Scottish Crown Jewels
The crown jewels of Scotland are as decorations of Scotland , as Honors of Scotland known and consist of crown , sword of state and scepter . Taken as a whole, the decorations represent one of the oldest collections of royal insignia in Christianity.
history
The story of the Scottish Crown Jewels begins in 1306 when Robert the Bruce was crowned with a gold bracelet. It is generally assumed that this gold ring is still part of today's crown.
During the reign of James IV , the sword and scepter came to Scotland as gifts from Pope Julius II , the scepter in 1494 and the sword, scabbard and belt in 1507. James IV was the first king to receive one at his coronation so-called royal crown, ie wore a crown spanned with arched stirrups.
In 1525 James V had the handguard of the sword renewed, the scepter lengthened and the crown rebuilt with more gold and precious stones. A purple bonnet was tailored and trimmed with ermine fur . The changed decorations were first used in 1543 when Mary Stuart was crowned Queen.
In 1603 her son James VI ascended . at the same time the English throne and moved to London, where the kings have resided ever since. Before Oliver Cromwell , who after the execution I. Charles had melted in 1649 almost all the English crown jewels, which were Honors of Scotland hiding, first in Dunnottar Castle and after the siege by the New Model Army under the floor of the nondescript village church of Kinneff at Inverbervie . After the restoration of the monarchy in 1651, Charles II was the last Scottish monarch to be crowned with the decorations. They were then placed at sessions of the Scottish Parliament as a symbol of the absent monarch. In 1707, after the union with England , the decorations were locked in a chest in the crown room of Edinburgh Castle , and when Walter Scott was allowed to open the chest 111 years later, they were still there exactly as they had been placed in 1707. During the Second World War they were hidden again for fear of a German invasion. In 1996 the stone was brought back to Scotland by Scone from London and placed in the Crown Room next to the Crown Jewels, where they can be viewed as part of a permanent exhibition. When a Scottish Parliament convened for the first time since 1707 in 1999 , the Scottish royal crown was carried before the Queen Elizabeth II who was present - and so since then at every opening of parliament at the beginning of the legislative period.