It begins, as does the rite of Louis II in 877, with the petition of the bishops, A vobis perdonari, and the king’s promise, Promitto vobis. Here in M. VII comes the Oath Haec tria[95], which has been lengthened by the insertion of a promise to persecute heretics. Then comes the Recognition, two bishops asking the people if they will accept the king as the ruler, and Te Deum is sung, followed by the prayers Te invocamus, Deus qui populis and (alia) In diebus eius. In M. VII the investiture with the sword followed by Deus qui providentia and the Litany are inserted after Te Deum. Now comes the Consecratio regis, consisting of the prayer Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, creator et gubernator, during which the king is anointed, the anthem Unxerunt Salomonem being sung at the time of the anointing, (alia) Deus electorum fortitudo, (alia) Deus Dei Filius. There is no indication of the number of anointings in Ratold’s order, but in M. VII there are five, the head, breast, between the shoulders, on the shoulders, and the bend of the arms being specified. The investitures follow; the Ring with the form Accipe anulum signaculum and the prayer Deus cuius est omnis potestas, and the rest of the regalia, Sword, Crown, Sceptre, and Verge, are delivered in the same order and with the same forms as in the second English recension. After the investitures comes a series of six benedictions, all of which already occur in the orders of Charles the Bald (869) and Louis II (877), followed (item alia) by three more that are found in ‘Egbert’s’ rite. The king is then enthroned with the form Sta et retine, and last of all occurs in Ratold the charge as to the duties of a king, not yet in the form of an oath, but as in Egbert, Rectitudo est regis noviter ordinati. In M. VII the enthronisation is followed by two prayers, Omn. Deus det tibi de rore and Benedic Domine fortitudinem.
As has been remarked, there is a very close similarity between this order and the almost contemporary English rite, and it is evident that the compiler of Ratold’s order had before him one or more English orders; for in the consecration prayer, where in the English order the words occur, ‘famulum tuum N. quem ... in regnum Anglorum vel Saxonum eligimus,’ in Ratold’s order, in the corresponding position, are found the words, ‘quem ... in regnum N. Albionis totius videlicet Francorum,’ and elsewhere in the same prayer the words ‘totius Albionis ecclesiam.’ Probably the passages occur in this form in Ratold’s order as the result of an oversight on the part of the compiler. But this explanation is not altogether satisfactory, for in M. VII and in the order of Louis VIII (1223) the sentence in Ratold’s consecration prayer ‘ut regale solium vid. Francorum sceptra non deserat’ appears as ‘ut regale solium Saxonum, Merciorum, Nordanhymbrorum sceptra non deserat,’ which can only be explained as being retained for the purpose of making a claim to the English throne[96]. A further proof of the English origin of this rite is the occurrence of the name of ‘St Gregory the Apostle of the English.’ The clause ‘Rectitudo regis’ of Egbert is also found here. But while no really satisfying explanation of these features in the French rite of this period has as yet been forthcoming, they at least bear witness to the influence of the English rite on the French at this time.
The sacring of the queen is exactly like that of the second English order except that in the French order the prayer Adesto supplicationibus, which is said before the anointing, does not appear at all in the English.
III
The French rite in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries was subjected, as was the English rite of the same period, to considerable Roman influence. Of this recension Martène’s Ordo VI[97], and the order of Louis VIII[98] (1223) may be taken as examples.
The Anointing of St Louis of France
In this recension appear first the preliminary prayers as in the Roman order of Hittorp; the prayer Deus qui scis humanum genus on his entrance into church, and on his entrance into the choir Omn. semp. Deus caelestium terrestriumque moderator. Between Prime and Terce (the king enters the church after Prime) the Abbot of St Rémi goes in procession to fetch the holy chrism.
The order begins with the petition of the bishops, A vobis perdonari, after which the recognition takes place and Te Deum is sung. The king then takes the oath in the old form, Haec tria populo christiano. Then follows a section directly taken from the Roman rite, and largely a repetition of what has already taken place; the Litany, the king lying prostrate the while, an oath in answer to interrogations, and another recognition in the Roman form, Si tali principi, followed by a series of benedictions all of which occur in the Roman rite.