Notes and Queries, Number 43, August 24, 1850 | Page 3

MR. NICHOLS is incorrect in
stating, 1st. That there is no list of persons who were honoured with the
collar of SS.; 2nd. That persons were not honoured with the badge, in

the sense that persons are now decorated with stars, crosses, &c.; 3rd.
That the collar was _assumed_; and, 4th. That the assumers were, "so
far as can be ascertained, knights holding a certain position,--such as
being attached to the royal household or service."
It is important to point out these four inaccuracies of MR. NICHOLS'
reply to B., because it is desirable that his forthcoming volume should
not be a heterogeneous collection of notices relating to the Collar of
SS., mixed up with observations that will only serve the purpose of
darkening knowledge upon the subject of which he treats.
The Collar of SS. is found in great variety of {195} shapes, and at what
precise time it became an ensign of equestrian nobility no one can tell.
Collars were worn at least so far back as the days of Livy (i.e. the
commencement of the Christian era); for he recounts that Manlius
having pulled off the collar of a Gaul, took the name of _Torquatus_,
and afterwards always wore the collar. Such being the case, there is no
room for doubting that this ensign formed one of the ornaments of
knighthood from the period of that dignity's earliest introduction into
England.
There is a notion, from the circumstance of "Soverayne" being the
favourite motto or impress of Henry IV., that the Collar of SS. takes its
name from the initial letter of that word; and the introduction of the
portcullis into the collar, which was the device of the House of
Lancaster, is also considered by some as proof that the collar originated
with that king. In the effigies, however, of Henry IV. and his queen,
Joan of Navarre, in the Chapel of St. Thomas Becket, Canterbury
Cathedral, the collar which appears round the neck of the queen (there
is none upon that of the king) has no portcullis. And as to the
derivations of the name of the collar from "Soverayne," from St.
Simplicius, from the martyrs of Soissons (viz. St. Crespin and St.
Crespinian, upon whose anniversary the battle of Agincourt was
fought), from the Countess of Salisbury, of Garter notoriety, from the
word "Souvenez" and, lastly, from Seneschallus or Steward (which
latter is MR. NICHOLS' notion)--they may all be regarded as mere
monkish or heraldic gossip.
Nicholas Upton, one of our earliest heraldic writers, who was present at
the siege of Orleans in 1428, states,--"Rex etiam scoeie dare solebat pro
signo vel titulo suo unum COLLARIUM de gormettis fremalibus

equorum de auro vel argento;" whilst, in a wood-cut engraving of the
arms of a German, Herr Florian Waldauff, of about the time of Albert
Durer, are three collars, one of the letters SS. linkings into each other,
terminating in front with portcullises. Put these notices together and
they may be considered sufficient to demolish the Lancastrian origin
theory of the collar, on the one hand, and to unfold the true source of
the collar's nomenclature on the other, viz. that it comes from the
S-shaped lever upon the bit of the bridle of the war steed.
To [Greek: Ph].'s question, "Who are the persons now privileged to
wear these collars?" MR. NICHOLS answers, "I believe the reply must
be confined to the judges, the Lord Mayor of London, the Lord Mayor
of Dublin, the kings and heralds of arms." The privilege of wearing a
Collar of SS., so far as the various persons enumerated are concerned,
is a mere official privilege, and can scarcely be cited in reply to [Greek:
Ph].'s interrogative, except upon the principle, "Exceptio probat
regulam." The persons now privileged to wear the ancient golden
Collar of SS. are the _equites aurati_, or knights (chevaliers) in the
British monarchy, a body which includes all the hereditary order of
baronets in England, Scotland, and Ireland, with such of their eldest
sons, being of age, as choose to claim inauguration as knights. It is
presumable too that the Collar of SS. is also an incident of the minor
degree of knight bachelor (bas-chevalier seu miles-bachillarus); whilst
the silver Collar of SS. belongs to every head of a family of ancient
esquirage quality, bearing arms. It is true, the fashion of wearing the
collar, whether gold or silver, may be said to have been in desuetude
for centuries. But rights of blood never prescribe; and there are strong
grounds to believe that there will again be a general revival of the use
of such distinctions.
There are various other points bearing upon the subject of the Collar of
SS., upon which I wish to offer some remarks, and with your
permission I will return to the