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57-707: In East Asia, there are several types of crowns worn by emperors, depending on the ritual or ceremony. Typical examples are the Chinese mianguan and the Japanese benkan . In external form, they are characterized by chains that hide the emperor's face. Crowns in Europe during the Middle Ages varied in design: An open crown is one which consists basically of a golden circlet elaborately worked and decorated with precious stones or enamels. ... The medieval French crown

114-427: A mian ( 冕 , lit.   ' crown ' ). At that time, it was still called simply mian , not mianguan . In addition, the mian was also worn by the various lords, such as dukes , marquises , counts , viscounts , and barons , as well as hú ( 狐 , ministerial class), qīng ( 卿 , lit.   ' senior officials ' ), and daiyus . The Book of Rites also has the following description of

171-529: A píngmiǎn ( 平冕 , lit.   ' flat mianguan ' ), was placed over the tongtianguan . In the Eastern Han dynasty, the crown was an integral part of the cap and the extension (board), but in the Jin dynasty, it is thought that the crown was changed to a detachable type, with the extension of the mianguan placed on top of the tongtianguan , which was worn daily, at special occasions. The extension

228-475: A chain. The chains are then attached to the crown, which is why it is called a yùzǎo . At the top of the yùzǎo is a board called a yán ( 延 , lit.   ' extension ' ), from the front and back ends of which hang 12 chains each, or 24 chains in total. However, the color of the jade and the color and length of the silk threads are unknown from the description in the Book of Rite s alone. A commentary on

285-478: A contributing element to the evolution of many medieval crowns was the structure of the early Germanic helmet, which had metal bands crossing at the top of the head to protect the skull from injury. A special case of a closed crown was that of the Holy Roman Empire. This was originally an open crown, made up of eight separate richly jewelled sections incorporating four magnificent enamelled plaques, but

342-582: A female leader of the Church of England . Elizabeth, who was a politique , did not prosecute nonconformist laymen, or those who did not follow the established rules of the Church of England unless their actions directly undermined the authority of the English monarch, as was the case in the vestments controversy . Thus, it was through the Second Act of Supremacy that Elizabeth I officially established

399-566: A justification for controlling the appointment of bishops. The conflation in the Crown of supreme lay authority over church and state made every secular subject of the Crown a spiritual subject of the Church as well; the Church was co-extensive with the State. Contemporary English theologian Richard Hooker described the situation thus: There is not any man of the Church of England but the same man

456-520: A marriage could not simply be annulled because of a canonical impediment previously dispensed . Additionally, the emperor of the Hapsburg empire at this time was the nephew of Catherine of Aragon, and for the pope to declare that marriage invalid would be to separate the Church from the good favor of the emperor. Henry VIII subsequently passed the Treasons Act , which stated that to disavow

513-430: A mitre seen sideways, they provided it with a similar crest running from front to back and topped with a central jewel. ... Strictly speaking, therefore, the only type of crown whose characteristics can properly be regarded as imperial was one with a single crest running from front to back. In practice, in countries unfamiliar with closed crowns at all, any kind of closed crown was assumed to be imperial in character. During

570-439: A rounded front edge and a square back edge, and the surface of the extension was black and the reverse side was red and green. The length of the chain hanging from the extension was 4 cun in the front and 3 cun in the back. The color and number of chains were as follows: 12 chains of white jade for the emperor, 7 chains of blue jade for the three dukes and lords, and 5 chains of black jade for high-ranking officials. However,

627-469: A son, the king tried for years to annul his marriage to her, having convinced himself that God was punishing him for marrying his brother's widow. Despite his close alignment with the Catholic Church and other papal annulments, Pope Clement VII refused to grant Henry VIII an annulment. Roman Catholic doctrine viewed a marriage contract as indissoluble until death, and the papacy argued that

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684-564: A sun-shaped ornament at the top. It is also worn in Vietnam , and the monarchs of the Joseon dynasty also wore an equivalent crown, the myeonlyugwan . Among all the type of Chinese headwear, the mianguan was the most expensive type; it was reserved especially for important sacrificial events. The mianguan and the mianfu were worn beginning in the Zhou dynasty , based on

741-512: Is a type of crown traditionally worn by the emperors of China , Japan , Korea , and Vietnam , as well as other kings in the East Asia . Originating in China , the mianguan was worn by the emperor, his ministers, and aristocrats. The mianguan was the most expensive Chinese headware, reserved for important sacrificial events. Regulations on its shape and its making were issued under

