Coronation mantle
The coronation mantle or cope ( Latin for coat ) is one of the imperial regalia of the Holy Roman Empire and is the main piece of the coronation regalia of the Roman-German emperors .
The Arabic - Norman work from a 12th century Sicilian workshop was used for most of the coronations of the Roman-German emperors from the 13th century until the end of the Old Empire . Together with the other coronation insignia such as the imperial crown , imperial sword and imperial orb , the coat is exhibited today in the secular treasury of the Vienna Hofburg .
Shape, ornamentation and symbolism
The outer shape of the coronation mantle reflects the various cultural influences that shaped 12th century Sicily : those of Latin and Greco-Byzantine Christianity and Islam. Both in the sense of style of the Arab - Muslim population group and that of the Norman conquerors, the joy of stylizing ornamentation played an important role.
The coronation cloak is a semicircular, open cloak that extends to the floor. It was carried lying on both shoulders like a choir mantle. It is 342 centimeters wide, consists of incised silk dyed red with Indian redwood and kermes , the so-called Samit , and is richly embroidered with gold thread, over 100,000 pearls and enamel plates . The coat weighs a total of eleven kilograms.
The ornamental embroidery is a manifestation of royal power: two lions in mirror image , each beating a camel . A stylized palm in the manner of a tree of life rises between the two lions . The originally ancient oriental motifs were borrowed from Islamic art . The exact meaning of the motif is not clear. It is known that the lion was often used to represent the ruler's power and that it was the heraldic animal of the Hauteville , the Norman royal dynasty of Sicily. Most interpretations assume that the lions that beat two camels symbolize the victory of the Normans over the Saracens , who had previously ruled Sicily. However, the fact that the symbolic representation of the Arabs or Islam as a camel is not documented in medieval sources speaks against this. Occasionally astrological connections were also assumed. William Tronzo suspects that the embroidery is part of a Norman visual vocabulary and that accordingly the representation on the coat is to be interpreted in such a way that the camel, as a symbol of bad rule, is defeated by the lion.
Following the hem of the coat, a kufic inscription with good wishes for the wearer of the coat is embroidered. Although it is easy to read, translation and interpretation still raise questions that have not been completely answered. One possible translation is:
“(This coat) belongs to what was worked in the royal workshop (ḫizāna), in which happiness and honor, prosperity and perfection, merit and distinction are located, here in the royal workshop, the may enjoy a good reception, glorious prosperity, great generosity and great splendor, fame and splendid furnishings and the fulfillment of wishes and hopes; here where the days and nights may pass in pleasure, without end or change; in feelings of honor, attachment and supportive participation in happiness and in maintaining welfare, support and due activity; in the capital of Sicily in the year 528 of the Hejra . "
The inscription is written in a form of Arabic rhyming prose, the sajj , which is used primarily in the Koran . The mentioned year 528 of the Islamic calendar corresponds to the year 1133 or the year 1134 of the Christian calendar.
The lining of the coat is made of colored Italian damask interwoven with gold and silver threads . It was apparently reinserted into the coat in the 16th century at the instigation of the council of the imperial city of Nuremberg , where the imperial regalia were then kept. The council decided to have the coat relined for Charles V's coronation as emperor in Aachen in 1520. This work was carried out in the Nuremberg Poor Clare Monastery.
Under this newer lining there is also the original lining, which consists of two parts. Most of the inner cloak is covered by a silk fabric with strangely tiered ornaments, entwined dragon bodies , in between birds, people, green tendrils and golden flowers on a golden background. Five pieces of gold brocade are sewn along the straight border , which must have been made at the same time as the rest of the coat. Like the lion motif on the outside, the representations on the original inner lining could not yet be interpreted satisfactorily.
Meaning of the mantle in the coronation ceremony
In the Middle Ages, putting on the cloak during the coronation ceremony was of great symbolic importance.
