16th-Century Women in Crowns

Some time ago, my good friend Sarah collected some historical images documenting 16th-century women wearing crowns, because it often seems like a rare thing. We see queens & female nobility of earlier eras decked in towering regalia, but crowns / coronets / tiaras / diadems & the like almost go out of fashion for the well-heeled woman in the 16th century, despite having some notable women rulers in their own right. About a century later, tiaras come back with a vengeance, & any gal who has a title &/or can afford the bling &/or has pretensions sports diamonds on her head.

Recently, several friends in the SCA (including Sarah!) received court baronies, & this allows them to wear coronets in our funny little game. And I was reminded of our earlier discussions. How would a lady who tends to wear 16th-century garb wear a crown-like item? What did it look like in period?

Here are some examples to add to the previous list.

1615 – Frances Howard, Duchess of Lennox, by circle of Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger (image source: Wikimedia Commons)

1610 – Queen Marie de Medici of France by Frans Pourbus II (image source: Wikimedia Commons)

1610 – coronation of Queen Marie de Medici of France, Marguerite de Valois in background (image source: Bibliotheque Nationale de France)

1583 – effigy of Queen Catherine de Medici at Basilica of Saint-Denis by sculptor Germain Pilon (Photo: Myrabella / Wikimedia Commons / CC-BY-SA-3.0)

1565-1637 – Christina of Lorraine, Grand Duchess of Tuscany, by Scipione Pulzone (image source: Wikimedia Commons)

1576 – Queen Anna Jagiellon of Poland by Martin Kober (image source: Wikimedia Commons)

1565 – Mary Queen of Scots & Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley (image source: National Galleries of Scotland)

1559 – Queen Elizabeth I of England, coronation portrait detail (image source: Wikimedia Commons)

1572 – Marguerite de Valois & Henri de Navarre (image source: Bibliotheque Nationale de France)

1570 – Elisabeth of Austria & King Charles IX of France (image source: Bibliotheque Nationale de France)

1559 – Elisabeth de Valois & King Philip II of Spain (image source: Bibliotheque Nationale de France)

1558 – Mary Queen of Scots & King Francois II of France (image source: Bibliotheque Nationale de France)

1490-1538 – Germaine de Foix, second wife of King Ferdinand II of Aragon (image source: Wikimedia Commons)

1536 – Queen Margaret of Sweden by Johan Baptista van Uther (image source: Wikimedia Commons)

OK, so there’s a ton of French royal crowns duplicating the same look, but I found that interesting to see how the tradition was practically mandated for a few decades. My personal favorite is what looks like a simple band-style coronet on Mary Queen of Scots in the coin celebrating her (ill-fated) marriage to Lord Darnley. I’ve stared very hard at that image, & I don’t think she’s wearing any sort of hat. It’s just a band, you can see waves of her hair above the band. The band itself has small loops or points sticking up like a very delicate crown. I can imagine that being a pretty, elegant little piece of regalia there. Also quite nice are the dramatic, high, “radiant” crowns of Christina of Lorraine (on the pillow next to her hand) & Frances Howard (I lightened the image to bring out the detail). Super-cool!

These may not be very practical for the SCA for a variety of reasons, but hey, it’s fun to look at.