798-463: Is a type of crown traditionally worn by Japanese emperors and crown princes . It is also called tama no kōburi ( 玉乃冠 , lit.   ' jeweled crown ' ) . In ancient Japan , emperors and nobles wore metal crowns made of gold, silver, and gilt bronze under the influence of the Korean peninsula. In the 8th century, emperors and crown princes began to wear benkan with chains attached to

855-477: The mianguan and wraps around it. The silk cord was tied on one end of the hairpin and would then be tied on the other side of the hairpin passing under the chin. There was also a chong er ( lit.   ' stuffing the ear ' ) located on both side of the mianguan around the ear area; the chong er was a pearl or a piece of jade which symbolized that the wearer of mianguan should not believe in any slander. The number of chains depended on

912-459: The mianguan board. In the Han dynasty, the yan was round in the front but flat in the back; it was about 7 inches (180 mm) in width and 1 foot (0.30 m) in length. On both sides of the mianguan, there was a hole where an emerald hairpin could pass through so that the crown could be fastened to the hair bun of its wearer. A red band called the tianhe was attached to the centre of

969-556: The Book of Jin , Cao Rui , the second emperor of the Cao Wei dynasty , was fond of women's ornaments and changed the white jade beads in the chains to coral beads. The dress system of the Jin dynasty basically followed that of the Eastern Han dynasty, but changes were made to the mianguan . According to the Book of Jin , a tongtianguan was worn over a black cape, and a mianguan , called

1026-529: The Book of Rite is the Right Meaning of the Ritual Records ( 禮記正義 , Lǐjì Zhèngyì ). Zheng Xuan 's commentary in this book states that the silk threads were of various colors, that the silk threads of the king's mian were of five colors, and that their length was long enough to reach the king's shoulders. However, the color of the jade is not mentioned. On the other hand, according to

1083-586: The Eastern Han dynasty and applied in the succeeding dynasties only to be ended at the fall of the Ming dynasty in the 16th century AD. In Japan , emperors and nobles wore gold, silver, and gilt-bronze crowns, influenced by the Korean peninsula, from the Kofun period (mid 3rd century-7th century). In the 8th century, influenced by the Chinese mianguan , the unique benkan was born, a metal crown with chains and

1140-637: The Former Han dynasty to the Sui dynasty , whose mianguan was almost the same shape as the crown depicted, with minor differences in decoration. Many of the non-Han Chinese dynasties that ruled China also adopted the mianguan . (Liao, which did not adopt the ritual system of the Han dynasty, and Yuan, which is considered to have a strong Mongolian flavor, also adopted the mianguan .) [REDACTED] The mianguan stopped being used in China since

1197-635: The Parliament of England was one of the first major events in the English Reformation . It granted King Henry VIII of England and subsequent monarchs royal supremacy and stated that the reigning monarch was the supreme head of the Church of England . The Act declared that the king was "the only supreme head on Earth of the Church of England" and that the Crown shall enjoy "all honours, dignities, preeminences, jurisdictions, privileges, authorities, immunities, profits, and commodities to

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1254-521: The Parliament of England in the 16th century that established the English monarchs as the head of the Church of England ; two similar laws were passed by the Parliament of Ireland establishing the English monarchs as the head of the Church of Ireland . The 1534 Act declared King Henry VIII and his successors as the Supreme Head of the Church, replacing the Pope . This first Act was repealed during

1311-412: The mian : The king's yùzǎo has twelve chains hanging from the front and back of the yán , and his ceremonial robe has dragon patterns on it, which he wears to worship. Here the king's crown is called a yùzǎo ( 玉藻 , lit.   ' jade and thread ' ), not a mian ( 冕 ). The word zǎo ( 藻 , lit.   ' thread ' ) means silk thread, which is threaded through a jade bead to make

1368-624: The Act of Supremacy and to deprive the king of his "dignity, title, or name" was to be considered treason . Thus, the king's control over the English religion was absolute and those who held to Catholic beliefs were swiftly punished. The most famous public figure to resist the Treasons Act was Sir Thomas More , who was convicted of treason and executed by beheading. In 1537, the Act of Supremacy (Ireland) 1537 (28 Hen. 8. c. 5 (I), An Act authorising

