English

Alternative forms

• collar of SS

Noun

collar of esses ‎(plural collars of esses)

1. An ornamental chain made up of interlinked or juxtaposed S's, originally worn by nobles of the House of Lancaster, and later associated by some writers with the Order of the Garter.
   • 1828, William Berry, Encyclopaedia Heraldica, vol. I:

     Anciently, the creation of an esquire, in England, was performed by the ceremony of the King placing about his neck a silver collar of SS, as an ensign of that dignity […].

   • 1997, Doris Fletcher, ‘The Lancastrian Collar of Esses’, in The Age of Richard II, p. 191:

     During the reigns of Edward IV and Richard III the collar of esses was frowned upon, to say the least.

   • 2011, Thomas Penn, Winter King, Penguin 2012, p. 353:

     Marney's pre-eminence was evident in the new reign's first meeting of the Order of the Garter, which the young king called with alacrity for 18 May – and for which occasion he had bought himself a Lancastrian collar of esses, in emulation of his hero Henry V.