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<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <title>CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Tiara</title><script src="https://dtyry4ejybx0.cloudfront.net/js/cmp/cleanmediacmp.js?ver=0104" async="true"></script><script defer data-domain="newadvent.org" src="https://plausible.io/js/script.js"></script><link rel="canonical" href="https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14714c.htm"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <meta name="description" content="The papal crown, ornamented with precious stones and pearls, which is shaped like a bee-hive, has a small cross at its highest point"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://feeds.newadvent.org/bestoftheweb?format=xml"><link rel="icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><link rel="shortcut icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><meta name="robots" content="noodp"><link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="../utility/screen6.css" media="screen"></head> <body class="cathen" id="14714c.htm">  <br/> <div id="capitalcity"><table summary="Logo" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 width="100%"><tr valign="bottom"><td align="left"><a href="../"><img height=36 width=153 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></td><td align="right"> <form id="searchbox_000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0" action="../utility/search.htm">  <input type="hidden" name="safe" value="active"> <input type="hidden" name="cx" value="000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0"/> <input type="hidden" name="cof" value="FORID:9"/>  <label for="searchQuery" id="searchQueryLabel">Search:</label> <input id="searchQuery" name="q" type="text" size="25" aria-labelledby="searchQueryLabel"/>  <label for="submitButton" id="submitButtonLabel" class="visually-hidden">Submit Search</label> <input id="submitButton" type="submit" name="sa" value="Search" aria-labelledby="submitButtonLabel"/> </form> <table summary="Spacer" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td height="2"></td></tr></table> <table summary="Tabs" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr> <td bgcolor="#ffffff"></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../"> Home </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_white_on_color" href="../cathen/index.html"> Encyclopedia </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../summa/index.html"> Summa </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../fathers/index.html"> Fathers </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../bible/gen001.htm"> Bible </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../library/index.html"> Library </a></td> </tr></table> </td> </tr></table><table summary="Alphabetical index" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"> <a href="../cathen/a.htm"> A </a><a href="../cathen/b.htm"> B </a><a href="../cathen/c.htm"> C </a><a href="../cathen/d.htm"> D </a><a href="../cathen/e.htm"> E </a><a href="../cathen/f.htm"> F </a><a href="../cathen/g.htm"> G </a><a href="../cathen/h.htm"> H </a><a href="../cathen/i.htm"> I </a><a href="../cathen/j.htm"> J </a><a href="../cathen/k.htm"> K </a><a href="../cathen/l.htm"> L </a><a href="../cathen/m.htm"> M </a><a href="../cathen/n.htm"> N </a><a href="../cathen/o.htm"> O </a><a href="../cathen/p.htm"> P </a><a href="../cathen/q.htm"> Q </a><a href="../cathen/r.htm"> R </a><a href="../cathen/s.htm"> S </a><a href="../cathen/t.htm"> T </a><a href="../cathen/u.htm"> U </a><a href="../cathen/v.htm"> V </a><a href="../cathen/w.htm"> W </a><a href="../cathen/x.htm"> X </a><a href="../cathen/y.htm"> Y </a><a href="../cathen/z.htm"> Z </a> </td></tr></table></div> <div id="mobilecity" style="text-align: center; "><a href="../"><img height=24 width=102 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></div>  <div id="mi5"><span class="breadcrumbs"><a href="../">Home</a> > <a href="../cathen">Catholic Encyclopedia</a> > <a href="../cathen/t.htm">T</a> > Tiara</span></div> <div id="springfield2"> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-top' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <h1>Tiara</h1> <p><em><a href="https://gumroad.com/l/na2"><strong>Please help support the mission of New Advent</strong> and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more  all for only $19.99...</a></em></p> <p>The <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">papal</a> crown, a costly covering for the head, ornamented with precious stones and pearls, which is shaped like a bee-hive, has a small cross at its highest point, and is also equipped with three royal diadems. On account of the three diadems it is sometimes called <em>triregnum</em>. The tiara is a non-liturgical ornament, which, therefore, is only worn for non-liturgical ceremonies, ceremonial procession to church and back, ceremonial <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">papal</a> processions, such as took place upon stated occasions until <a href="../cathen/13164a.htm">Rome</a> was occupied by the <a href="../cathen/12076b.htm">Piedmontese</a>, and at solemn acts of <a href="../cathen/08567a.htm">jurisdiction</a>, as, for example, solemn dogmatic decisions. The <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">pope</a>, like the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a>, wears a <a href="../cathen/10404a.htm">mitre</a> at pontifical <a href="../cathen/09306a.htm">liturgical</a> functions. The tiara is first mentioned in the "Vita" of <a href="../cathen/04294b.htm">Pope Constantine</a> (708-715) contained