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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 November 2018
Until recently one of the most neglected aspects of Western European history in the modern period has been the role of ceremonial in forming and reflecting the development of political thought and institutions. Medieval historians have long used the coronation ceremony extensively as source material, but Ernst H. Kantorowicz was really the first to show scholars how to use ceremonial in understanding the early modern age. The extent to which ceremonial is a significant source of political ideology was clearly demonstrated by Ralph E. Giesey in his The Royal Funeral Ceremony in Renaissance France, a study which shows how the French acted out crucial political conceptions in the period when the modern state was being born, and which elucidates some of the ways in which the development of ceremonial embraces political thought and acts.
1 Kantorowicz, Ernst H., The King's Two Bodies: A Study in Mediaeval Political Theology (Princeton, N.J., 1957)Google Scholar, and especially ‘Oriens Augusti—Lever du Roi,’ Dumbarton Oaks Papers, XVII (1963), 119-177, which discusses solar symbolism in the court ceremonial of Louis XIV. Giesey, Ralph E., The Royal Funeral Ceremony in Renaissance France, Travaux d'Humanisme et Renaissance 37 (Geneva, 1960)Google Scholar.
2 Giesey, Cf., Royal Funeral Ceremony, 183ff.Google Scholar
3 I discuss the circumstances immediately surrounding the coronation in my study, ‘The Sleeping King,’ Bibliothèque d'Humanisme et Renaissance, xxxi (1969), 535-539.
4 Théodore, and Godefroy, Denis, Le cérémonial françois, 2 vols. (Paris, 1649), 1 Google Scholar, 311, were able to collect only a single page of material on the coronation of Francis, who was the only French king to have been crowned on a weekday which was not an important holiday.
5 Advertissement du sacre, couronnement, et mariage du Treschrestien Roy de France et de Pologne Henry HI. Avec un epithalame (Lyons, 1575); this work was printed several times under varying titles, and it was reprinted in Godefroy, Le ceremonial françois, 1, 321-327 (without the epithalamium).
6 L'entree, sacre, et couronnement du Roy Charles IX. faits en la ville de Rheims, le mercredy 14. et le jeudy 15. jour de may Feste de V Ascension, Van 1561, in Godefroy, , Le cérémonial francois, 1 Google Scholar, 312-314; cited as Godefroy, Charles IX.
7 I call this a description rather than an ordo or a directory. An ordo is a compilation of the prayers, hymns, and anthems used in a religious ceremony; it is almost exclusively liturgical, its rubrics are as brief as possible, and it is usually prescriptive. A directory is composed exclusively—or nearly so—of the directions for the application of an ordo; hence it is composed mainly of rubrics, it is intended to be used in conjunction with an ordo, and it is very often prescriptive. A description is often a combination of an ordo and a directory, although it does not necessarily include the liturgical parts of a ceremony; it is characterized by having been written after the ceremony has taken place, it describes that particular ceremony, and it may or may not be intended to be prescriptive. Richardson, Cf. H. G., ‘The Coronation in Medieval England: The Evolution of the Office and the Oath,’ Traditio, xvi (1960), 181ffGoogle Scholar.; Schramm, Percy Ernst, ‘Ordines-Studien II: Die Krönung bei den Westfranken und den Franzosen,’ Archiv für Urkundenforschung, xv (1938), 34 Google Scholar.
8 Jackson, ‘The Sleeping King,’ 525-551.
9 Ordre tenu au sacre du roy, nostre sire Charles IX. En sa ville de Reims au moys de may, ceste prcsente anne, 1561 (Lyons: Benoist Rigaud, 1561), pp. 8 (including the title page); Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale, Reserve Lb33.469. I am grateful to the Bibliotheque Nationale for making a microfilm copy of this available to me. I appended a typescript copy of this to my ‘The Royal Coronation Ceremony in France from Charles VIII to Charles X’ (unpublished dissertation, University of Minnesota, 1967), pp. 177-182.
