Imperial Crown

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Front view of the imperial crown in the Vienna treasury
Right side view

The imperial crown has been the crown of kings and emperors of the Holy Roman Empire since the High Middle Ages . It belongs to the type of medieval bow crowns . Most of the Roman-German kings since Conrad II were crowned with it. The imperial crown, along with the imperial cross , the imperial sword and the holy lance, was the most important part of the imperial regalia . At the coronation it was handed over to the new king along with the scepter and the imperial orb .

The crown itself, as can be recognized by the name daz riche , and its most important gemstone, the orphan , became a symbol for the imperial idea of the Holy Roman Empire and the rule of the king or emperor, so that a coronation without the imperial insignia is often called was considered illegitimate. In addition, the imperial crown is an artistic expression of a theologically justified claim to power , which was symbolized by various symbols incorporated into the crown.

The imperial crown is kept together with the imperial regalia in the Imperial Treasury Vienna in the Hofburg .

Appearance

The imperial crown has a special shape. The crown is not round, but octagonal . This is derived from the fact that, according to biblical tradition, eight people survived the Flood . In the eight number of people thus expressed the covenant of God with men ( Noachbund off). According to this, for the occidental Christians the " 8 " was the number of baptism , the connection of heaven and earth, the perfection, the infinite, the redemption, the messiah and furthermore the emperor number , which is in the architecture in the octagonal basic form of numerous imperial buildings expressed.

Instead of a tire, the eight plates, rounded at the top, are connected to one another by hinges. The crown was fixed in its almost regular octagonal shape by two iron bands that were drawn in at an unknown point in time and attached to the plates with gold rivets. Because of its plate construction, the imperial crown is one of the plate crowns , and because of its bow, which serves to fix the plate octagon and mount the front cross, it is also one of the bow crowns . The construction of panels decorated with pictures connects the imperial crown with Byzantine models.

The distance from the forehead to the neck plate is 20.9 cm and that from the left to the right temple plate is 22.2 cm. The front plate is the largest plate with a width of 11.2 cm and a height of 14.9 cm. The other panels are of different sizes, with the image panels being approximately 12 cm high and 83 mm wide. The two temple plates measure around 12.5 cm in height and 82 mm in width. The neck plate has a height of 14.9 cm, just like the front plate, but is only 82 mm wide. The crown cross is 99 mm high and 82.5 mm wide and is in a sheath that is obviously not intended for this purpose, as it is only sparsely attached. The weight of the crown is approx. 3.5 kg.

The individual plates of the crown are made of solid gold , interspersed with pearls and precious stones. Enforced here is to be taken literally: The pearls and stones are inserted into cut-out openings and fastened with filigree wire so that they glow in the translucent light as if from within. A total of 240 pearls (including 144 larger and 96 smaller) and 120 stones (84 larger and 36 smaller) were used; All numbers are divisible by 12 and symbolized both the 12 apostles and the 12 tribes of Israel for the Christians of the Middle Ages, who were very sensitive to Christian symbols.

Four enamel plates are Byzantine influenced by technology . Three of these image plates depict kings from the Old Testament ( David , Solomon and Ezechias with the prophet Isaiah ), one image plate shows Jesus framed by two angels . The other four slabs are so-called stone slabs with precious stones. The image plates alternate with the stone plates.

  • King David, inscription: Rex David

  • King Solomon, inscription: Rex Solomon

  • King Ezechias (Hezekiah) with the prophet Isaiah ; Inscriptions Isaias p [ro] pheta (left), Ezechias rex (right)

  • Christ framed by two angels , inscription: P [er] me reges regnant

Kings David and Solomon hold banners with Latin inscriptions in their hands. With King David it is said: "The honorable King loves judgment", with Solomon: "Fear God and avoid injustice". In the third picture, King Ezechias receives the promise of God conveyed by the prophet Isaiah: “Well, I want to add 15 years to your life”. On the fourth plate, the risen Jesus is depicted enthroned above the world, framed by two angels. In addition, it says in red letters on a golden background Per me reges regnant .

The attached crown cross is an early 11th century addition attributed to Henry II ; the stirrup, which is also attached, is probably an addition from the time of Emperor Conrad II (1027-1039). The bow, which is typical of imperial crowns, spans the entire octagonal crown body with eight rounded tops and connects the enlarged front plate with the neck plate.