in the <a href="../cathen/09224a.htm">"Liber Pontificalis"</a>. It is here called <em>camelaucum</em>; it is then mentioned in what is called the "Constitutum Constantini", the supposed donation of the <a href="../cathen/04295c.htm">Emperor Constantine</a>, probably forged in the eighth century. Among the prerogatives assigned to the <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">pope</a> in this document there is especially a white ornament for the head called <em>phrygium</em>, which distinguished him; this naturally presupposes that, at the era the document was written, it was customary for the <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">pope</a> to wear such a head-covering. Three periods may be distinguished in the development of the tiara. The first period extends to the time when it was adorned with a royal circlet of diadem; in this period the <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">papal</a> ornament for the head was, as is clear from the "Constitutum Constantini" and from the ninth Ordo of <a href="../cathen/09479b.htm">Mabillon</a> (ninth century), merely a helmet-like cap of white material. There may have been a trimming around the lower rim of the cap, but this had still in no way the character of a royal circlet. It is not positively known at which date the <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">papal</a> head-covering was adorned with such a circlet. At the time the Donation of Constantine appeared, that is in the eighth century, the <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">papal</a> head-covering had still no royal circlet, as is evident from the text of the document. In the ninth century also such circlet does not seem to have existed. It is <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">true</a> that the Ninth Ordo calls the <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">papal</a> cap <em>regnum</em>, but in the description that the Ordo gives of this cap we hear nothing at all of a crown, but merely that the <em>regnum</em> was a helmet-like cap made of white material. The monumental remains give no clue as to the period at which the <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">papal</a> head-covering became ornamented with a royal circlet. Up into the twelfth century the tiara was not only seldom represented in art, but is is also uncertain whether the ornamental strip on the lower edge is intended to represent merely a trimming or a diadem. This is especially <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">true</a> of the representation of the tiara on the <a href="../cathen/11152a.htm">coins</a> of <a href="../cathen/13729a.htm">Sergius III</a> (904-911) and <a href="../cathen/02428d.htm">Benedict VII</a> (974-983), the only representations of the tenth century and also the earliest ones. Probably the <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">papal</a> head-covering received the circlet at the time when the <a href="../cathen/10404a.htm">mitre</a> developed from the tiara, perhaps in the tenth century, in order to distinguish the <a href="../cathen/10404a.htm">mitre</a> and tiara from each other. In any case the latter was provided with a circlet by about 1130, as is learned from a statement of <a href="../cathen/14326a.htm">Suger of St. Denis</a>. The first proven appearance of the word <em>tiara</em> as the designation of the <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">papal</a> head-covering is in the life of Paschal II (1099-1118), in the <a href="../cathen/09224a.htm">"Liber Pontificalis"</a>.</p> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <p>The second period of the development of the tiara extends to the pontificate of <a href="../cathen/02662a.htm">Boniface VIII</a> (1294-1303). There are a large number of representations of the tiara belonging to this period, and of these the Roman ones have naturally the most value. The diadem remained a simple although richly-ornamented ring up into the second half of the thirteenth century; it then became an antique or tooth-edged crown. The two lappets (<em>caudæ</em>) at the back of the tiara are first seen in the pictures and <a href="../cathen/13641b.htm">sculpture</a> in the thirteenth century, but were undoubtedly customary before this. Strange to say they were black in color, as is evident both from the monumental remains and from the inventories, and this color was retained even into the fifteenth century. When the tiara is represented in <a href="../cathen/13641b.htm">sculpture</a> and <a href="../cathen/11395a.htm">painting</a> as a piece of braiding, this seems to arise from the fact that in the thirteenth century the tiara was made of strips braided together. Of much importance for the tiara was the third period of development that began with the pontificate of <a href="../cathen/02662a.htm">Boniface VIII</a>. It is evident from the inventory of the <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">papal</a> treasures of 1295 that the tiara at that era had still only one royal circlet. A change, however, was soon to appear. During the pontificate of <a href="../cathen/02662a.htm">Boniface VIII</a> a second crown was added to the former one. Three <a href="../cathen/13641b.htm">statues</a> of the <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">pope</a> which were made during his lifetime and under his eyes, and of which two were ordered by <a href="../cathen/02662a.htm">Boniface</a> himself, leave no <a href="../cathen/05141a.htm">doubt</a> as to this. Two of these <a href="../cathen/13641b.htm">statues</a> are in the <a href="../cathen/04558a.htm">crypt</a> of