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62-622: The Crystal Sceptre (occasionally described as a mace ) is part of the regalia of the Lord Mayor of London . It was presented to the City of London by King Henry V in return for having provided the king with 10,000 marks ( £ 6,666) to fund a war in France in 1415, when his army captured Harfleur and then won the Battle of Agincourt . The sceptre measures 17 inches (43 cm) long, with

124-444: A House of Commons petition of 1344. However, the sergeants of London later gained this privilege, as did later those of York (1396), Norwich (1403–1404), and Chester (1506). Records exist of maces covered with silver in use at Exeter in 1387–1388; Norwich bought two in 1435, and Launceston others in 1467 and 1468. Several other cities and towns subsequently acquired silver maces, and the 16th century saw almost universal use. Early in

186-628: A rock crystal shaft incised with helical grooves, in two parts, mounted with gold and pearls. At the top is a gold crown with alternating fleur-de-lys and cross embellishments, mounted with jewels including Afghan red spinel , Ceylon blue sapphires , and pearls from the Persian Gulf . Within the circlet of the crown is a painting on parchment of the Royal Arms of England adopted in 1406, quartering three fleurs-de-lys for France with three lions for England. The crown may have been adapted from

248-455: A ceremonial mace in a legislature of a British North American colony was at the 1st General Assembly of Nova Scotia , which convened in 1758. The first mace was used by the Chamber of Upper Canada 's first Parliament in 1792 at Newark (now Niagara-on-the-Lake ) and then moved to York (now Toronto ). This first mace was a primitive wooden implement, painted red and gilt and surmounted by

310-802: A crown of thin brass strips. It was stolen by American troops as a prize of war during the Battle of York of the War of 1812 in 1813. The mace was stored at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland , and remained in the United States until 1934. It was returned to Ontario when President Franklin Roosevelt sent an order to Congress to return the mace. It was stored at the Royal Ontario Museum for

372-500: A mace to symbolise their authority. Some officials of the medieval Eastern Roman Empire carried maces for either practical or ceremonial purposes. Notable among the latter is the protoallagator , a military-judicial position that existed by about the 10th century A.D. and whose symbols of office were reported by the Palaiologan writer Pseudo-Kodinos in the 14th century to include a silver-gilt mace ( matzouka ). At this time

434-577: A mace to the chamber. Byzantine Emperor The foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire , which fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as legitimate rulers and exercised sovereign authority are included, to the exclusion of junior co-emperors ( symbasileis ) who never attained the status of sole or senior ruler, as well as of

496-484: A practical joke on the House by hiding the mace under one of the opposition frontbenches. It was not found for two hours, and police were called in as it was assumed to have been stolen. After initially denying his role in the incident, Higgs apologised to his colleagues the following week, stating he had acted in "a spirit of frivolity". His admission that he was "entirely to blame" was met with cheers. A silver-gilt mace

558-681: A religious sculpture of the Virgin Mary . The other end has a large glass boss. The sceptre was probably made in Paris, c.1380–1420, and presented to the City of London between 1415 and 1421: it was depicted being held by the Lord Mayor of London in a painting of the coronation of Queen Catherine of Valois in February 1421. A rare object of medieval gold to have survived to the modern day, it

620-556: A silver-gilt ceremonial mace, gifted to it by its sister city of Harrogate in 1954, which is used during meetings of the Wellington City Council and on ceremonial occasions. The Parliament of Singapore has a mace which had been originally commissioned in 1954 by Governor John Nicoll for the Legislative Council of Singapore . The mace head is a winged lion holding a trident . Just below

682-730: A time, and is now located in the Main Lobby of the Ontario Legislative Building . A second mace was introduced in 1813 and used until 1841. The third mace was not purchased until 1845. In 1849, when the Parliament for the United Province of Canada was sitting in Montreal , it was stolen by a riotous mob, apparently intent upon destroying it in a public demonstration. It was rescued and returned to

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744-566: Is a gold-plated silver sceptre that is installed in India's New Parliament House . Originally gifted to Jawaharlal Nehru , the first prime minister of India , by a delegation of holy men on 14 August 1947, the sceptre was housed in the Allahabad Museum for seven decades. In 2023, the sceptre was moved to the newly-constructed Parliament House by the government of Narendra Modi , who propagated an ahistorical narrative by claiming

806-519: Is a repeated type now known as "The Figure with Mace" who wears a royal hat, holds a mace in his left hand, and is thought to represent a generic king. Ceremonial maces are also prominently depicted in the royal art of Ancient Assyria , such as the Stela of Ashurnasirpal II and the Stela of Shamshi-Adad V , in which the Assyrian kings are shown performing rites or making religious gestures while holding