1425-620: The Eastern Han to the Sui dynasty, have only one white jade at the bottom end of the chain. Also, earplugs, called tǒukuàng ( 黈纊 ) also hung down from the crown. This is also depicted in the Thirteen Emperors Scroll . In Gu Kaizhi 's Admonitions Scroll , Emperor Yuan of the Western Han dynasty is depicted, and the crown he wears is thought to be the tongtianguan ( 通天冠 , lit.   ' crown that reaches to

1482-539: The Emperor Conrad II (1024–39) had added to it a kind of jewelled crest, running from front to back, to which he had thoughtfully attached his name, CHVONRADVS DEI GRATIA ROMANORV(M) IMPERATOR AVG(VSTVS). This jewelled crest was so closely associated with the notion of the imperial office that when the Habsburgs made a new imperial crown in the 15th century in which they incorporated two large cusps resembling

1539-690: The English Parliament passed the Act in Restraint of Appeals (1533) in which it was explicitly stated that The next year the Act of Supremacy (1534) explicitly tied the headship of the church to the imperial crown: During the reign of Mary I the First Act of Supremacy was annulled, but during the reign of Elizabeth I the Second Act of Supremacy , with similar wording to the First Act,

1596-615: The French knight St. Remy commented was "like the imperial crown". The association of the closed crown with imperial crowns was already established in Continental Europe by the late 14th century, for example the florins minted for Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor ) sometimes show him with a closed crown (though on the commoner variety, the crown is open). A miniature picture in the Chronica Aulae Regiae written in

1653-611: The King, His Heirs and Successors, to be supreme Head of the Church of Ireland ) was passed by the Parliament of Ireland , establishing Henry VIII as the supreme head of the Church of Ireland , as had earlier been done in England. Henry VIII's Act of Supremacy was repealed in 1554 during the reign of his staunchly Roman Catholic daughter, Queen Mary I . Upon her death in November 1558, her Protestant half-sister Elizabeth I succeeded to

1710-615: The Middle Ages the crowns worn by English kings had been described as both closed (or arched) and open designs. This was in contrast with kings of France who always wore an open crown. However, there is academic debate on how often closed crowns were used in England during this period, as the first unequivocal use of the closed crown was by Henry IV of England at his coronation on 13 October 1399. However his effigy on his tomb in Canterbury Cathedral wears an open crown, so

1767-652: The Zhou dynasty. Qin Shi Huang abolished the six types of ceremonial dress of the Zhou dynasty and replaced them with an all-black ceremonial dress called the junxuan ( 袀玄 ). However, the exact details of the junxuan , including the crown, are unknown. In the Western Han dynasty , there was a crown called chángguān ( 長冠 ) or zhāiguān ( 齋冠 ). The origin of the chángguān is the so-called "Liu's crown" ( 劉氏冠 ), which Liu Bang had made from bamboo bark when he

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1824-526: The ceremonial and ritual -culture of Zhou that prescribes which types of clothing and accessories could be worn by the different social ranks and during different occasions. In the Rites of Zhou , there is a description of the ceremonial dress and crowns worn by the kings of the Zhou dynasty. According to the description, kings had six types of ceremonial dress ( 六冕 , lit.   ' six mian ' ) according to their rituals, all of which were worn with

1881-481: The chains 4 cun long in the front and 3 cun long in the back. On each side of the crown hung an ornament resembling earplugs made of jade. In 508, Emperor Wu of Liang (reigned 502 - 549) reestablished the dàqiúmiǎn ( 大裘冕 , lit.   ' great fur mian crown ' ), the highest of the six crowns mentioned in the Rites of Zhou . Although qiú ( 裘 ) refers to sheep's fur, the dàqiúmiǎn' s ceremonial dress

1938-569: The commentary by Kong Yingda (574 – 648) in the same book, the beads of the king's mian are five colors (from top to bottom: vermillion, white, blue, yellow, and black), and the distance between each jade is 1 cun (about 3 cm). This combination is one set (6 cun , about 18 cm), and the length of the chain is two sets, thus the length of the chain of the king's mian is about 36 cm. Both Zheng Xuan nor Kong Yingda's commentaries are likely conceptual, based on Confucian principles rather than known excavated or physical examples of mianguan during

1995-478: The emperor, there is hōkan ( 宝冠 , lit.   ' precious crown ' ) for the female emperor and nikkeikan ( 日形冠 , lit.   ' crown in the shape of the sun ' ) for the infant emperor, each of which has a distinctive shape. The benkan , hōkan , and nikkeikan crowns made in the Edo period (1603-1867) each have survived, but as imperial treasures ( 御物 ) , these are not usually shown to