The term investiture , which at that time referred to the introduction to a high ecclesiastical office or a new fiefdom , goes back to the Latin word investire for clothe . The cladding of a ruler in new, spiritual clothes ( paraments ) not only made him stand out from the crowd of subjects , but also documented his transition from the secular to the spiritual class . Because the medieval kingdom has been surrounded by a strong sacred aura since Merovingian times.
In an era that was largely lacking in writing and reliant on symbols that were easy to understand, the donning of the new robes by the emperor or king documented his entry into the sacred, sacred sphere. Putting on the coronation cloak was the highlight of this part of the coronation ceremony. Only then were he given the insignia of his worldly power, for example scepter and imperial sword .
Even if the popes had long since denied secular rulers a priest-like dignity at least since the time of Frederick II , the religious symbolism of the clothing remained of great importance for the lay people.
history
Origin and first mentions
Thanks to the embroidered inscription, the coronation mantle is one of those imperial regalia, the origin of which is largely certain. The translation of the inscription was first achieved in 1728 by the Altdorf university professor Johann Heinrich Schulze . After that, the coat was created in 528 of the Islamic calendar . This corresponds to the year 1133/34 of the Gregorian calendar . Therefore, the name Rogers II's coronation mantle is not infrequently used , as it connects the first owner with the later function. Roger II was crowned king in 1130 - before the cloak was made.
Roger II of Sicily, from the Norman Hauteville dynasty , was a patron of the arts and literature. He gathered Arab and Byzantine scholars, poets and artisans at his court in Palermo . The coat was probably made for Roger in the famous royal workshop, where the Norman kings of Sicily traditionally had their representative jewelry made. The court workshops located in the king's palace or in its immediate vicinity, the Nobiles Officinae , comparable to the Islamic Tiraz workshops , formed a unique production facility for works of treasure art. The works in this workshop show a wealth of materials and an astonishing variety of motifs from a wide variety of cultures.
This diversity resulted from the ethnic composition of the population of Sicily at that time of Latins, Greeks and Arabs, as well as from the coexistence of Roman Catholic , Greek Orthodox , Muslim ( see also Islam in Italy and the history of Sicily ) and Jewish believers. All of these ethnic and religious groups were represented in the royal workshops. The Greek-Byzantine craftsmen created goldsmiths and textiles . The work with ivory , the bronze casting and the embroidery were the domain of the Saracen artists. In the architecture of this time, the collaboration of these population groups in the Arab-Byzantine-Norman architectural style is visible.
The precious red silk fabric may have been imported from Byzantine. Because according to a report by Otto von Freising , Byzantine silk weavers came to Sicily for the first time in 1147, who had been captured during an advance of the Sicilian fleet into Greece . The various fabrics used in the coat are all in all excellent craftsmanship in the art of weaving, which at the same time offer rich figurative representations as a special feature.
It is not known whether and on what occasions Roger wore the coat. No special solemn events have come down to us from the year the coat was created. The design and the materials used suggest that it was created as a representative garment, but the magnificent piece is not mentioned in the sources of the Norman period.
Transfer to imperial possession
Roger's daughter and heiress Constanze of Sicily married the Roman-German Emperor Heinrich VI in 1186 . Against the resistance of the population, the nobility and the Pope - Sicily was a papal fiefdom - he united the southern Italian territory with the empire and was crowned King of Sicily in the Cathedral of Palermo in 1194.
He had the Norman crown treasure, the most famous piece of which is the coronation cloak, brought to Germany to the Hohenstaufen castle Trifels in the Palatinate . 150 mules are said to have been necessary for this transport . It is not certain whether the coat made it to Germany on this occasion, as it was never mentioned in sources before 1246.
As the successor of Henry VI. could Philip of Swabia the mantle for the first time have worn at a coronation as Holy Roman king. However, this can be proven just as little as the previously presumed use at the imperial coronation of Frederick II in 1220 in Rome. The more recent research assumes that on this occasion Friedrich wore the cloak with four nimbated eagles kept in the cathedral of Metz . The other pieces of the imperial regalia that come from the Norman treasure - the shoes , the stockings and the Alba - were probably used by Friedrich on this occasion. He also had a pair of red silk gloves made for him, which are now also part of the imperial regalia.