The inscription made of pearls shows the reason for assuming the authorship of Conrad II. On the left it says Chuonradus Dei Gratia and on the right Romanoru (m) Imperator Aug (ustus) , German: “Konrad von Gottes Gnaden Kaiser der Römer ( and) Augustus “. The temple should probably not inadvertently remind of the crests of ancient rulers and generals.

In place of the crown cross, on the side plates and the neck plate, there were presumably three so-called piston pearls each. This was likely changed because the Byzantine emperors at the time also replaced the piston pearls on their crowns with a cross.

Missing elements

Reconstruction of the original shape of the imperial crown before Conrad II.

The current state of preservation can only be described as a fragment of the original crown.

Today the most prominent gemstone of the Middle Ages, the so-called orphan (lat. Orphanus ) is missing . This was probably a large opal or carbuncle stone, so it was either a milky white or an intense red gemstone. It was attached to the neck plate or front plate - this is where historical science is discussed intensively - and has been missing since the 14th century. Albertus Magnus wrote about this stone around 1250:

“The orphan is a gem in the crown of the Roman emperor. Because he was never seen anywhere else, he is called the "orphan". It has a color like wine, like delicate wine red, and it is as if the dazzling, shining white of the snow penetrates the light wine red and yet the red remains dominant. This gem has a strong shine and it is said that it once shone even at night; but he no longer does that in our time. But it is said that he preserves the honor of the kingdom. "

In 1350 he was mentioned for the last time in the inventory of the regalia that was handed over to Charles IV.

Furthermore, some panels are torn, bent or broken. In addition, precious stones, filigree towers and pearls are missing in several places. Some of the missing pearls and gemstones were replaced, although these were not always made to match the original shape. This happened particularly noticeably at the point on the front plate, where the orphan was presumably sitting. Today there is a slim sapphire that does not fit exactly into the existing setting, which was therefore sawn out at the top.

The brackets attached to the inside of the side plates indicate missing jewel chains ( pendilies ) that hung down on the left and right. These are shown, for example, in the pericopes of Henry IV . Weddige writes about this:

"From the side plates there were 3 pendulum chains hanging down like the Hungarian St. Stephen's Crown ."

The red velvet hood inside the crown is from the 18th century. In their place, the emperor wore a miter in the Middle Ages , as wearing episcopal robes ( pontificals ) was a papal privilege granted to the emperor at his coronation.

History of the crown

Emergence

According to current opinion, the imperial crown was made for Otto I at the earliest around 960 and for Konrad II at the latest . Since the beginning of the 20th century, Hermann Fillitz, Reinhart Staats, Gunther G. Wolf and Mechthild Schulze-Dörrlamm , among others, have tried to date the origins of the crown precisely. Since then, the crown has not only been ascribed to all emperors from Otto I to Conrad II, but also to the Burgundian king Rudolf III. and Pope Benedict VIII. However, there have been repeated attempts to date the imperial crown late in the middle of the 12th century for the first Hohenstaufen king, Konrad III.

The imperial crown was probably made in a workshop in the Lower Rhine region in the second half of the 10th century. Comparisons of styles and materials suggest a workshop in Cologne or Essen . A Cologne workshop is supported by the fact that the brother of Emperor Otto I, Brun , who was the commissioner of the imperial crown , was Chancellor of the Empire and Archbishop of Cologne and, as such, commanded the most important artistic center of the empire. However, due to the uniqueness of the craftsmanship, other places of manufacture cannot be ruled out. Among other things, the Benedictine monastery on the island of Reichenau is being considered , as there was a painting school and goldsmiths there in addition to the Reich Chancellery , who would have been able to do this by hand. Other places of manufacture discussed in scientific literature are, for example, Constantinople , Sicily , Burgundy , Lorraine , Mainz or Regensburg .

