Essen crown

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The crown from the Essen Cathedral Treasury, clearly recognizable the sapphire on the front
The crown in the exhibition Gold vor Schwarz 2008

The Essener Krone is a golden , Ottonian crown in the Essen Cathedral Treasury . It was previously assumed that it could possibly be the crown with which the three-year-old Otto III. 983 was crowned Roman-German king , due to which the name of Otto III's child crown . spread. However, this view, probably due to the wishful thinking of Essen historians of the early 20th century, is now largely out of date. However, it certainly represents the oldest surviving lily crown in the world.

description

The shape of the crown corresponds to a Byzantine headband 3.5 cm wide. Today it is 12.5 cm in diameter. The crown is adapted to the head circumference of the Golden Madonna . The stone setting of the crown is regular and matched to the circumference. The crown consists of a strong silver alloy gold ring, onto which a second ring made of pure gold is soldered on the outside. An iron reinforcement ring is visible inside the crown .

The upper and lower edges of the crown are decorated with strings of pearls , the wire running through them being soldered to the base with metal rings. There are numerous pearls and precious stones on the four lily prongs and on the ring itself , whereby the stones attached directly under the lily prongs are particularly precious. Under the stones is a late Roman gem carved from a red almandine with a Medusa head and a sapphire in a triangular gold setting on the front of the crown.

Comparable, albeit younger, crowns belonging to the church can be found in the church treasures of Hildesheim and Conques, France .

history

The origin of the crown is not clear. For a long time it was assumed that the crown would be used for the coronation of Otto III in 983. was created and was given by him to the monastery food . Under the direction of Abbess Mathilde , who was herself a granddaughter of Emperor Otto I , the Essen Abbey had a particularly close relationship with the Ottonian ruling house , which was reflected in significant donations from the kings as well as in the fact that Otto III's sister, who as the Abbess Mathilde was called, was brought up in Essen. At the beginning of February 993, around Mary Candlemas , Otto III. paid a visit to the Essen monastery, during which, according to local historians, he made two important gifts to the Essen monastery.

One gift was a sword made of Damascus steel , which was probably made around 950 and was used in battles, as can be seen from the signs of use on the blade. This sword, venerable because of its bearer, was given a valuable coating of gold in Essen. In the following years the sword was regarded as the guiding sword of the Essener collegiate and city patrons Cosmas and Damian and was thus included in the Essen city coat of arms . For today's research, the answer to the question of who was the original bearer of the sword would be interesting for a better understanding of the relationship between the Essens Abbey and the Ottonian family.

The second gift of Otto III. was possibly the golden crown. There is no written evidence for this, but there are still arguments for this thesis. On the one hand, the crown was dated to the end of the 10th century due to art historical comparisons. From the iron reinforcement ring it is concluded that work has been carried out on the head size of the Madonna, so that the crown should originally have been made for a different purpose. This other purpose can only have been the coronation of a child, since one can deduce the original crown size. The coronation of Otto III. 983 in Aachen Cathedral is the only coronation for children in the appropriate period. The fact that the medieval custom of crowning statues of the Virgin Mary on the feast of Candlemas on February 2nd is first documented in Essen should indicate that Otto III. during his visit to Essen, which coincided with the public holiday, the crown was handed over to the monastery at the beginning of February 993.

More modern form elements (whose dating approach is also questioned in research) suggest a reworking of the crown in the middle of the 11th century. During the same period, works of art were created with the Theophanu Cross and the cross nail reliquary of Abbess Theophanu , in which enamels were reused that came from the nimbus of the Golden Madonna, which was a hindrance to a coronation of the statue and was therefore removed. It is therefore likely that the crown was manufactured before about 1040/50.

The crown as a stamp motif ( 1988 )

In more recent research, it is considered to date the entire crown to the beginning of the 11th century due to certain decorative forms, so-called flower crowns and beehives, which are very similar to works of art that are assigned to the environment of Henry II . The crown would then have been originally created for the coronation of the golden Madonna. In the Essen Cathedral Treasury, these decorative forms can be found on the ends of the cross with the large sinkholes , which were presumably redesigned under Abbess Sophia (1011-1039). Another argument in favor of the creation of the crown as a crown of Mary is that the regular stone setting makes a reduction in size of the crown unlikely. The crown is partly dated to the second half of the 11th century.

As an outstanding example of Ottonian goldsmithing, the crown was shown on a charity stamp of the Federal Post Office in 1988 .

literature

  • Georg Humann : The works of art of the cathedral church to eat. Schwann, Düsseldorf 1904, pp. 261-266.
  • Alfred Pothmann: The Essen church treasure from the early days of the monastery history. In: Reign, Education and Prayer. Foundation and beginnings of the Essen women's monastery. Klartext, Essen 2000, ISBN 3-88474-907-2 , pp. 135–153.
  • Antje Bosselmann-Ruickbie, Yvonne Stolz : Ottonian nimbus or Byzantine jewel collar? On the Golden Madonna and ten trapezoidal enamels on the nail reliquary and the Theophanu cross in the Essen Cathedral Treasury . In: Mitteilungen zur Spätantiken Aräologie und Byzantinische Kunstgeschichte 6, 2009, pp. 77-99 (on the original nimbus of the Golden Madonna, its removal under Abbess Theophanu and the addition of the crown).
  • Birgitta Falk : Essener Krone In: Gold over black. The Essen Cathedral Treasure at Zollverein , edited by Birgitta Falk, catalog for the 2008 exhibition. Klartext Verlag, Essen 2008, ISBN 978-3-8375-0050-9 , pp. 92–93.

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