The coat is mentioned for the first time in the inventory of Trifels Castle from 1246 as the "imperial coat with precious stones".
The fact that the coat was strongly influenced by Islamic art and culture did not prevent it from being used in the coronation of the Christian Roman-German emperor. This has probably to do with its high material value and the splendid execution, but above all with the color of the coat. Because purple was already reserved for the emperor during the Roman Empire due to its rarity and preciousness.
Over the centuries, the knowledge of the origin of the coat was partially lost again. In the German-language handover document of the imperial regalia to Emperor Charles IV from 1350, the coat is mentioned with the following description:
"A red cloak of Sant Carl with two loaves made of good stone, pearls and gold"
This shows that the cloak and the imperial crown were wrongly traced back to Charlemagne , who was canonized in 1165 .
Safekeeping in Nuremberg
The further history of the coat is inextricably linked with that of the other imperial regalia (see there).
With these, the coat was kept in various places in the empire during the High and Late Middle Ages: first on the Trifels, later in the Karlštejn Castle near Prague, at that time the main residence of the Luxembourg dynasty, or in the Imperial Abbey of Hersfeld .
In 1423 the Free Imperial City of Nuremberg received the privilege of the Roman-German King Sigismund from the House of Luxembourg to keep the imperial regalia for “ eternal times, irrevocably and incontestably ”. This became necessary because, due to the Hussite Wars, the former storage location in Prague was no longer safe. The imperial regalia were kept in a chest hung in the choir of the Nuremberg Holy Spirit Church until shortly before the end of the old empire. Once a year they were shown to the public at the so-called healing instruction .
On April 3, 1764, Joseph II was crowned Roman-German King in Frankfurt while still alive and in the presence of his father, Emperor Franz I. On this occasion, a second coronation cloak was made for Francis I, which was modeled on the first. The successful execution of this work is evidenced by a description of the eyewitness Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in his work Poetry and Truth I, 5 :
"The emperor's house robe of purple silk, richly adorned with pearls and stones, as well as crown, scepter and orb, fell into the eyes: for everything was new about it, and the imitation of antiquity tasteful."
However, Goethe was wrong when he said that the crown was also a replica. Rather, on this occasion Franz I wore the miter crown of Emperor Rudolf II , which became the crown of the Austrian Empire half a century later .
Storage in Vienna
During the coalition wars that followed the French Revolution of 1789, Nuremberg was occupied by the troops of General Jean-Baptiste Jourdan in 1796 . In order to prevent the imperial regalia from being accessed by the French conquerors, the city council had already arranged for them to be transported to Regensburg , where they were handed over to the imperial commissioner at the Reichstag . He had them brought to Vienna in a secret operation in October 1800.
Franz II , the last emperor of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, had the parts of the imperial treasure kept in Aachen brought to his residence city a little later. He wanted to prevent Napoléon Bonaparte from using it for his imperial coronation in 1804 and thus giving his protectorate over the Rhine Confederation a legitimacy based on imperial traditions .
On the initiative of the Lord Mayor of Nuremberg, Willy Liebel , Adolf Hitler had the coronation cloak and the other imperial regalia relocated to Nuremberg again in 1938 in order to establish a symbolic connection to the then “City of the Reich Party Rallies” and the ideas of a “Greater German Reich”. After the Second World War , however , the American military government ordered her return to Vienna . Since 1946 they have been kept and exhibited in the secular treasury of the Hofburg .
literature
- Hermann Fillitz : The insignia and jewels of the Holy Roman Empire. Schroll, Vienna et al. 1954.
- Ernst Kubin: The imperial regalia. Your Millennial Way. Amalthea, Vienna et al. 1991, ISBN 3-85002-304-4 .