First mentions

The first written mention, which, according to predominant scientific opinion, clearly describes the crown known today, can be found in Walther von der Vogelweide . Accordingly, the imperial crown is thematized in two verses. In connection with the coronation of Philip of Swabia on September 8, 1198 in Mainz by the Archbishop of Burgundy Aimon von Tarentaise as king, he sang (New High German translation):

The crown is older than King Philip is.
You can certainly all recognize a miracle in this,
as the blacksmith made it so suitable for him.
His imperial head suits her so well
that no one should separate noblemen from the right.
Neither of the two weakens the other here.
They both shine at each other,
the noble stone against the young, pleasant (wonderful) man.
The princes like to see the feast for the eyes.
Whoever is undecided on questions of the empire should
pay attention to whom the orphan
is standing over his neck:
the stone is the guiding star of all princes.

In his motto, Walther took the propaganda side of Philip, as Otto IV was also elected king in the same year and was crowned in Aachen by the Archbishop of Cologne, Adolf I. This coronation took place at the correct place of the coronation and by the right coronator , but with imitation imperial insignia. However, since at that time the question of the correct coronation location was much more important for the legitimation than the use of the imperial insignia, it becomes clear why Walther emphasizes the importance of the crown for the legitimation of the king.

Since in the early and high Middle Ages the kingship was a traveler's domination, the crown was initially kept in the various royal palaces , imperial castles and monasteries in which the king or emperor was currently staying. For this purpose there were special rooms, for example in the Harzburg , the Reichsabtei Hersfeld , the Reichsveste Hammerstein and others ( see also: Traveling through the Reich ). From 1247, the imperial crown's place of storage is fully documented.

The imperial crown is depicted for the first time on the coins of Emperor Barbarossa, minted shortly before his death (d. 1190). Pictures that show the current crown in a more realistic way can only be found after 1355 in the family tree of Charles IV , which is depicted on a mural in Karlstejn Castle near Prague.

Charles IV. Was around the year 1368 by a Prague Master a sheath of leather make for the crown. The same master made the sheath for the Wenceslas crown . It is only from this point in time that it is historically certain that the crown, which is now kept in Vienna, is identical to what was mentioned in connection with the Imperial Treasury.

Nuremberg

Instructions for healing in Nuremberg
(woodcut from 1487)

The Hussites tried by the burning of Jan Hus in 1415 in Konstanz , during the subsequent Hussite wars to seize the crown jewels, which at that time in the Karlstejn Castle were kept. King Sigismund managed to save the treasure to the Visegrád Castle in Hungary . The gems were not safe there either, as Hungary did not belong to the empire, although Sigismund was also the Hungarian king at the time.

The wealthy imperial cities , including Nuremberg as one of the largest and most important, were one of the most important pillars of the empire in the 15th century. Therefore Sigismund negotiated with the city of Nuremberg in order to keep the imperial regalia for ever, irrevocably and incontestably . For this purpose, on September 29, 1423, he granted the city the privilege of “Hort of the Imperial Treasury”. The award document speaks of the treasures as our sanctuary and the sanctuary. In addition, the treasures should be shown publicly on the fourteenth day after Good Friday at the so-called healing instructions . Together with the privilege of safekeeping, Nuremberg was granted the right to a fortnightly trade fair, starting on the day of the healing instructions.

On March 22, 1424, the imperial regalia with the imperial crown camouflaged as a fish transport arrived in Nuremberg. Only six people knew of the transport, which was accompanied by two delegates from the Nuremberg Council. All in all, it took two weeks to transport it across the Danube and from Regensburg by cart. Since the negotiations and transportation were kept secret, the public did not find out about the company until shortly before arrival. The arrival of the transport in the city was celebrated by the citizens and the clergy of the city with a big festival. In the same year, Pope Martin V confirmed Nuremberg's safekeeping privilege, but he made known his right to have a say in all imperial matters through the following restrictions: The treasures were to be kept in the church of the Heilig-Geist-Spital . The "eternal time" of custody should end when the city apostates from right faith.

The crown jewels were in a Versperr said space above the sacristy kept the Church of the Holy Spirit Hospital, the Imperial Crown separately in a black chest. In addition, for the presentation of the imperial regalia, the church was repainted in a dignified setting and a container decorated with the Nuremberg coat of arms, Swabian field and female eagle , the healing shrine, was made for the Holy Lance and the imperial cross . The keys to the safekeeping were kept by the Losunger , the city's three highest officials. As a highlight of the Nuremberg course of the year, the prescribed public healing instructions of the imperial regalia were carried out. From a wooden tower that was erected on the market square, three bishops showed the imperial regalia to the people. This was followed by the trade fair.

