Crown of Charlemagne in the context of Joan of Évreux

⭐ Core Definition: Crown of Charlemagne

The Crown of Charlemagne (French: Couronne de Charlemagne) was a name given to the ancient coronation crown of Kings of the Franks, and later Kings of France after 1237.

It was probably created as a simple circlet of four curved rectangular jewelled plates for Charles the Bald, the grandson of Charlemagne, but later, four large jewelled fleur-de-lis were added to these four original plates, probably by Philip Augustus around 1180, and surmounted by a cap decorated with precious stones. At this time, a similar but open crown, that of the queen, also existed. One of them was melted down in 1590 by the Catholic League during the siege of Paris. The remaining crown was used up to the reign of King Louis XVI, who was crowned in 1775 in the Reims Cathedral. The crown of Joan of Évreux was then used for the coronation of the queens.

↓ Menu

Crown of Charlemagne in the context of Coronation of the French monarch

The accession of the king of France to the royal throne was legitimized by a ceremony performed with the Crown of Charlemagne at the Reims Cathedral. In late medieval and early modern times, the new king did not need to be anointed in order to be recognized as French monarch but ascended upon the previous monarch's death with the proclamation "Le Roi est mort, vive le Roi!"

The most important part of the French ceremony was not the coronation itself, but the Sacre – the anointing or unction of the king. The Carolingian king Pepin the Short was anointed in Soissons (752) to legitimize the accession of the new dynasty. A second anointing of Pepin by Pope Stephen II took place at the Basilica of Saint-Denis in 754, the first to be performed by a pope. The unction served as a reminder of the baptism of king Clovis I in Reims by archbishop Saint Remi in 496/499, where the ceremony was finally transferred in 816 and completed with the use of the Holy Ampulla found in 869 in the grave of the Saint. Since this Roman glass vial containing the balm due to be mixed with chrism, was allegedly brought by the dove of the Holy Spirit, the French monarchs claimed to receive their power by divine right. Out of respect for the miraculous oil, the king's shirt and the gloves put on after the unction of the hands were burned after the ceremony. Exceptionally, the shirt worn by Louis XV was not burned. The shirt was donated to the king of Portugal, John V, and is today at the National Palace of Mafra, guarded by the Royal and Venerable Confraternity of the Most Blessed Sacrament of Mafra.

View the full Wikipedia page for Coronation of the French monarch

↑ Return to Menu