868-597: Is considered to be a symbol of the authority of both the Speaker and of the House, and is carried by the Serjeant-at-Arms . The first mace was destroyed on 11 December 1907 when a fire consumed most of Parliament Buildings . A wooden mace made of pūriri and designed by the Government Architect was temporarily used until a new mace was gifted by then Prime Minister Joseph Ward in 1909 at

930-449: Is made of copper and richly gilded, a flattened ball at the butt end. Initially, the head of the mace bore the crown of Queen Victoria and in a cup with her monogram, V.R. When she was succeeded by Edward VII in 1901, her crown and cup were removed and a new one bearing Edward's initials on the cup was installed. Eventually, it was replaced with the current cup which is adorned in gleaming brass leaves. Through some careful detective work on

992-460: Is the fourth mace, a replica of the third one destroyed by fire at the Centre Block in 1916. A similar practice is employed in each of the provincial and territorial legislatures , with a mace representing the sovereign's authority and power in each of the respective legislatures. In Canada, each of the legislatures follow a relatively standard protocol in relation to the ceremonial mace;

1054-780: The Australian Senate symbolise both the authority of each chamber and the royal authority of Australia's monarch . The ceremonial mace of the Australian Senate is the Black Rod. The ceremonial custodian of the Black Rod is the Usher of the Black Rod . The Serjeant-at-Arms of the Australian House of Representatives is the ceremonial custodian of the Mace of the House. At the beginning and end of every day

1116-599: The Free National Movement (FNM) government. The Mace was unable to be separated from the men and the sitting of the House had to be suspended. The pair were jailed for almost two days but no charges were brought against them. The ceremonial maces in the Canadian Senate and House of Commons embody the authority each chamber derives from the country's sovereign . The current mace in the Commons

1178-508: The Houses of Parliament . Each mace is about 1.5 m (4.9 ft) long and weighs an average of 10 kg (22 lb). The House of Commons can only operate lawfully when the royal mace – dating from the reign of Charles II – is present at the table. Two other maces dating from the reigns of Charles II and William III are used by the House of Lords : One is placed on

1240-924: The Rump Parliament in 1653. Most Commonwealth countries were formerly part of the British Empire and continue the tradition of using a mace, especially to represent the authority of the Sovereign in the parliaments of the Commonwealth realms. In the United Kingdom there are thirteen surviving royal maces in the Crown Jewels , ten of which are kept in the Jewel House at the Tower of London , while three are on permanent loan to

1302-635: The Sengol as a symbol of the transfer of power from the British regime unto Indians. The legislative bodies of several states , such as Tripura , also have ceremonial maces. The courts of various Indian princely states were recorded as having ceremonial maces too. A ceremonial mace for the New Zealand House of Representatives has been used since 1866, when one was presented to Parliament by former Speaker Sir Charles Clifford . The mace

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1364-537: The Sergeants-at-Arms , a royal bodyguard established in France by Philip II , and in England probably by Richard I , (c. 1180). By the 14th century, these sergeants' maces had started to become increasingly decorative, encased in precious metals. As a weapon, the mace fell out of use with the disappearance of heavy armour. The history of the civic mace (carried by the sergeants-at-arms) begins around

1426-657: The Woolsack before the House meets and is absent when a monarch is there in person. Two maces from the Jewel House are carried in the royal procession at State Openings of Parliament and British coronations . The Scottish Parliament and the Senedd (Welsh Parliament) have their own maces, as do local councils, mayors, and some universities. The ceremonial maces of the Australian House of Representatives and

1488-429: The lieutenant governors ) may enter a legislative chamber, the mace must be completely hidden from view. This is done by draping the mace in a heavy velvet cloth, a procedure performed by the house pages. During the election of the speaker, the mace is removed from the table to show that the house is not fully constituted until the new speaker takes the chair and the mace is laid on the table. The oldest documented use of

1550-632: The speaker of that chamber ruled that a prima facie breach of the privileges of the house had occurred, and contempt of the house been committed. Martin was not permitted to resume his seat until he had issued a formal apology from the bar of the house, pursuant to a motion passed in response to the incident. The ceremonial mace of the Legislative Assembly is the fourth mace to be used in Upper Canada or Ontario. The first, second and third maces are mentioned above, and were used by

1612-423: The speaker of the house normally enters following a mace-bearer (normally the sergeant-at-arms), who subsequently sets the mace on the clerks' table to begin the sitting. When the sergeant-at-arms removes the mace from the table, the House has either adjourned, recessed, or been resolved into a committee of the whole . Before the reigning monarch or one of his or her representatives (the governor general or one of

