Ceremonial mace
A ceremonial mace is a highly ornamented staff of metal or wood, carried before a sovereign or other high officials in civic ceremonies by a mace-bearer, intended to represent the official's authority. The mace, as used today, derives from the original mace used as a weapon. Processions often feature maces, as on parliamentary or formal academic occasions.
History
Ancient Near East
Ceremonial maces originated in the Ancient Near East, where they were used as symbols of rank and authority across the region during the late Stone Age, Bronze Age, and early Iron Age. Among the oldest known ceremonial maceheads are the Ancient Egyptian Scorpion Macehead and Narmer Macehead; both are elaborately engraved with royal scenes, although their precise role and symbolism are obscure. In later Mesopotamian art, the mace is more clearly associated with authority; by the Old Babylonian period the most common figure on cylinder seals is a repeated type now known as "The Figure with Mace" who wears a royal hat, holds a mace in his left hand, and is thought to represent a generic king. Ceremonial maces are also prominently depicted in the royal art of Ancient Assyria, such as the Stela of Ashurnasirpal II and the Stela of Shamshi-Adad V, in which the Assyrian kings are shown performing rites or making religious gestures while holding a mace to symbolise their authority.Eastern Roman Empire
Some officials of the medieval Eastern Roman Empire carried maces for either practical or ceremonial purposes. Notable among the latter is the protoallagator, a military-judicial position that existed by about the 10th century A.D. and whose symbols of office were reported by the Palaiologan writer Pseudo-Kodinos in the 14th century to include a silver-gilt mace. At this time the duties of the protoallagator included commanding the Byzantine Emperor's personal allagion, his military retinue. The ceremonial function of the mace may have passed to the late Roman Empire from the ancient Near East by way of Persia, and from there to other European cultures.Medieval and Renaissance Europe
The earliest ceremonial maces in France and England were practical weapons intended to protect the King's person, borne by the Sergeants-at-Arms, a royal bodyguard established in France by Philip II, and in England probably by Richard I. By the 14th century, these sergeants' maces had started to become increasingly decorative, encased in precious metals. As a weapon, the mace fell out of use with the disappearance of heavy armour.The history of the civic mace begins around the middle of the 13th century, though no examples from that period remain today. The oldest civic mace in England is that of Hedon. It was granted in 1415. At the time, ornamented civic maces were considered an infringement of one of the privileges of the king's sergeants, who alone deserved to bear maces enriched with costly metals, according to a House of Commons petition of 1344. However, the sergeants of London later gained this privilege, as did later those of York, Norwich, and Chester. Records exist of maces covered with silver in use at Exeter in 1387–1388; Norwich bought two in 1435, and Launceston others in 1467 and 1468. Several other cities and towns subsequently acquired silver maces, and the 16th century saw almost universal use.
Early in the 15th century, the flanged end of the mace was carried uppermost, with the small button bearing the royal arms in the base. By the beginning of the Tudor period, however, the blade-like flanges, originally made for offence, degenerated into mere ornaments, while the increased importance of the end with the royal arms resulted in the reversal of the position. The custom of carrying the flanged end upward did not die out at once: a few maces, such as the Winchcombe silver maces, which date from the end of the 15th century, were made to be carried both ways. The Guildford mace provides one of the finest of the fifteen specimens of the 15th century.
Craftsmen often pierced and decorated the flanged ends of the maces of this period beautifully. These flanges gradually became smaller, and by the 16th or early 17th century had developed into pretty projecting scroll-brackets and other ornaments, which remained in vogue until about 1640. The next development in the embellishment of the shaft was the reappearance of these small scroll-brackets on the top, immediately under the head of the mace. They disappear altogether from the foot in the last half of the 17th century, and remain only under the heads, or, in rarer instances, on a knob on the shaft. The silver mace-heads were mostly plain, with a cresting of leaves or flowers in the 15th and 16th centuries. In the reign of James I of England they began to be engraved and decorated with heraldic devices and similar ornamentation.
