[See also: AMIENS; PARIS; ROBERT DE LUZARCHES]
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Erlande-Brandenburg, Alain. “La septième colloque internationale de la Société Française
d’Archéologie: la façade de la cathédrale d’Amiens.” Bulletin monumental 135(1977): 253–93.
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Murray, Stephen. “Looking for Robert de Luzarches: The Early Work at Amiens Cathedral.” Gesta
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CORONATION/CONSECRATION OF
KINGS
. From the anointing of Pepin the Short in 751 to the end of the Middle Ages, the
Frankish and French kings were formally invested with their office by means of inaugural
rituals that consisted mainly of consecration (or sacring—anointing with chrism) and
coronation (sacre et couronnement in modern French, and consecratio, inauguratio, or
coronatio in medieval texts). The rituals quickly became essential to accession to the
throne.
The crowning of a king was originally a secular act and the sacring an ecclesiastical
one. At first, the two were often administered in different times and places. From the
coronation of Louis the Pious in 816, both rituals were sometimes performed together,
and from 856 to 877 Hincmar, archbishop of Reims, composed texts that wove these two
elements into a unified ceremony. Some prayers and benedictions adopted, adapted, or
composed by Hincmar remained permanently in the French ceremony.
For centuries, there was little to differentiate the ceremony in France from that of other
countries, nor was there a set place for the coronation of French kings until 1129 (Philip,
eldest son of Louis VI). Thereafter, all medieval ceremonies took place in Reims; the
archbishop of Reims was normally the coronator. The French rite came to be set apart
from that of other monarchies with the adoption of the legend of the Holy Ampulla (the
vial of Holy Chrism purportedly sent from Heaven when St. Remi baptized Clovis I),
which was closely associated with Reims. The Holy Chrism is first mentioned in
connection with a coronation ceremony in 1131 (Louis VII). Before the end of the 13th
century, the legend of the ampulla had been fully incorporated into the French rite. More
than anything else, this miraculous chrism created a “royal religion” in France, and the
French ceremony was sometimes called an eighth sacrament. The monarch’s ability to
touch for scrofula after his sacring was considered a proof of his legitimacy and of the
efficacy of royal unction. The Holy Chrism was never used on those occasions when a
queen was anointed and crowned.
By the end of the Middle Ages, the coronation ceremonial was a protracted liturgical
event that included many prayers and benedictions, unction, and investiture with the
symbols of knighthood (boots or sandals, and spurs) and of royal office (sword, royal
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