Here we leave the Roman imperial rite at the last stage of its developement. It may be noted that the Roman Emperor was three times crowned; first at Aachen, later sometimes at Frankfort, as King of the Eastern Franks, or after the time of Henry II as King of the Romans[61]; secondly at Milan (or more often as a matter of fact at Monza) as King of Italy or King of the Lombards; thirdly at Rome by the Pope as Roman Emperor. Until he had been crowned at Rome he was only Imperator Electus or Erwählter Kaiser. As a matter of fact no Emperor was crowned at Rome after the time of Frederick III (1440), though Charles V was crowned as Emperor at Bologna.
CHAPTER V
THE CORONATION OF A KING.
THE ENGLISH RITE
As we have seen, the coronation rite is found existing in the new kingdoms of the West some two centuries before an imperial coronation rite was called into existence in the West at the resuscitation of the Empire by Charlemagne. In Spain the rite is found in use in the seventh century, in Frankish lands it was already well established in the eighth century, and in England a rite was used at the end of the same century certainly on two occasions though under special and abnormal circumstances[62].
In the ninth century a Roman rite for the coronation of a king came into being, partly derived from the Roman imperial forms but largely influenced also by the other existing royal rites. From this time there was a continual reaction of the Roman and the national rites upon each other, and it is safe to say that on no two occasions even in the same country was the rite used in exactly the same form, so unceasing was the developement.
The classifying of the different developements of the rite even of one country is a work of considerable difficulty. The ‘Recensions’ by means of which the developement of each rite is marked are, to a certain extent, arbitrary, and simply mark periods at which the process of developement has evolved definite changes. There is a vast number of forms in existence, many of which were probably never used but simply served to render the Pontificals in which they occur complete.
The history of the rite is most easy to follow in the older kingdoms of England and France, in which both the monarchical and the national spirit were most marked, and which accordingly were inclined to shew a somewhat independent spirit towards the Papacy. Germany and Hungary were largely influenced in their rite by the Roman, while those lands, such as the Scandinavian kingdoms and Scotland, which emerged somewhat late from a condition of semi-barbarity, only attained to the dignity of possession of a coronation rite at a time when the prestige of things Roman was well established, with the result that their rite appears to have been more or less Roman.