Charlemagne with the imperial crown and insignia (ideal portrait of Albrecht Dürer , 1512)

In 1510, the Nuremberg city fathers commissioned two pictures for the so-called healing chamber for the room in the Schopperschen House, a town house on the market in which the imperial regalia were kept at the time of the healing orders. The representations of Emperor Sigismund and Charlemagne should make the rank of the imperial city of Nuremberg visible to everyone. The commissioned painter Albrecht Dürer provided the emperor Karl, who was then revered as the founder of the empire, with an orb, an imperial sword and the imperial crown. The following is written on the frame of the picture:

This is the gestalt and biltnus like
Emperor Karlus, who makes the Remisch rich
Den Teitschen under tenig.
His crown and
clothing are highly respected in Nurenberg
.

Attempts by the Habsburgs who followed Emperor Sigismund (e.g. Friedrich III. ) To dispute the right to preserve the symbols of the empire and to seize the crown and imperial regalia were all successfully repulsed. Only for the coronations of the German kings and emperors did the imperial regalia leave the city accompanied and protected by Nuremberg ambassadors. The Italian Enea Silvio Piccolomini, who later became Pope Pius II, wrote about the coronation of Frederick III in 1452. to the emperor in Rome:

"Friedrich himself had the cloak, sword, scepter, imperial orb and the crown of Charlemagne brought from Nuremberg for this ceremony and used them."

The Nuremberg ambassadors even had the right to present the insignia during the coronations. A book in which all the regalia pertaining to the imperial regalia and those accompanying the coronations were precisely noted by name no longer exists.

The last public healing order took place in 1523, as Nuremberg converted to the Reformation . Therefore, Pope Hadrian VI tried . to withdraw the retention privilege from the city. In addition, Aachen, as the place where the "Aachen jewels" were kept and traditional coronation site, repeatedly claimed the jewels, but without success. The Nuremberg residents pointed out that the Heilig-Geist-Spital was a municipal foundation that the Pope did not have to dispose of. The Pope had overlooked this fact 100 years earlier.

After the revolution began in France in 1789 , the kingdom was overthrown there in 1792. The coalition wars , in which the German armies tried to restore monarchy in France, ended with the victory of revolutionary France. So the war spread to Germany and in 1796 the French revolutionary troops under General Jean-Baptiste Jourdan advanced against Nuremberg. The Nuremberg magistrate had to proceed in accordance with its safekeeping order. The Nuremberg Colonel Johann Georg Haller von Hallerstein was entrusted with the rescue of the imperial regalia, which were finally handed over to the imperial principal commissioner at the permanent Reichstag in Regensburg , Baron Johann Aloys Josef von Hügel . With the permission of the emperor, he took them into his custody and deposited them at the court of the von Thurn und Taxis in Regensburg. In the hurry, however, some pieces of the jewels were left behind in Nuremberg, but this was not discovered by the French, so that on September 29 of the same year Colonel Haller sent the second shipment with the imperial sword , the holy lance and the imperial cross to the baron von Hügel in Regensburg.

Vienna

The last Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire Franz II in his coronation regalia (painting by Ludwig Streitenfeld , 1874)

The stay of the imperial regalia outside the walls of Nuremberg should actually only be temporary. Both Hügel and the then Emperor Franz II guaranteed the people of Nuremberg the immediate return of the imperial regalia after the end of the danger. A little later, however, the imperial treasure was no longer safe from Napoleon's troops in Regensburg either . Without the knowledge and consent of the Nuremberg people, von Hügel transported the treasures via Passau to Vienna , where they were handed over to the imperial treasury on October 29, 1800. The imperial treasurer confirmed the receipt of the imperial regalia on a list of refugees drawn up by the Nuremberg slogans. However, some items were missing from this list, such as a cowl (a cap), a stole, two simple orbs and a few other items of clothing that were probably lost in the turmoil of the war.

