Shoes (imperial regalia)
The shoes are part of the coronation regalia of the Roman-German emperors . They were made in the royal workshops in Sicily, the Nobiles Officinae in Palermo , in the second half of the 12th century, most likely for Wilhelm II , for whom the Alba was also made. Today they are kept in the secular treasury of the Vienna Hofburg , a branch of the Kunsthistorisches Museum .
Appearance
The shoes are made of bright red samite on which a wide woven gold braid set with precious stones runs from the tip of the foot over the dorsum of the foot to the middle tongue. Smaller pieces of the same braid are attached to the heel and sides. At the edge of the wide border, narrow marginal strips are attached on the long sides, on which stylized trees of life with birds are depicted.
In the wide middle part of the border there are oval medallions showing griffins and sirens (see adjacent drawing). The border and the flaps are framed with double rows of pearls. The free areas of the shoes are filled with motifs consisting of rows of two or pearls and one gemstone each. A total of eleven gemstones were used on the two shoes: five sapphires , four amethysts , an emerald and an amethyst-colored glass stone .
The shoes have a height of 10.8 cm and a length of almost 26 cm. The sole is made of cowhide.
history
Probably the shoes were heavily reworked and supplemented in the 17th century. For example, embroidered shoes with five sapphires and four amethysts were sent for the coronation of Emperor Matthias in 1612 , but shoes with six sapphires and five amethysts were brought for the coronation of Ferdinand II . These deviations can perhaps be explained by the addition of lost stones, whereby one of the sapphires was possibly later replaced by the emerald that exists today and one of the amethysts by the glass stone of the same color.
literature
- Hermann Fillitz : The insignia and jewels of the Holy Roman Empire. Schroll, Vienna et al. 1954.
- 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 .