10 In this edition I follow the orthographical practices of the École des Chartes as used, for example, in the French texts of the current edition of Theodore Beza's correspondence. All abbreviations have been spelled out, u and v and i and j have been changed to conform to modern spelling, and a few proper nouns have been capitalized; accents have been added or deleted only where necessary to clarify the text, and the punctuation has occasionally been changed for the same reason. I retain the original spelling, which was anything but uniform—typical of much sixteenth-century writing.
11 This is discussed at length in Jackson, ‘The Sleeping King,’ especially pp. 533-540, which deal with Charles IX's coronation.
12 On the positions of Nevers and Montpensier at Charles's coronation, see my ‘Peers of France and Princes of the Blood,’ French Historical Studies, VII (1971), 41, n. 29.
13 On the Bishop of Noyon at this coronation, see Jackson, ‘The Sleeping King,’ p. 546, n. 30.
14 Statements like this lead one to conclude that this description was written by a layman, for a cleric would most likely have been careful to mention at least some of the incipits. Godefroy, Charles IX, was probably written by a layman also, since it does not give any of the incipits, and it curiously mistranslates ‘Ungo te in regem de oleo sanctificato’ as ‘Je t'oings, Roy, d'huile sanctissime’ (p. 313).
15 Godefroy, Charles IX, p. 313, says, ‘Et le Roy de Navarre luy chaussa les esperons d'or; Et quelque peu aprés ledit grand Chambellan les luy osta … ,’ which is unlikely since all the ordines call for the Duke of Burgundy (or whoever represents him) to place the spurs upon the king and immediately to remove them.
16 The description is quite truncated at this point. The traditional investiture of the sword was much more complicated: the consecrating archbishop girt the king with the sword and immediately removed it, he drew the sword from its scabbard (which he lay on the altar), and he placed the naked sword in the hands of the king with the recitation of a prayer; the king then held the sword with the point upright while the archbishop said another prayer; the king next kissed the sword and offered it to God by placing it upon the altar, whence the archbishop took it up and again put it in the hands of the nowkneeling king, who finally placed it in the hands of the Constable of France to be carried naked and point upright during the remainder of the coronation ceremony. Therefore, Godefroy, Charles IX, p. 313, probably errs when it asserts that ‘ledit grand Chambellan luy [le Roy] ceingnit ladite espée; Et quelque peu aprés le Roy la bailla à Monsieur le Connestable, qui la receut en grande reverence.'
17 It is sometimes impossible to make sense out of sixteenth-century syntax; the sense of this reads: ‘ledit seigneur Cardinal a diet à chascune desdictes ceremonies oraisons propices à tout ce que dessus fut beneit.'
18 Godefroy, Charles IX, p. 313, also emphasizes that the king was prostrate for half an hour during the singing of the litany. This pose impressed lay writers to the very end of the monarchy. For example, an anonymous description of the coronation of Charles X in 1825 says, ‘La foule … avait contemplé avec une sorte de crainte respectueuse l'abaissement auguste du monarque devant Fautel du Christ’ (Sacre de Sa Majeste Charles X. dans la metropole de Reims, le 29 mai 1825 [Paris, 1825], fol. 16).
19 Godefroy, Charles IX, pp. 313f., says that the king was anointed ‘à la teste, à l'estomac, au milieu des deux espaules, et joinctures des coudes, … [et sur] les paulmes des mains… .’ It is probable that the Archbishop of Lorraine followed the normal procedure of anointing the king on the head, on the chest, between the shoulders, on each of the shoulders, on the insides of the elbows, and on the palms of the hands.
20 Ibid., p. 314, calls it ‘la Couronne de Charlemagne,’ which was more common. The French began to use the closed, imperial crown after the Italian expedition of 1494; Hervé Pinoteau, cf., ‘Quelques réflexions sur l'œuvre de Jean du Tillet et la symbolique royale française,’ Archives héraldiques suisses, LXX (1956), 7–8 Google Scholar,10-11; Schramm, Percy Ernst, Der König von Frankreich: Das Wesen der Monarchie vom p. zum 16. Jahrhundert, 2nd ed., 2 vols. (Weimar, 1960), I Google Scholar, 210, II, 23, 127-128.