In addition, the so-called “Aachen gems” were brought to Vienna. The imperial regalia were united in the imperial treasury, where they were kept secret, while the Holy Roman Empire, symbolized by the crown and other jewels, sank in ruins. In response to Napoleon's coronation as emperor and the founding of the “ Rhine Confederation ”, which placed itself under Napoleon's protectorate , Francis II laid down the crown of the Holy Roman Empire on August 6, 1806. In order to prevent Napoleon from moving up to the first place of the European princes through his imperial title, however, he made his recognition of Napoleon's imperial title dependent on the confirmation of a new Austrian hereditary empire. For this reason, he had already proclaimed the Austrian Empire in 1804 , for which the house crown of Rudolf II was used.

With the laying down of the crown of the empire, without having been authorized by the remaining imperial bodies, he also declared the Holy Roman Empire to be dissolved and released all imperial institutions and officials from their duties towards the empire. In doing so, the emperor had formally disregarded the constitution of the empire. However, the emperor only said what had actually already happened: The Holy Roman Empire had ceased to exist. The crown and the other insignia were no longer symbols of the empire. They only stood as a treasure for an almost thousand-year history of the empire. The gems stayed in Vienna and were shown to the public for the first time in 1827 as museum pieces in the Vienna Secular Treasury.

Nuremberg

After the so-called annexation of Austria to the German Reich in 1938, Adolf Hitler decided that the imperial regalia should be returned from Vienna to Nuremberg, which was the beginning of his policy of reducing Vienna to a European metropolis. On the night of August 29th to 30th, 1938, the jewels were brought from Vienna to Nuremberg in a secret special train and handed over to the Lord Mayor of Nuremberg, Willy Liebel . During a visit by Hitler, the most important parts of the jewels were exhibited in the town hall and then in the Katharinenkirche.

When the threat of air raids increased after the beginning of the war, one of the former beer cellars in Nuremberg's Burgberg was converted into a historical art bunker to protect art treasures, including imperial regalia, from bombs and fire. When the American troops approached the city at the end of the war, four officials in a clandestine operation brought the imperial crown together with other parts of the imperial regalia to a part of the pannier bunker , which also housed the local administration. There they were hidden in a niche and walled in. This action was kept strictly secret. To give the impression that these items are no longer in Nuremberg, a sham transport was carried out.

When American troops marched into the city center after the end of the Battle of Nuremberg on April 20, 1945 and noticed the lack of the crown in the art bunker, they looked for the bearers of the secret. The city air raid protection officer, Fries, who was involved in the action, revealed the hiding place after he was assured during interrogation that the imperial insignia would not be brought to America as looted . On January 4, 1946, the imperial regalia were returned to Vienna.

Vienna

Since then, the imperial crown has been exhibited again in the secular part of the treasury of the Vienna Hofburg alongside the other imperial regalia. The inventory number is SK Inv.-Nr. XIII 1.

The imperial crown as a symbol

The imperial crown on an engraving by Johann Adam Delsenbach (around 1751)

The imperial crown is full of symbols. On the one hand, many are processed in the crown (like the image plates), on the other hand, the imperial crown developed such a meaning that it became a symbol itself. The imperial crown on a red background was, for example, the heraldic badge of the arch-treasurer ( Archithesaurarius ) , which, for example, the Elector of Braunschweig-Lüneburg had in the heart shield (shield within the shield) of his coat of arms, for example George I of Great Britain and Ireland in the heart shield of the fourth field of arms .

The following separation of the function and meaning of the imperial crown into a secular and a religious component is certainly difficult, since at the time the crown was created and in later centuries these functions were inextricably linked. She embodied the idea of divine grace in the Holy Roman Empire. For today's thinking it is hardly possible to imagine the essence of the kingdom idea as the worldly kingdom of God. In order to nevertheless offer the possibility to approach the topic, this subdivision was chosen here.

Worldly aspect

The imperial insignia and especially the imperial crown played a particularly legitimizing role in the High Middle Ages.

