Then it was found that a fan-shaped erection upon the helmet improved its appearance, and, without adding greatly to its weight, advantaged it as a head protection by attracting the blow of an opponent's sword, and lessening or nullifying its force ere the blow reached the actual crown-plates of the helmet. Possibly in this we see the true origin (as in the case of the scalloped edges of the mantling) of the serrated border which appears upon these fan-shaped erections. But this last suggestion is no more than a conjecture of my own, and may not be correct, for human nature has always had a weakness for decoration, and ever has been agreeable to pay the extra {328} penny in the "tuppence" for the coloured or decorated variety. The many instances which can be found of these fan-shaped ornaments upon helmets in a perfectly undecorated form leads me to unhesitatingly assert that they originated _not_ as crests, nor as a vehicle for the display of crests, but as an integral and protective part of the _helmet_ itself. The origin of the crest is due to the decoration of the fan. The derivation of the word "crest," from the Latin _crista_, a cock's comb, should put the supposition beyond any doubt. Disregarding crests of later grant or assumption, one can assert with confidence that a large proportion of those--particularly in German armory, where they are so frequent--which we now find blazoned or depicted as wings or plumes, carrying a device, are nothing more than developments of or derivatives from these fan-shaped ornaments. [Illustration: FIG. 610.--From the seal (1301) of Richard FitzAlan, Earl of Arundel.] [Illustration: FIG. 611.--From the seal (1301) of Humphrey de Bohm, Earl of Hereford.] [Illustration: FIG. 612.--From the seal (1305) of Edward of Carnarvon, Prince of Wales.] These fans being (from other reasons) in existence, of course, and very naturally, were painted and decorated, and equally of course such decoration took the form of the particular decoration associated with the owner, namely, the device upon the shield. It seems to me, and for long has so seemed, essentially strange that no specialist authority, writing upon armory, has noticed that these "fans" (as I will call them) are really a part, though possibly only a decorative part, of the helmet itself. There has always in these matters been far too great a tendency on the part of writers to accept conclusions of earlier authorities ready made, and to simply treat these fans as selected and chosen crests. Figs. 610-612 are instances of helmets having these fans. All are {329} taken from seals, and it is quite possible that the actual fans upon the seal helmets had some device painted upon them which it was impossible by reason of the size to represent upon the seal. As has been already stated, the great seal of Richard I. does show a lion painted on the fan.