2052-550: The fall of the Ming dynasty and the establishment of the Qing dynasty by the Manchu . Instead, a unique Manchu crown called the 'morning crown' ( mahala in Manchu ) was used. The Manchu crown was shaped like an umbrella, and the top of the crown was decorated with a special pearl-encrusted ornament called the morning pearl. The benkan ( 冕冠 , lit.   ' crown ' )

2109-776: The great abbey outside Prague depicts his mother Elizabeth, a queen of Bohemia, wearing an open crown, while his two wives, who had imperial titles, have closed ones. During the machinations that surrounded the introduction of the imperial crown under Henry VIII (see the section below Legal usage ), the closed crown, became associated as a symbolic representation of the English Crown as an imperial crown, and has remained so until this day. A list of prominent examples of depictions of imperial crowns displayed atop heraldic achievements or as heraldic charge includes: Because Pope Clement VII would not grant Henry VIII of England an annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon ,

2166-459: The heavens ' ). According to the Book of Later Han , the tongtianguan was a crown usually worn by emperors. Also, according to the book, it is stated that Emperor Ming was the first to wear a tongtianguan , so it is thought that the tongtianguan actually came into use in the Eastern Han dynasty, though sources such as the Book of Jin claims its origin to be from the Qin dynasty. According to

2223-463: The link in England between the style of the crown and its representation as that worn by a king and an emperor was not established. The use of a closed crown may have been adopted by the English as a way of distinguishing the English crown from the French crown, but it also had other meanings to some. For example, Henry V of England wore a helmet-crown of the arched type at the Battle of Agincourt which

2280-473: The metal crown, influenced by the Chinese mianguan . Furthermore, a sun-shaped ornament was added to the top of the benkan , giving birth to a uniquely Japanese crown. Since then, the benkan was worn along with a ceremonial dress called kon'e for accession and chōga ( 朝賀 , New Year's greetings) ceremonies, but it was last worn for the accession ceremony of Emperor Kōmei (1831-1867) in 1847, and has not been worn since. In addition to benkan for

2337-628: The now reformed Church of England. This was a part of the Elizabethan Religious Settlement . Historian G. R. Elton has argued that, "in law and political theory the Elizabethan supremacy was essentially parliamentary, while Henry VIII's had been essentially personal." The royal supremacy was extinguished during the British Interregnum from 1649, but was restored in 1660. The Stuart kings used it as

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2394-475: The public. However, they are occasionally shown to the public to commemorate accession ceremonies. The Chinese-style mianguan was also used in Vietnam, where it was known as the miện quan . The mianguan is composed of: A long, rectangular wooden board called the mianguan board ( yan in the Han dynasty) was placed on top of the mianguan , with fulls hanging from the front and back of

2451-663: The reign of the Catholic Queen Mary I . The 1558 Act declared Queen Elizabeth I and her successors the Supreme Governor of the Church, a title that the British monarch still holds . Royal supremacy is specifically used to describe the legal sovereignty of the king (i.e., civil law) over the law of the Church in England . The first Act of Supremacy, passed on 3 November 1534 ( 26 Hen. 8 . c. 1) by

2508-580: The said dignity." The wording of the act made clear that Parliament was not granting the king the title (thereby suggesting that they had the right to withdraw it later); rather, it was acknowledging an established fact. In the Act of Supremacy, Henry VIII withdrew support for the authority of the pope and the Roman Catholic Church and asserted the independence of the Ecclesia Anglicana . He appointed himself and his successors as

2565-465: The status of the wearer, and the mianguan of the emperor had 12 chains at the front and back, for a total of 24 chains. The 12 chains dangles down the shoulders and were made of jade beads of multiple colours which would sway with the wearer's movement. In addition, there was the nine-chained crown, worn by dukes and the crown prince's servants. The eight-chained crown was worn by princes and dukes. The qiliu mian ( 七旒冕 , seven-chained crown)

2622-648: The supreme rulers of the English church. Earlier, Henry VIII had been declared "Defender of the Faith" ( Fidei defensor ) in 1521 by Pope Leo X for his pamphlet accusing Martin Luther of heresy. Parliament later conferred this title upon the king in 1544. Henry VIII was motivated to issue the Act for multiple reasons. He desperately wanted a male heir to continue his line, and after wars and succession crises, aimed to ensure that his dynastic lineage would continue without challenge. When Catherine of Aragon did not bear