First, the German kingship was an elective kingship . This means, among other things, that there was no continuous ruling dynasty that represented the empire, even if the sons or other relatives of the emperors or kings were very often elected as the Roman-German king. In order to confirm that someone was the rightful sovereign, he had to be able to identify himself by owning the crown and the associated imperial regalia. By publicly presenting the auctoritas , the imperial insignia, he identified himself as the rightful ruler. For example, the imperial regalia have been shown to the public once a year since 1354 from the tower of the Holy Blood Chapel on Karlsplatz in Prague, but also in Basel and later in Nuremberg . These healing instructions have been known since Charles IV (1316–1378) and were the goal of mass pilgrimages.

Secondly, the kings or emperors of the Middle Ages were on permanent journeys ( travel kingship ) or on campaigns inside and outside the empire to demonstrate and possibly defend their power, to wage war, to pronounce justice and to feed the court through the various palaces to let. Because of this, but also because of its transcendent claim as the kingdom of God, the kingdom lacked the ideal and geographical center. He lacked a capital or at least a capital where the power of the empire could be presented. The empire was given at least one personal center through the emperor or king. The center of the empire, the object in which it actually achieved visibility, was only the imperial crown and the other imperial regalia. The crown itself was called daz riche and in 1316 the bailiff of the Habsburg Kyburg wrote do daz rich bi to kyburc waz, i.e. when the crown was kept there.

Whoever had the imperial insignia had the right to rule externally. Therefore, the imperial insignia changed hands at least twice by force. In order to secure the royal office with the imperial treasure, the later Henry II attacked the funeral procession of Otto III returning from Rome . to wrest the imperial insignia from the dead. Furthermore, Henry IV's ruse stole the marks of royal dignity from his own son, who later became Henry V.

Another example of the struggle for imperial insignia can be found with the aforementioned Emperor Karl IV. He was elected king by five electors on July 11, 1346 and was crowned with imitation imperial insignia in Bonn . It is known that the elevation of the Luxemburgish man to king provoked violent reactions among contemporaries. Finally, Charles was considered the anti-king and favorite of Pope Clement VI. raised while the Wittelsbacher Ludwig the Bavarian still ruled the empire. After years of war, with various intrigues, battles with bishops, dukes and another rival king elected after Ludwig's death, Karl succeeded in forcing the Wittelsbach opposing party to surrender the insignia. Nevertheless, he still had to do without these insignia at the second coronation in Aachen (now in the right place), which he had set exactly at the end of the agreed deadline for publication. In February 1350 he engaged Count Palatine Ruprecht in new negotiations. The Bautzen contract of February 14, 1350 promised him the acquisition on April 4 of the same year.

A month beforehand, Karl sent representatives to Munich. On March 12, 1350, you received the sanctuary of the holy kingdom and the cleynod, which are listed individually in a solemn document. Among them there was also besunder wholeheartedly and unerringly of his own holy cherished Karl guldein crown with the pogen and the crücze, which is horned on it, waxed by precious stones and gold, therein is especially waxed a precious stone, which is called the waysen. Research has almost unanimously related this description to the imperial crown. Incidentally, this is one of the first mentions of the crown as coming from Charlemagne . In addition, this document is the last mentioned mention of the orphan. Karl immediately had this crown brought to Prague with the remaining imperial insignia. On Palm Sunday , March 21, 1350, he led them in solemn procession to the Hradschin and showed them to the people. Shortly afterwards he led her back to Nuremberg, where he had called a Reichstag on April 4th . There, too, he solemnly exhibited them. Allen Estates wanted to demonstrate his royal power Charles.

If the crown was particularly meaningful and identity-creating in the Middle Ages, in the early modern period, especially since the Enlightenment , it was seen as questionable, even ridiculous. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe , who was an eyewitness to the coronation of Joseph II as Roman-German King in Frankfurt on April 3, 1764 , wrote in Poetry and Truth I, 5:

“The young king (…) dragged himself along in the enormous pieces of clothing with the jewels of Charlemagne, as if in disguise, so that he himself, looking at his father from time to time, could not refrain from smiling. The crown, which had to be fed a lot, stood out from the head like an overarching roof. "

Religious aspect

Crown on a skull at the sarcophagus of Emperor Charles VI. in the Imperial Crypt in Vienna

In the early Middle Ages, the imperial crown expressed the idea of ​​Christ as King of kings . This is what the image plates say, especially the Christ plate, which with the slogan Per me reges regnant (“The kings rule through me”) assigns the divine right to the emperor and thus increases him. The crowned emperor represents this eternal king-priest on earth, so he is both king and priest at the same time (see also Revelation of John 21, 10-11, and imperial cult ).

