Tracy White wrote:
Certainly more than I had been able to find in my searches, thanks! I was mainly curious in the change in the orbs between the cruiser D68's crest and D89's Kevin posted above. Being American, my knowledge of symbology is more... corporate, so the change from a + in the orb to a ┬ (not sure if that will come through but it's similar to
ASCII 194 was curious to me and I didn't know if there was a reason behind it.
Hi Tracy,
You're now really into the details! The orb (in German: Reichsapfel, in Latin: globus cruciger) in the Exeter crest is referring to the one of the '
Holy Roman Empire' (962-1806), which was mostly
German in the first place! Richard Earl of Cornwall of the House Plantagenet (1209-1272) was one of these Roman-Kings (crowned in Aachen in 1257): this appointment wasn't hereditary.
This is an image of the orb that was used in the empire. As this was more than 200 years ago no photo's seem to exist of it, and I have no clue whether this gem survived the abyss of time. The 'fleurons' on the arms of the cross seem a bit typical for this orb: the British orb doesn't have these. As for the empire itself: the name 'Roman' might be bewildering to an American, it refers to being "Roman Catholic" (but in reality the empire wasn't very religious or holy at all...)
Addition: the 'regalia' did survive the times and are currently kept in the Hofburg in Vienna:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Treasury,_ViennaAttachment:
Reichsapfel.jpg [ 53.08 KiB | Viewed 1620 times ]
For a explanation on various orbs of different countries look here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globus_cruciger