A sceptre is the decorative Bâton, resembling a Masse of weapon, held by the Monarque, it is one of the symbols of the Royauté.

Antiquity

A simple stick represented the Autorité a long time. Among the former Greeks the sceptre was a long stick, like that of Agamemnon in Iliade or that which carried the old ones and the wise ones ( Iliade , xviii. 46; Hérodote 1. 196), then it was carried by the judges, the military chiefs, the priests and the other representatives of authority. It is frequently represented on vases painted like a long stick ending in a metal ornament. When the sceptre is held up by Zeus or Hadès, it is capped with a bird. It is this symbol of Zeus, the father of the Olympe, which gave their statute of inviolability to the kerykes , the heralds old who were then protected by what we name today the diplomatic Immunity. When, in Iliade , Agamemnon sends Ulysses to meet the chiefs of the Achaens, he entrusts his sceptre to him.

To the Etruscan , the kings and the Prêtre S of high ranking carried splendid sceptres, one finds of them many representations painted on the walls of the tombs in Étrurie. The British Museum, the the Vatican and Louvre have very elaborate Etruscan sceptres of gold and thoroughly ornamented.

The Roman sceptre is undoubtedly a heritage of the Etruscans. Under the Republic a sceptre in Ivory (in Latin: sceptrum eburneum ) was the prerogative of a Consul. He is also that of a victorious general who received then the title d´ imperator and was then a symbol of delegation of the authority, as one will find it later with the stick of maréchal.
Under the Empire the sceptrum Augusti was carried by the emperor. It was generally out of ivory and capped of a Aigle out of gold. It is frequently on the medallions of the late empire which on its side face the emperor holding in a hand the sceptrum Augusti and in the other the Globus cruciger , surmounted of a small figurine representing the Victoire.

It should be noted that in the the Latin Pantheon, the sceptre is a distinctive attribute of Junon.

Christian time

With the arrival of the Christianisme the sceptre was often surmounted by a cross rather than of an eagle, however to the Moyen-Âge the end of the sceptre carried various symbols.

When the Héraldique developed, the sceptre was often used with its symbolism of the capacity.

Germany and Austria

At the time of the Sacre of the Germanic Roman Emperor the sceptre was presented to him by the Archichambellan. Just like it was presented to the archduke of Austria at the time of the ceremony of establishment. The sceptre of the Empire of Austria to the characteristic to be partly made up of a tooth of Narval.

England

Very early, in England, two sceptres were simultaneously used. At the time of Richard Ier of England, they were distinguished one decorated with a cross and the other with a Colombe. In France, the royal sceptre was surmounted by a flower of lily, and the other sceptre, known under the name of Main of justice , had a hand open as a sign of blessing blessing to its top.

Sceptres with small sanctuaries on the top were sometimes represented on the royal seals, as on the large seal of Edward III, where the king, throne, a such bear, but it was about an unusual form; it is as interesting to notice as one of the sceptres of Scotland, preserved at Edinburgh, has such a sanctuary at its top, with the representation of some images of Marie, Saint-Andrew and Saint-James. This sceptre was, one thinks, carried out in France about the year 1536, for Jacques V of Scotland. The large seals represent usually the sovereign on his throne, holding a sceptre in its right hand, and the sphere and the cross in the left. The king Harold appears in this way on the Tapisserie of Bayeux.

The first crownings of English king at the 9th century mentions a sceptre ( sceptrum ), and a stick ( baculum ). In what is called the crowning of Ethelred II appear a sceptre ( sceptrum ), and a stem ( virga ), as that was also in the case of made a crowning of an order of the 12th century. In a contemporary report of the crowning of Richard I, a gold sceptre with a gold cross and a stem ( virga ), with a gold dove at the top appears in the historical texts for the first time. Around 1450, Sporley, a monk of Westminster, drew up a list of the Relique S. It acted in particular of objects used during the crowning of Saint Edouard the Confessor, and left by him for the crowning of its successors. A gold sceptre, a cane out of gilded wooden and of an iron stem are described. These objects existed until the the Commonwealth, and are thoroughly described in an inventory established in 1649, when all was destroyed.

For the crowning of Charles II of England of new sceptres were manufactured and although slightly modified, they continue to be used. They are a sceptre, surmounted of a cross, called Sceptre of Saint Edward, the sceptre with the dove, and a long stick or sceptre surmounted of a gold cross entitled the “sceptre of Edward Saint”. To those, were added thereafter two sceptres for the queen, one with a cross, and the other with a dove.

France

August 1st

Elsewhere

The Guanches of the Canary islands made use of the Fémur S of their ancestors to provide this function.

See too

There exist multiple symbols of the capacity.

In ceremonial dress, several of them can be used units.

  • Regalia
  • Hand of justice
  • Globus cruciger
  • Crown
  • Tiara

Literature

References

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