With this work of art one wanted to glorify God , to legitimize the imperial or royal rule religiously and to encourage the emperor and the followers to adhere to the Christian virtues. The picture plates show very clearly which of these virtues were required and formulate an ideal of rulership: Solomon stands for fear of God and wisdom, King David for justice, King Ezechias and prophet Isaiah stand for a long life through trust in God.

In addition, the crown and the other imperial regalia played a role as relics in the healing instructions. So on August 17, 1350, Charles IV turned to Pope Clement VI. and asked him to grant indulgences to all devout observers of the imperial insignia . Through this elevation to an object of popular piety, the dignity and effectiveness of the insignia, but especially the crown, were strengthened. In 1353, Charles arranged for a pontifical mass to be held at the altar on which the insignia rested .

Through these measures, Karl had established a cult of imperial insignia that did not fail to impress the people of the time. This is how the monastery chronicler of the Lower Austrian monastery Zwettl noted when Karl visited it:

"The Bohemian King Karl appeared like an emperor because he owned the imperial insignia."

Even if the crown is not a relic in the narrower sense, a sacramental character cannot be overlooked in the symbolism and in the presentation, which expressly includes worship by the people.

Since the Reformation, however, the religious component has hardly played a role in the evaluation of the crown and the other imperial insignia.

reception

Even after the end of the Holy Roman Empire, the imperial crown was seen as a symbol for a “German Empire”, not just for the Old Empire. When Friedrich Wilhelm IV. Of Prussia refused the “German Imperial Crown” offered to him by the Frankfurt National Assembly in 1849 (he spoke of a “filthy odor of revolution ” inherent in it), it was portrayed as an imperial crown in a caricature. The crown of the German Empire from 1871, which never really existed, but was introduced as a symbol by decree on October 15, 1871, almost a year after the founding of the Empire, was very similar to the imperial crown.

In Meyer's Konversations-Lexikon of 1888 one reads the following about it:

“The new German imperial crown, which is only available in the model so far, has some similarities with the old imperial crown. It consists of eight golden labels, semicircular at the top, which are set with diamonds; the larger labels show a gemstone cross which is angled by four smaller gemstone crosses. The smaller labels show the imperial eagle set with diamonds, over whose head a rosette made of nine precious stones is attached. The top of the K. is closed with four brackets that are covered with foliage and carry the orb at the summit. The lining of the K. is made of gold brocade. "

Although the emperor could never really put this crown on his head, the new imperial crown was present everywhere. Whether in the coat of arms of the empire (an imperial eagle with a crown over its head), on coins and banknotes, postage stamps and in the capital Berlin. It can often be seen in the decorations of the Reichstag building there . The same crown is still used today as a symbol by the monarchist association Tradition und Leben , which has set itself the goal of reintroducing the German Empire. He sees the crown as a symbol of German unity, but above all for the Christian values ​​of the West - these are, however, much more strongly symbolized in the old imperial crown.

No other European crown, not the Russian , not the English or Spanish, ever developed such an effect and symbolism as the imperial crown. This was not only due to their legal position, but was certainly also related to their cultic significance and the long historical continuity. In this respect only the Bohemian Wenceslas Crown , the Hungarian St. Stephen's Crown and the Lombard Iron Crown can be compared with the imperial crown .

