II
The Roman rite does not seem to have undergone the number of revisions to which the national rites were subjected, and what revision it did undergo was all in the direction of simplicity.
The rite of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries is very close to that which is found in the present Pontificale Romanum. An order[106] of this period is as follows. The king is led by bishops to the metropolitan with the request that he be crowned, and in answer to the metropolitan’s question they declare that he is worthy. The king then takes the oath, which has become direct, Ego N. profiteor coram Deo et angelis. The oath is rather shorter in the Pontifical of 1520. After the prayer Omn. aeterne Deus Creator (a variant form of Omn. semp. Deus caelestium terrestriumque) the Litany is said, the king lying prostrate before the altar. The metropolitan[107] then anoints the king on the right arm[108] and between the shoulders with the prayers Deus Dei filius and (alia in the Munich order) Omn. semp. Deus qui Azahel[109]. Mass is then begun, the Mass for the day being said with a second collect Deus regnorum omnium. In the present Pontifical of Clement VIII, the special collect is that of the ‘Missa pro rege.’ The king is invested with Sword, Verge, and Crown; in the Pontifical of 1520, and that at present in use, after he has been invested with the sword the king brandishes it thrice, and in the present Roman order the form of the investiture with the sword is the old form with which it was girded on, Accingere gladium tuum. The king is then enthroned with Sta et amodo retine, Te Deum is sung, and finally after the responsory Firmetur manus, the two prayers Deus qui victrices Moysi and Deus inenarrabilis (this latter under an alia in the Munich order) are said. The Secret and Postcommunion are the same as in ‘Egbert,’ except that in the present rite the Postcommunion is that of the ‘Missa pro rege.’
The later forms of the queen’s coronation have changed considerably. In the Pontifical of 1520, followed by that in use at present, the king presents his consort to be crowned, and a short Litany is said. Then comes a benediction and Sursum corda, Preface, and Deus honorum cunctorum auctor. She is anointed in the same way as the king with the prayer Deus pater aeternae gloriae, and then comes the crowning and, a new feature, investiture with the Sceptre.