- Karl-Heinz Rueß (Red.): The imperial regalia. Signs of rule of the Holy Roman Empire (= writings on Staufer history and art. Vol. 16). Society for Staufer History, Göppingen 1997, ISBN 3-929776-08-1 .
- Wilfried Seipel (Ed.): Nobiles Officinae. The royal court workshops at Palermo during the Normans and Staufers in the 12th and 13th centuries. Skira, Milano 2004, ISBN 3-85497-076-5 .
Web links
- Imperial Treasury Vienna | The coronation mantle
- Explanations of the coronation mantle and detailed photos
Remarks
- ^ Oleg Grabar : The Experience of Islamic Art. The so-called Mantle of Roger II, The ceiling of the Cappella Palatina. In: Irene A. Bierman: The Experience of Islamic Art on the Margins of Islam. Ithaca Press et al., Reading et al. 2005, ISBN 0-86372-300-4 , pp. 11-59, here p. 37.
- ↑ Almut Höfert: Royal Object History. The coronation mantle of the Holy Roman Empire . In: Transcultural entanglement processes in the premodern . tape 3 . De Gruyter, Berlin, Boston 2016, ISBN 978-3-11-044548-0 , pp. 156-173, here p. 162 , doi : 10.1515 / 9783110445480-008 .
- ↑ a b Rotraud Bauer: The coat of Rogers II and the Siculo-Norman robes from the royal court workshops in Palermo. In: Wilfried Seipel (Ed.): Nobiles Officinae. The royal court workshops at Palermo during the Normans and Staufers in the 12th and 13th centuries. 2004, pp. 115-123.
- ↑ Almut Höfert: Royal Object History. The coronation mantle of the Holy Roman Empire . In: Transcultural entanglement processes in the premodern . tape 3 . De Gruyter, Berlin, Boston 2016, ISBN 978-3-11-044548-0 , pp. 156-173, here p. 157 , doi : 10.1515 / 9783110445480-008 .
- ^ Online converter ( memento from October 27, 2004 in the Internet Archive ) of the Oriental Seminary at the University of Zurich
- ↑ The embroidered Kufi inscription running around the hem ... with the Islamic Hejra dating of 528 can be determined according to the conversion into the Christian era as 1133/1134. It follows that the cloak could not have been used at Roger's coronation on December 25, 1130. (P. 115) Its designation as the coronation mantle comes from the fact that it held this function in the Holy Roman Empire for centuries. Up to the most recent publications, the "Coronation Mantle Rogers II." spoken. (P. 122) - Rotraud Bauer: The coat of Rogers II and the Siculo-Norman robes from the royal court workshops in Palermo. In: Wilfried Seipel (Ed.): Nobiles Officinae. The royal court workshops at Palermo during the Normans and Staufers in the 12th and 13th centuries. 2004, pp. 115-123.
- ↑ a b Rotraud Bauer: On the history of the Sicilian robes, later coronation robes of the kings and emperors of the Holy Roman Empire. In: Wilfried Seipel (Ed.): Nobiles Officinae. The royal court workshops at Palermo during the Normans and Staufers in the 12th and 13th centuries. 2004, pp. 85-95.
- ↑ Stefan Weinfurter : The Empire in the Middle Ages. Brief German history from 500 to 1500. Beck, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-406-56900-5 , pp. 169-171.
- ↑ Almut Höfert: Royal Object History. The coronation mantle of the Holy Roman Empire . In: Transcultural entanglement processes in the premodern . tape 3 . De Gruyter, Berlin, Boston 2016, ISBN 978-3-11-044548-0 , pp. 156-173, here p. 164 , doi : 10.1515 / 9783110445480-008 .
- ↑ Heinrich Pleticha : Des empire splendor: Imperial regalia and imperial coronations in the mirror of German history . Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau, Basel, Vienna 1989, ISBN 3-451-21257-9 , pp. 232 f .