2679-536: The surface and vermilion on the reverse side, and did not have chains and earplugs attached. The basic shape of the mianguan remained the same from ancient times to the Ming dynasty . The crown worn by the Ming dynasty's Wanli Emperor has been excavated from the Dingling Mausoleum, while the painting "Illustrated Scrolls of the Emperors of the dynasties" by Yan Liben depicted emperors from

2736-468: The three dukes and below had only front chains and no back chains. According to the Duduan ( 獨斷 ) by Cai Yong (132 - 192) of the Eastern Han dynasty, the number of white jade per chain on the mianguan of the reestablished emperors was only one at the bottom end of the chain. Indeed, the mianguan of the emperors depicted in the Thirteen Emperors Scroll by Yan Liben , which depicts emperors from

2793-569: The throne. The first Elizabethan Parliament passed the Act of Supremacy 1558 that declared Elizabeth the Supreme Governor of the Church of England and instituted an Oath of Supremacy requiring anyone taking public or church office to swear allegiance to the monarch as head of the Church and state. Anyone refusing to take the oath could be charged with treason. The use of the term Supreme Governor as opposed to Supreme Head pacified some Catholics and those Protestants concerned about

2850-536: Was 12. Píngmiǎn were also used by royalty, dukes, and lords. The number of chains was 8 for royalty and dukes and 7 for lords. In the Liang dynasty , as in the Jin dynasty, the mianguan consisted of a black cape, over which was placed the tongtianguan , and over this was placed the píngmiǎn . This was commonly known as the píngtiānguān ( 平天冠 , lit.   ' flat crown of heaven ' ). The emperor's píngtiānguān had 12 chains made of white jade beads, with

2907-461: Was 7 cun wide and 1.2 chi long, black on the surface and vermilion-green on the reverse, rounded at the front and angular at the rear. The chain beads initially followed the Cao Wei system and were made of jade and coral in various colors, but Gu He ( 顧和 , 288 - 351) advised the emperor to return to the white jade beads of the Eastern Han dynasty. The number of chains on an emperor's mianguan

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2964-490: Was black silk for the upper garment and red for the lower garment, both without patterns or embroidery. The mianguan had no chains. Emperor Wen (reigned 581 - 604) of the Sui dynasty , in reference to the appearance of the red sparrow, a sign of good omen, when he received a mandate from heaven, changed the color of the imperial robes worn at court to red, while the gǔnmiǎn ( 袞冕 , imperial dress with dragons and mianguan ) worn at rituals remained unchanged. The mianguan

3021-454: Was black with 12 chains of white jade beads, chinstrap, tǒukuàng (an ornament resembling earplugs), and hairpin. The emperor's costume was black for the upper garment and red for the lower garment. In 605, Emperor Yang (reigned 604 - 618) established the dàqiúmiǎn (supreme ceremonial dress of the emperor), just as the Liang dynasty had done. The upper extension of the mianguan was blue on

3078-488: Was chief of a post, and later wore even after he reached a high rank. The Qin dynasty junxuan was continued to be worn by emperors of the Han dynasty, until the mianfu was formally restored during the reign of Emperor Ming (reigned 57 - 75) in the Eastern Han dynasty . According to the Book of the Later Han , the extension (board) at the top of the revived mianguan was 7 cun wide and 1.2 chi long, with

3135-402: Was of this type. ... the closed crown, which had bands of metal crossing usually from one side to the other and from back to front so that they met in the middle, at the top of the head. ... These arches are in part utilitarian, since they serve to strengthen the crown, in part decorative, since they are normally made to serve as supports for a central cross or jewel, and in part traditional, since

3192-927: Was passed in 1559. During the English Interregnum the laws were annulled, but the acts which caused the laws to be in abeyance were themselves, deemed to be null and void by the Parliaments of the English Restoration , so by act of Parliament The Crown of England and (later the British and UK crowns) are imperial crowns. Mianguan The mianguan ( Chinese : 冕冠 ; pinyin : miǎnguān ; lit. 'ceremonial headdress'), also called benkan in Japan, myeonlyugwan in Korea, and Miện quan in Vietnam,

3249-466: Was worn by ministers. The five-chained crown ( wuiu mian , 五旒冕 ) was worn by viscounts and barons. The quantity and quality of the jewellery were an important marker of social ranking. In the Han dynasty, the emperor would use 12 strings of white jade, 7 strings of blue jade were used by dukes and princes, and black jade were used for ministers. Acts of Supremacy#First Act of Supremacy 1534 The Acts of Supremacy are two acts passed by

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