literature

swell

Representations

  • Hermann Fillitz : The insignia and jewels of the Holy Roman Empire. Schroll, Vienna a. a. 1954.
  • Percy Ernst Schramm : Signs of rule and state symbols. Contributions to their history from the 3rd to the 16th century (= writings of the Monumenta Germaniae Historica. 13, ISSN  0080-6951 ). 3 volumes. Hiersemann, Stuttgart 1954–1956, (In addition: Percy Ernst Schramm: Herrschaftszeichen und Staatssymbolik. Contributions to their history from the third to the sixteenth century. Supplements from the estate. Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Munich 1978, ISBN 3-921575-89-3 ) .
  • Reinhart Staats : Theology of the Imperial Crown. Ottonian “Renovatio Imperii” in the mirror of an insignia (= monographs on the history of the Middle Ages. Vol. 13). Hiersemann, Stuttgart 1976, ISBN 3-7772-7611-1 (also: Heidelberg, University, habilitation paper, 1972/1973).
  • Reinhart Staats: The Imperial Crown. History and meaning of a European symbol. Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, Göttingen 1991, ISBN 3-525-36226-9 .
  • Mechthild Schulze-Dörrlamm: The imperial crown of Konrad II. (1024-1039). An archaeological investigation into the age and origin of the imperial crown (= Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum zu Mainz, RGZM, Research Institute for Pre- and Early History. Monographs. Vol. 23). 2nd Edition. Thorbecke, Sigmaringen 1992, ISBN 3-7995-4136-5 (on the exhibition “The Salier and Your Reich” 1992).
  • Gunther G. Wolf: The Vienna Imperial Crown (= writings of the Art History Museum. Vol. 1). Kunsthistorisches Museum u. a., Vienna et al. 1995, ISBN 3-900325-40-5 .
  • Hans M. Schaller : The Vienna Imperial Crown - created under King Conrad III. In: Karl-Heinz Rueß (Red.): The Reichskleinodien. 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 , pp. 58-105.
  • Hilkert Weddige: Introduction to German Medieval Studies (= C.-H.-Beck degree ). 3rd, revised and supplemented edition. Beck, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-406-36749-6 , section “Medieval Hermeneutics”.
  • Herwig Wolfram : Konrad II. 990-1039. Emperor of three kingdoms. Beck, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-406-46054-2 , pp. 164-171.
  • Sebastian Scholz : The Vienna Imperial Crown. A crown from the time of Konrad III. ? In: Hubertus Seibert , Jürgen Dendorfer (Ed.): Counts, dukes, kings. The rise of the early Hohenstaufen and the empire. (1079–1152) (= Medieval Researches. Vol. 18). Thorbecke, Ostfildern 2005, ISBN 3-7995-4269-8 , pp. 341-362.
  • Sabine Haag (ed.): Masterpieces of the Secular Treasury (= short guide through the Kunsthistorisches Museum. Vol. 2). Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, Vienna 2009, ISBN 978-3-85497-169-6 .

Web links

Commons : Reichskrone  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wiktionary: Reich crown  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Remarks

  1. ↑ For the Jews, circumcision is prescribed as entry into the covenant with God on the eighth day after birth.
  2. ↑ See Byzantine Imperial Crowns
  3. ↑ Information from Gunther G. Wolf: The Vienna Imperial Crown. P. 20.
  4. ↑ Information according to Hermann Fillitz: The insignia and jewels of the Holy Roman Empire. P. 50.
  5. ↑ Helge Martens: Notes on the Imperial Crown. June 23, 2003. Retrieved January 12, 2017 .
  6. ↑ Psalm 99 (98), 4
  7. ↑ Proverbs 3: 7
  8. ↑ 2 Kings 20: 6
  9. ↑ Proverbs 8:15; German: "The kings rule through me".
  10. ↑ Hans Martin Schaller: The Vienna Imperial Crown - created under King Konrad III. In: Die Reichskleinodien: Rule of the Holy Roman Empire . Göppingen 1997, pp. 58-105; Sebastian Scholz: The Vienna Imperial Crown. A crown from the time of Conrad III? In: Hubertus Seibert, Jürgen Dendorfer (Ed.): Counts, dukes, kings. The rise of the early Hohenstaufen and the empire (1079–1152). Ostfildern 2005, pp. 341–362.
  11. ↑ Helge Martens: Notes on the Imperial Crown . Lecture of June 23, 2003 at the 149th meeting of the Humboldt Society, accessed on December 15, 2012.
  12. ↑ Quotation from L 18.29 “The crown saying”: L stands for Lachmann , the first editor of Walther's texts in a critical edition from 1827. The number in front of the comma indicates the page on which the text was in the first edition, the number after the comma the line.
  13. ↑ Dieter Hein: The revolution of 1848/49 . CH Beck, Munich 1998, p. 122.
  14. ↑ Article: Crown (princely badge).
This article was added to the list of excellent articles on October 12, 2004 in this version .