1674-541: The various usurpers or rebels who claimed the imperial title. The following list starts with Constantine the Great , the first Christian emperor, who rebuilt the city of Byzantium as an imperial capital, Constantinople, and who was regarded by the later emperors as the model ruler. Modern historians distinguish this later phase of the Roman Empire as Byzantine due to the imperial seat moving from Rome to Byzantium,

1736-453: The 15th century, the flanged end of the mace (the head of the war mace) was carried uppermost, with the small button bearing the royal arms in the base. By the beginning of the Tudor period, however, the blade-like flanges, originally made for offence, degenerated into mere ornaments, while the increased importance of the end with the royal arms (afterwards enriched with a cresting) resulted in

1798-405: The 16th or early 17th century had developed into pretty projecting scroll-brackets and other ornaments, which remained in vogue until about 1640. The next development in the embellishment of the shaft was the reappearance of these small scroll-brackets on the top, immediately under the head of the mace. They disappear altogether from the foot in the last half of the 17th century, and remain only under

1860-604: The Empire's integration of Christianity, and the predominance of Greek instead of Latin. The Byzantine Empire was the direct legal continuation of the eastern half of the Roman Empire following the division of the Roman Empire in 395. Emperors listed below up to Theodosius I in 395 were sole or joint rulers of the entire Roman Empire. The Western Roman Empire continued until 476. Byzantine emperors considered themselves to be Roman emperors in direct succession from Augustus ;

1922-706: The Greeks". Towards the end of the Empire, the standard imperial formula of the Byzantine ruler was "[Emperor's name] in Christ, Emperor and Autocrat of the Romans" (cf. Ῥωμαῖοι and Rûm ). Dynasties were a common tradition and structure for rulers and government systems in the Medieval period. The principle or formal requirement for hereditary succession was not a part of the Empire's governance; hereditary succession

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1984-496: The House of Commons of the United Kingdom donated a new mace to the House of Assembly. On 3 December 2001, Cassius Stuart and Omar Smith , leader and deputy leader of the Bahamas Democratic Movement , a minor political party, charged from the public gallery onto the floor of the House of Assembly and handcuffed themselves to the Mace in protest against "unfair gerrymandering" of constituency boundaries by

2046-481: The House sits, the Speaker of the House enters and leaves the House preceded by the Serjeant-at-Arms carrying the mace on his or her right shoulder. The mace represents the authority of the monarch, the speaker and the house itself and is usually taken with the speaker on ceremonial occasions. However, in the presence of the governor-general the mace is generally left outside and covered with a green cloth on

2108-543: The King of the Bahamas . On 27 April 1965, a day known in the Bahamas as "Black Tuesday", Lynden Pindling , then Opposition Leader, threw the 165-year-old Speaker's Mace out of a House of Assembly window to protest against the unfair gerrymandering of constituency boundaries by the then ruling United Bahamian Party (UBP) government. The Speaker tried to restore order but he was reminded by Labour leader Randol Fawkes that

2170-529: The Parliament of Upper Canada and Union Parliament . Only the first survived with second unaccounted and third mostly destroyed in 1916 with remains used to produce the current House of Commons' mace. After Confederation , the third mace was adopted by the new House of Commons of Canada. The current mace used in the Legislative Assembly was acquired in 1867. It was provided by Charles E. Zollikofer of Ottawa for $ 200. The 4-foot (1.2 m) mace

2232-578: The Speaker, Sir Allan MacNab , the next day. Later, in 1854, the mace was twice rescued when the Parliament Buildings in Quebec were ravaged by fire. The mace continued to be used by the Legislative Assembly in Toronto, Quebec City and Ottawa until Confederation in 1867. The new House of Commons of Canada then adopted the mace, where it remained until 1916. The mace of the House of Commons

2294-580: The annual Silent Ceremony to install a new Lord Mayor each November, but remains in its protective box throughout. The sceptre went on public display for the first time in 2015, at the Guildhall Art Gallery . Ceremonial mace Ceremonial maces originated in the Ancient Near East , where they were used as symbols of rank and authority across the region during the late Stone Age , Bronze Age , and early Iron Age . Among

2356-432: The business of the House could not legally continue without the mace. The badly damaged mace was recovered by the police and returned to the House. The House of Assembly reconvened with a temporary wooden mace loaned by Canada; this was the same temporary mace used by the House of Commons of Canada after it lost its own mace to a fire in 1916. The temporary mace ultimately returned to Canada freshly gilded. In November 1975,