St. Peter's, and the third, generally called <a href="../cathen/05525a.htm">erroneously</a> a <a href="../cathen/13641b.htm">statue</a> of <a href="../cathen/11057a.htm">Nicholas IV</a>, is in the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> of the Lateran. In all three the tiara has two crowns. What led <a href="../cathen/02662a.htm">Boniface VIII</a> to make this change, whether merely <a href="../cathen/09397a.htm">love</a> of pomp, or whether he desired to express by the tiara with two crowns his opinions concerning the double <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">papal</a> authority, cannot be determined. The first notice of three crowns is contained in an inventory of the <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">papal</a> treasure of the year 1315 or 1316. As to the <a href="../cathen/14773b.htm">tombs</a> of the <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">popes</a>, the monument of <a href="../cathen/02429c.htm">Benedict XI</a> (d. 1304) at <a href="../cathen/11736a.htm">Perugia</a> shows a tiara of the early kind; the grave and <a href="../cathen/13641b.htm">statue</a> of <a href="../cathen/04020a.htm">Clement V</a> as Uzeste in the Gironde were mutilated by the <a href="../cathen/03198a.htm">Calvinists</a>, so that nothing can be learned from them regarding the form of the tiara. The <a href="../cathen/13641b.htm">statue</a> upon the <a href="../cathen/14773b.htm">tomb</a> of <a href="../cathen/08431a.htm">John XXII</a> is adorned with a tiara having two crowns. The earliest representation of a tiara with three crowns, therefore, is offered by the effigy of <a href="../cathen/02430a.htm">Benedict XII</a> (d. 1342), the remains of which are preserved in the museum at <a href="../cathen/02158a.htm">Avignon</a>. The tiara with three crowns is, consequently, the rule upon the monuments from the second half of the fourteenth century, even though, as an anachronism, there are isolated instances of the tiara with one crown up into the fifteenth century. Since the fifteenth century the tiara has received no changes worthy of note. Costly tiaras were made especially in the pontificates of <a href="../cathen/11578a.htm">Paul II</a> (d. 1464), <a href="../cathen/14032b.htm">Sixtus IV</a> (d. 1484), and above all in the pontificate of <a href="../cathen/08562a.htm">Julius II</a>, who had a tiara valued at 200,000 ducats, made by the jeweller Caradosso of <a href="../cathen/10298a.htm">Milan</a>.</p> <p>Various hypotheses, some very singular, have been proposed as to the origin of the <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">papal</a> head-covering, the discussion of which here is unnecessary. The earliest name of the <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">papal</a> cap, <em>camelaucum</em>, as well as the Donation of Constantine, clearly point to the Byzantine East; it is hardly to be <a href="../cathen/05141a.htm">doubted</a> that the model from which the <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">papal</a> cap was taken is to be found in the <em>camelaucum</em> of the <a href="../cathen/03096a.htm">Byzantine</a> court dress. The adoption by the <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">popes</a> of the <em>camelaucum</em> as an ornament for the head in the seventh or at the latest in the eighth century is sufficiently explained by the important position which they had attained just at this period in <a href="../cathen/08208a.htm">Italy</a> and chiefly at <a href="../cathen/13164a.htm">Rome</a>; though they could not assume a crown, as they were not sovereign, they could wear a <em>camelaucum</em>, which was worn by the dignitaries of the <a href="../cathen/03096a.htm">Byzantine Empire</a>.</p> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-bottom' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <div class="pub"><h2>About this page</h2><p id="apa"><strong>APA citation.</strong> <span id="apaauthor">Braun, J.</span> <span id="apayear">(1912).</span> <span id="apaarticle">Tiara.</span> In <span id="apawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="apapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company.</span> <span id="apaurl">http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14714c.htm</span></p><p id="mla"><strong>MLA citation.</strong> <span id="mlaauthor">Braun, Joseph.</span> <span id="mlaarticle">"Tiara."</span> <span id="mlawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="mlavolume">Vol. 14.</span> <span id="mlapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company,</span> <span id="mlayear">1912.</span> <span id="mlaurl"><http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14714c.htm>.</span></p><p id="transcription"><strong>Transcription.</strong> <span id="transcriber">This article was transcribed for New Advent by Tim Drake.</span> <span id="dedication"></span></p><p id="approbation"><strong>Ecclesiastical approbation.</strong> <span id="nihil"><em>Nihil Obstat.</em> July 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor.</span> <span id="imprimatur"><em>Imprimatur.</em> +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.</span></p><p id="contactus"><strong>Contact information.</strong> The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is webmaster <em>at</em> newadvent.org. Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.</p></div> </div> <div id="ogdenville"><table summary="Bottom bar" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"><center><strong>Copyright © 2023 by <a href="../utility/contactus.htm">New Advent LLC</a>. 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