21 The normal procedure was for the archbishop to place the crown over—but not on —the king's head, whereupon the other eleven Peers of France immediately stretched forth their hands to aid the officiant in supporting the crown while the archbishop said a prayer; then the archbishop alone placed the crown upon the king's head. On the Peers’ support of the crown and their supposed oath of fidelity, see Jackson, ‘Peers of France and Princes of the Blood,'p. 30; this passage confirms my contention there that the support of the crown was an expression of the feudal relationship between the king and the Peers.
22 Assuming that the usual order of the ceremony was followed and that Godefroy, Charles IX, is more accurate in this respect, our author has badly confused matters. The king's oaths were sworn before the investiture of the sandals and the sword, and, after having been anointed on the insides of the elbows, the king was dressed in the three royal garments; then his hands were anointed, and he was invested in turn with the gloves, the ring, the scepter, the main de justice, and the crown.
23 On the kiss as the kiss of homage, see Jackson, ‘Peers of France and Princes of the Blood,’ p. 30, n. 7.
24 The first coronation jettons seem to have been distributed at the coronation of Henry II in 1547. The jetton for Charles IX's coronation is pictured and described in Blanchet, Adrien, Manuel de numismatique française, Vol. III: Médailles, jetons, méreaux (Paris, 1930), p. 604 Google Scholar and plate VI, no. 7; cf. also Blanchet, Adrien, ‘Médailles et jetons du sacre des rois de France,’ Études de numismatique, 1 (1892), 191–220 Google Scholar.
25 Godefroy, , Charles IX, p. 314 Google Scholar, describes the traditional offering: ‘Aprés mondit Sieur le Cardinal chanta la Messe … , il monta au pulpitre pour recevoir l'Offrande du Roy, qui donna treize pieces d'or, marquées comme les pieces de largesse, qui peuvent valoir un escu la piece: Puis on offrit un pain d'or, un pain d'argent, et un pot d'argent qui estoit plein de vin.’ On the thirteen gold coins, see Jackson, Richard A., ‘The Traite du sacre of Jean Golein,’ Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, CXIII (1969), 319 Google Scholar, n. 107. Gold and silver loaves like those mentioned in the text may still be seen in the treasury of the cathedral church of Reims. The word anal seems to denote some sort of measure or vessel; the only dictionary in which I have been able to find the word is Godefroy, Frédéric E., Dictionnaire de Vancienne langue française, 10 vols. (Paris, 1891-1902), I Google Scholar, 682, where one other use of the word is quoted, but where no definition is given and the spelling is questioned.
26 Godefroy, , Charles IX, p. 314 Google Scholar, also emphasizes that the royal regalia were too heavy for the young king (he was not quite eleven years old) to bear: ‘Qui sont trois habits fort pesans à eslever, outre lesquels il avoit sa longue robbe de satin cramoisy, avec laquelle il avoit esté sacré, qui le chargea tant, qu'il le falut soustenir’ as the garments were placed upon the king. When Charles was led to the throne, ‘Le Roy de Navarre, et Monsieur de Nevers le conduisirent sous les bras, et Monsieur de Guise tenoit ladite Couronne pres la teste du Roy, parce qu'elle estoit fort pesante, et aussi que ledit Seigneur ne la pouvoit soustenir pour la grande pesanteur de ses habits.’ Both descriptions agree that the Cardinal of Lorraine went to the king to accept the offering; normally, the king descended to the altar to make his offering.
27 It does not seem likely that this was the fanatical protestant captain, Charles Dupuy, seigneur de Montbrun (ca. 1530-1575), although he did serve with distinction under Henry II. On the hostages, see Leber, Jean M. C., Des cérémonies du sacre, ou recherches historiques et critiques sur les mœurs, les coutumes, les institutions et le droit public des français dans l'ancienne monarchie (Paris and Reims, 1825), pp. 148–155 Google Scholar.
28 Le Chesne (some sixty kilometers northeast of Reims) is seldom mentioned in the records of the coronation, and as far as I know no one has studied its role in the ceremony.