2418-548: The chief maker of maces during the Commonwealth of England . He made the mace for the House of Commons in 1649. This mace is still in use today, though without the original head. The original head, which was not engraved with regal symbols, was replaced by one with regal symbols at the time of the Restoration of the monarchy. Oliver Cromwell referred to the House of Commons mace as "a fool's bauble " when he dissolved

2480-645: The club the name Ai Tutuvi Kuta I Radini Bau , meaning "The sedge blanket of the Queen of Bau (wife of the Roko Tui Bau )". The mace is used as a symbol of the authority of the Speaker of the Parliament of Fiji . It is carried into parliament by the mace bearer, and is always placed on the central table of the debating chamber with the head pointing toward the government benches. An image of

2542-482: The duties of the protoallagator included commanding the Byzantine Emperor 's personal allagion, his military retinue. The ceremonial function of the mace may have passed to the late Roman Empire from the ancient Near East by way of Persia, and from there to other European cultures. The earliest ceremonial maces in France and England were practical weapons intended to protect the King's person, borne by

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2604-613: The first run of the mine. Two stones, one rough and one polished, were set in platinum in the crown of the mace while the third stone, also polished, was put on exhibit in the lobby of the Legislative Building as part of a display about the history of the mace. The ceremonial mace of the National Assembly was made by Charles O. Zollikoffer in 1867, after the transfer of the maces of the Province of Canada to

2666-581: The form of a canoe paddle ( ʻoe ), inspired by the combination of traditional forms used in both the northern and southern Cook Islands , on one side and a spear ( momore ʻakatara ) on the other, with the emblem of the Cook Islands parliament in the middle. The mace was designed by Tangata Vainerere, the clerk of the Cook Islands parliament, and carved by Wireless Tomokino. It is 1.45 metres long, carved from polynesian mahogany , and covered with traditional tattoo motifs. During sittings of

2728-473: The heads, or, in rarer instances, on a knob on the shaft. The silver mace-heads were mostly plain, with a cresting of leaves or flowers in the 15th and 16th centuries. In the reign of James I of England they began to be engraved and decorated with heraldic devices and similar ornamentation. As the custom of having sergeants' maces began to die out about 1650, the large maces borne before the mayor or bailiffs came into general use. Thomas Maundy functioned as

2790-674: The mace appears on the crest of Singapore's parliament. As a Dominion of the British Empire , the Union of South Africa House of Assembly used a mace modelled on that of the UK House of Commons from 1910 to 1961. When South Africa became a republic outside the Commonwealth in 1961, a Stinkwood mace was used temporarily until 1963 when the Gold Producers' Committee of the Transvaal and Orange Free State Chamber of Mines gifted

2852-436: The mace head, on the shaft of the mace are the crest of the coat of arms of the Colony of Singapore and the crest of Coat of arms of the United Kingdom , on opposite sides. The rest of the shaft is embossed with lion heads and Chinese junks, and the bottom of the shaft is decorated with waves and fish. The base of the mace depicts a gryphon 's head above a crown, the crest of the coat of arms of Stamford Raffles . An image of

2914-411: The mace is used on the emblem of the Fijian parliament. The National Assembly , the sole chamber of the Parliament of Guyana , has a ceremonial mace. In March 1991, Isahak Basir , a member of the People's Progressive Party (in opposition at the time), was expelled from parliament for removing the mace from its place on the table, and also for throwing his drinking glass at the Speaker. Sengol

2976-410: The middle of the 13th century, though no examples from that period remain today. The oldest civic mace in England (still remaining today) is that of Hedon . It was granted (along with an important charter) in 1415. At the time, ornamented civic maces were considered an infringement of one of the privileges of the king's sergeants, who alone deserved to bear maces enriched with costly metals, according to

3038-434: The new federal parliament in Ottawa. The current mace is of gold with a crown and a cross on its top as well as the letters "ER" ( Elizabeth Regina ) - added after 1952. The mace was saved from a fire by Sergeant-at-Arms Gédéon Larocque in 1883 as well as recovered after being stolen in 1967. In 2023, the parliament of the Cook Islands adopted a ceremonial double-ended mace ( Cook Islands Māori : Te Taiki Mana ) in

3100-417: The oldest known ceremonial maceheads are the Ancient Egyptian Scorpion Macehead and Narmer Macehead ; both are elaborately engraved with royal scenes, although their precise role and symbolism are obscure. In later Mesopotamian art, the mace is more clearly associated with authority; by the Old Babylonian period the most common figure on cylinder seals (a type of seal used to authenticate clay documents)

