I
The earliest account of a German coronation rite is Widukind’s description of the coronation of Otto of Saxony at Aachen in 936. Widukind[115] relates that Otto was first elected king by the nobles, who then swore allegiance to him and ‘more suo’ made him king. The royal procession went to the church of Charlemagne, where it was met by the metropolitan, who presented the new king to the people and demanded whether they accepted Otto as their king, on which the people lifting their right hands acclaimed him king with loyal cries. The Recognition over, the procession went up to the altar, on which the regalia were already deposited. The archbishop then invested Otto with Sword and belt, using a form beginning Accipe hunc gladium, which, though shorter, is very similar to the corresponding form of the second English and French recensions. Then follows the investiture with Armills and Chlamys under one form, which does not occur elsewhere; the Sceptre and Staff (baculus) are then delivered also under one form, and that again is unique. The king is then anointed with holy oil and crowned with a golden diadem by the Archbishops Hildiberht and Wicfrid together, but the forms used are not given, and the king is enthroned by the same bishops. Te Deum is then sung (divina laude dicta)[116] and Mass follows.
This rite is manifestly very far from being fixed, and is to be classed with the earliest examples of the Frankish rite. It is independent of the Roman rite, belonging to the Hispano-Frankish family. The Greek names of two of the regal ornaments, the Diadema and the Chlamys, are instructive.
There is no reference to any coronation of the queen.