se (Sant' Ambrogio) at Milan, that of Burgundy at
Arles, and the German crown, which came to be the most important of all,
most commonly at Aix-la-Chapelle. It must suffice to speak of the
coronations at Rome and Aix-la-Chapelle. From Martene we learn the early
form of the ceremony at Rome. The emperor was met at the silver door of
St Peter's, where the first coronation prayer was recited over him by
the bishop of Albano. He was then conducted within the church, where in
_medio rotae majoris_, the bishop Of Porto said the second prayer.
Thence the emperor went to the confessio of St Peter, where the litany
was said, and there, or before the altar of St Maurice, the bishop of
Ostia anointed him on the right arm and between the shoulders. Then he
ascended to the high altar, where the pope delivered the naked sword to
him. This he flourished, and then sheathed in its scabbard. The pope
then delivered the sceptre to the emperor, and placed the crown on his
head. The ceremony was concluded by the coronation mass said by the
pope. The custom of the emperors going to Rome to be crowned was last
observed by Frederick III. in 1440, and after that the German coronation
was alone celebrated. The form followed was mainly thus: the electors
first met at Frankfort, under the presidency of the elector-archbishop
of Mainz, and, the election having been made, the emperor was led to the
high altar of the cathedral and seated at it. He was then conducted to a
gallery over the entrance to the choir, where, seating himself with the
electors, proclamation was made of the election, and on a subsequent day
the coronation took place. If the coronation was performed, as it most
commonly was, at Aix-la-Chapelle, then the archbishop of Cologne, as
diocesan, was the chief officiant, and the emperor was presented to him
by the two other clerical electors, the archbishops of Mainz and Trier.
The emperor was anointed on the head, the nape of the neck, the breast,
the right arm between the wrist and the elbow, and on the palms of both
hands. After this, he was vested in what were called the imperial and
pontifical robes, which included the buskins, a long alb, the stole
crossed priest-wise over the breast, and the mantle. The regalia were
then delivered to him, and the crown was set on his head conjointly by
the three archbishop-electors. Mass was then said, during which the
emperor communicated in one kind. When the coronation was performed at
Aix-la-Ch