3162-402: The parliament it is placed by the Sergeant-at-Arms in the parliamentary chamber with the paddle end pointing toward the government benches, and the spear end pointed toward the opposition. On 10 October 1874, Fiji 's former king, Seru Epenisa Cakobau , gave his war club to Queen Victoria when the Deed of Cession by which the sovereignty of Fiji passed to the British Crown was signed, and

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3224-486: The part of Legislative Assembly staff, the original cup with Queen Victoria's monogram was recently found in the Royal Ontario Museum's collection and returned to the Legislature. It is now on display in the Legislative Building. In 2009, two diamonds were installed in the mace. The diamonds were a gift to the people of Ontario from De Beers Canada to mark the opening of the Victor Mine near Attawapiskat First Nation in northern Ontario. Three diamonds were selected from

3286-438: The prompting of Speaker Arthur Guinness . This mace is the one currently in use. The present mace is modeled on that of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, differing only in that one of the panels instead depicts the Southern Cross and the initials "NZ". The mace is 1.498 metres long, made of sterling silver coated with 18 carat gilt gold and weighs 8.164 kilograms. The capital city of Wellington also possesses

3348-434: The remains of the one destroyed; this mace continues to serve. Being a symbol of the power and authority of a legislative assembly, a precedent was set in 2002 as to the severity of acts of disrespect toward the mace in Canada and, by proxy, the monarch. After Keith Martin , federal Member of Parliament for Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca , seized the ceremonial mace of the House of Commons from the clerk 's table on April 17, 2002,

3410-472: The reversal of the position. The custom of carrying the flanged end upward did not die out at once: a few maces, such as the Winchcombe silver maces, which date from the end of the 15th century, were made to be carried both ways. The Guildford mace provides one of the finest of the fifteen specimens of the 15th century. Craftsmen often pierced and decorated the flanged ends of the maces of this period beautifully. These flanges gradually became smaller, and by

3472-530: The term "Byzantine" became convention in Western historiography in the 19th century. The use of the title "Roman Emperor" by those ruling from Constantinople was not contested until after the papal coronation of the Frankish Charlemagne as Holy Roman emperor (25 December 800). The title of all Emperors preceding Heraclius was officially " Augustus ", although other titles such as Dominus were also used. Their names were preceded by Imperator Caesar and followed by Augustus . Following Heraclius,

3534-405: The title commonly became the Greek Basileus (Gr. Βασιλεύς), which had formerly meant sovereign , though Augustus continued to be used in a reduced capacity. Following the establishment of the rival Holy Roman Empire in Western Europe, the title " Autokrator " (Gr. Αὐτοκράτωρ) was increasingly used. In later centuries, the Emperor could be referred to by Western Christians as the "Emperor of

3596-417: The understanding that a symbol of royal authority is not needed where the Crown’s actual representative is present. The current mace is made of gilded silver, and was a gift to the House from King George VI on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Federation in 1951. It was presented to the House by a delegation of members of the British House of Commons . In May 1914, Labor MP William Higgs played

3658-458: The war club was taken to Britain and kept at Windsor Castle . In October 1932, King Cakobau's war club was repatriated to Fiji, on behalf of the British king George V , for use as the ceremonial mace of the Legislative Council of Fiji. The mace is a gadi , a traditional Fijian club named for the type of hardwood tree it is made from, and was decorated with silver palm leaves and doves upon Cakobau's conversion to Christianity. Cakobau gave

3720-413: Was destroyed when the Centre Block burned down in 1916; all that remained was a fist-sized ball of silver and gold. In the immediate aftermath, the House of Commons used the surviving Senate mace, then the mace of the Ontario provincial legislature for three weeks, after which a wooden mace (later loaned to the Bahamas) was crafted and used. In June 1916, the City of London donated a new mace made with

3782-423: Was hidden during the Commonwealth and kept safe by the Lord Mayor Sir Thomas Bloodworth during the Great Fire of London in 1666. The glass boss was replaced by the jewellers Rundell, Bridge & Rundell in the 1830s. The sceptre is kept in the City's vaults, and usually only seen in public at the coronation of a monarch. It is one of the symbolic items – sceptre, sword, purse, seal – that are touched during

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3844-430: Was produced for the Queensland Parliament in 1978 by Marples and Beasley of Birmingham , United Kingdom. It is 1.22 metres (4.0 ft) long and weighs 7.7 kilograms (17 lb). The mace is inlaid with 15 sapphires, 9 opals, 6 amethysts and 2 garnets, all originating from the state of Queensland. The ceremonial maces in the Bahamas symbolise both the authority of each chamber and the Royal authority of Charles III ,

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