But the omission of
cadency marks does not appear to have been a matter
of universally accepted rule.
The chief distinction in the bearing of personal arms by an ecclesiastic is found in the use of the mitre, the crosier, and the ecclesiastical hat. Though there are a few examples which might be mentioned of the use of the biretta, both scarlet and black, these may be regarded as merely freaks based upon personal in- clination. The heraldic use of the ecclesiastical hat undoubtedly originates in the red hat of the cardinal, which, as a vestment, dates from 1245. The sending of the actual hat was of course a matter of ceremony and of importance, and for that reason the armorial use of the hat as indicative of the rank was a foregone conclusion. Its heraldic use dates from the early part of the fourteenth century. There is abundant evidence in England of this heraldic use before the Reformation, but the writer is unaware of a single instance in which any other ecclesiastical hat than that of a cardinal was ever employed heraldically. This would seem to show, as was indeed the fact, that the extended use of the ecclesiastical hat was a subse- quent development even in Italy and France, though it mu.st be admitted that in Spain the green hat of bishops and archbishops had had some usage since 1400, a practice which grew in that country, where it was an alternative, and preferred to the use elsewhere of the cross and mitre.
In the seventeenth century the use of the ecclesia.s- tical hat for the lower ranks of the Church became, as it has since remained, fairly vuiiversal. The ecclesi- astical hat is low, flat, wide-briramed, and depending from either side are cords and tassels. Though usually referred to as tassels, they are sometimes termed houppes or fiocci. Originally the number of tassels was indeterminate, the natural conse<iuence of the exclusive use of the hat by cardinals; there are even examples to be found in which no tassels are shown, the strings of the hat being simply knotted. But in early representations six tassels on either side are most usually to be found, these being arranged in three rows containing one, two, and three tassels re- spectively. In later times, with the extension of the use of the ecclesiastical hat, differentiation was made both in the colour and in the number of the tassels, but in attempting to make use of such differentiation it should be remembered that e\tn after an estab- lished rule and usage had come into being adhesion thereto was far from being universal. In the Catholic clergy and in the .'Vnglican as well (where many of the archbishops have preferred and assumed the coro- neted mitre of the Bishop of Durham) there seems to have been a constant desire to appropriate more than belonged to them of right. In the armorial dis- play made by ecclesiastics there is a far greater amount of bogus and incorrect heraldry than is to be met with elsewhere.
The assumption of personal arms by those of plebe- ian birth and the invention of arms of office where none have been assigned by any competent authority, bring armory into grave disrepute, and its study into hopeless confusion. Some excuse may be urged in mitigation in America and other republican countries which do not officially countenance the granting and creation of arms, which is admittedly an at- tribute of sovereignty, but there is no such excuse as to personal arms in monarchical countries, as the religious sovereignty of the papacy is universal and surely sufficient to supply what may be lacking in matters which are purely ecclesiastical. But to this unfortunate habit of the ecclesiastical mind is due the fact that in a very large number of cases it will be found that, whatever the rank, one more row of
Fig. 6. Priest's Hat as Origin-
ally Allowed
tassels has been added than should be the case. The
rules which follow are those which are recognized in
Rome, and in recent years there has been a healthy
reversion in many cases to the proper procedure in
matters heraldic.
The cardinal's hat is scarlet and has on either side fifteen tassels arrangetl in five rows of one, two, three, four, and five tassels respectively (Figs, c, Plate I, and c, Plate II). The hats of a patriarch, an archbishop, and a bish- op are green. The pa- triarch has fifteen tas- sels, as a cardinal, but the cords and tassels of a patriarch's hat are interwoven with gold (S. Congr. Ca>rem., 3 Nov., 1826). An arch- bishop has ten tassels arranged in four rows of one, two, three, and four respectively (Fig. b, Plate I). A bishop (Fig. d, Plate II) has sLx tassels on each side arranged in three rows of one, two, and three respectively. Arch- abbots possess episcopal rank and use the same hat as a bishop. But as far back as the seventeenth century bishops were using ten tassels, and a hat with that num- ber appears in the matriculation of the arms of the Bishop of Aberdeen previously referred to. The ordi- nary ecclesiastical hat of the simple priest is black, but of the same shape, and had originally on either side a single tassel of the same colour (Fig. 6) but following upon the ecclesiastical habit of taking the next higher emblem than was proper the single tassel later devel- oped into a double one (Fig. 7). This practice has been followed so wadely that one almost hesitates to say it is wrong, and there has been a subsequent unauthorized progression to three tassels arranged in two rows of one and two on either side, but the rules for the black hat which are recognized in Rome assign the six tassels to generals of orders, three tassels to provincial superiors of orders (Fig. e, Plate II), to mitred abbots, and to provosts, and two tassels to local superiors (prior, guardian, and rector), leaving the single tassel to the simple priest.
The General of the Order of the Premonstraten- sians (White Canons) uses a white hat with six white tassels. The prelates of the papal chamber use a violet hat with ten red tassels on either side. Apos- tolic prothonotaries are entitled to a violet hat with six red tassels at each side. Domestic prelates, privy chamberlains, and privy chaplains of His Holi- ness have a violet hat with six violet tassels. Hon- orary chamberlains and chaplains have the violet hat, but only three violet tassels.
The heraldic mitre is placed above the arms of all persons who in the CathoUc, Eastern, Anglican, or Episcopalian Churches are in theory or fact entitled to wear the mitre. Archbishops and bishops use it. Most abbots use it, and did in England before the Reforma- tion, though some ab- bots are not mitred abbots and have there- fore nojustification for its display. The mitre as a vestment,of course
Fig. 7. Priest's Hat as Later
Developed
long antedates the existence of heraldry, and in facti
exists in three forms, termed respectively pretiosa,
auriferata, and simplex. The auriferata (which is
made of cloth of gold or of thin gold plates, and is not
jewelled) is the one always used in English heraldry