As the custom of having sergeants' maces began to die out about 1650, the large maces borne before the mayor or bailiffs came into general use. Thomas Maundy functioned as the chief maker of maces during the Commonwealth of England. He made the mace for the House of Commons in 1649. This mace is still in use today, though without the original head. The original head, which was not engraved with regal symbols, was replaced by one with regal symbols at the time of the Restoration of the monarchy. Oliver Cromwell referred to the House of Commons mace as "a fool's bauble" when he dissolved the Rump Parliament in 1653.
Commonwealth
Most Commonwealth countries were formerly part of the British Empire and continue the tradition of using a mace, especially to represent the authority of the Sovereign in the parliaments of the Commonwealth realms.United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom there are thirteen surviving royal maces in the Crown Jewels, ten of which are kept in the Jewel House at the Tower of London, while three are on permanent loan to the Houses of Parliament. Each mace is about long and weighs an average of. The House of Commons can only operate lawfully when the royal mace – dating from the reign of Charles II – is present at the table. Two other maces dating from the reigns of Charles II and William III are used by the House of Lords: One is placed on the Woolsack before the House meets and is absent when a monarch is there in person. Two maces from the Jewel House are carried in the royal procession at State Openings of Parliament and British coronations. The Scottish Parliament and the Senedd have their own maces, as do local councils, mayors, and some universities.Australia
The ceremonial maces of the Australian House of Representatives and the Australian Senate symbolise both the authority of each chamber and the royal authority of Australia's monarch.Senate
The ceremonial mace of the Australian Senate is the Black Rod. The ceremonial custodian of the Black Rod is the Usher of the Black Rod.House of Representatives
The Serjeant-at-Arms of the Australian House of Representatives is the ceremonial custodian of the Mace of the House. At the beginning and end of every day the House sits, the Speaker of the House enters and leaves the House preceded by the Serjeant-at-Arms carrying the mace on his or her right shoulder. The mace represents the authority of the monarch, the speaker and the house itself and is usually taken with the speaker on ceremonial occasions. However, in the presence of the governor-general the mace is generally left outside and covered with a green cloth on the understanding that a symbol of royal authority is not needed where the Crown’s actual representative is present.The current mace is made of gilded silver, and was a gift to the House from King George VI on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Federation in 1951. It was presented to the House by a delegation of members of the British House of Commons.
In May 1914, Labor MP William Higgs played a practical joke on the House by hiding the mace under one of the opposition frontbenches. It was not found for two hours, and police were called in as it was assumed to have been stolen. After initially denying his role in the incident, Higgs apologised to his colleagues the following week, stating he had acted in "a spirit of frivolity". His admission that he was "entirely to blame" was met with cheers.
Queensland Parliament
A silver-gilt mace was produced for the Queensland Parliament in 1978 by Marples and Beasley of Birmingham, United Kingdom. It is long and weighs. The mace is inlaid with 15 sapphires, 9 opals, 6 amethysts and 2 garnets, all originating from the state of Queensland.Bahamas
The ceremonial maces in the Bahamas symbolise both the authority of each chamber and the Royal authority of Charles III, the King of the Bahamas.On 27 April 1965, a day known in the Bahamas as "Black Tuesday", Lynden Pindling, then Opposition Leader, threw the 165-year-old Speaker's Mace out of a House of Assembly window to protest against the unfair gerrymandering of constituency boundaries by the then ruling United Bahamian Party government. The Speaker tried to restore order but he was reminded by Labour leader Randol Fawkes that the business of the House could not legally continue without the mace. The badly damaged mace was recovered by the police and returned to the House.
The House of Assembly reconvened with a temporary wooden mace loaned by Canada; this was the same temporary mace used by the House of Commons of Canada after it lost its own mace to a fire in 1916. The temporary mace ultimately returned to Canada freshly gilded. In November 1975, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom donated a new mace to the House of Assembly.
On 3 December 2001, Cassius Stuart and Omar Smith, leader and deputy leader of the Bahamas Democratic Movement, a minor political party, charged from the public gallery onto the floor of the House of Assembly and handcuffed themselves to the Mace in protest against "unfair gerrymandering" of constituency boundaries by the Free National Movement government. The Mace was unable to be separated from the men and the sitting of the House had to be suspended. The pair were jailed for almost two days but no charges were brought against them.