Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 6.djvu/461

Rh chromosphere, the layer of brightly incandescent hydrogen, with other included metallic vapours, which lies immediately over that interior part of the sun which we ordinarily see ; the prominences or red flames, which are local uprisings of the chromosphere ; and outside all, the coronal atmosphere, which consists, so far as is yet known, of hydrogen less brightly incandescent than that in the chromosphere, and of an unknown substance, the vapour density of which appears to be less than that of hydrogen.  CORONATION, literally a crowning, a placing of a crown on the head. The word is restricted, in use, to the ceremony or solemnity of placing a crown on the head of an actual or future king or emperor to signify his accession or his formal recognition as actual or future sovereign. The custom of marking the commencement of a king s reign by some special rite is a very ancient one. The Jewish kings, like the Jewish high priests, were anointed ; but, as the crown was among the insignia of their new royalty, it is probable that they were also crowned, and in some cases certain that they were. We read, for example, of the crowning as well as of the anointing of King Joash (2 Kings xi. 12), and when David, or rather Joab, had sub- daed Rabbah, the crown which the king of Rabbah had worn was taken from him, and placed upon David s head. We find among the nations of modern Europe a tolerably exact counterpart of all these observances. After the de struction of the western Roman empire, the tribal chiefs or kings among whom the Roman territory was divided appear generally to have been crowned on their accession or elec tion to office. This was customary, we know, among the Franks, the Lombards, and the Burgundians, as it was also among our own Saxon ancestors. The revival of the empire by Charlemagne was marked by his solemn coronation at Rome by the Roman Pontiff. His successors in the empire for more than three hundred years were, without exception, inaugurated in the same way. The rule was followed, though not invariably, for some time afterwards, most of the emperors up to the time of Frederick III. (1440) being- crowned, as Charlemagne had been, at Rome. On the day before the coronation, the Roman elders met the emperor- elect at the gate of their city, had their charters confirm 3d by him, and received an oath from him that he would pre serve their good customs. On the next day the emperor went to Saint Peter s, and was there met by the Pope and his clergy, and was solemnly blessed and crowned. From Frederick III. downwards, this custom, always distasteful to the Roman people, wholly ceased to be observed. Charles V. received the imperial crown at the Pope s hands, not at Rome but at Bologna, and at the same time with the Lombard or Italian crown. There were, besides the im perial crown, three other distinct crowns, some or all of which were assumed by each emperor according to his re spective rights. The German crown, which by the time of Charles V. had become the most important of the four, was taken at Aix-la-Chapelle ; the Lombard or Italian crown generally at Milan ; and the Burgundian crown, of less importance than the other two, at Aries. Charlemagne, uniting in his own person what were always distinguishable and what became afterwards distinct sovereignties, took them all four. Charles V. took first the German crown at Aix-la-Chapelle. It was not until 1530 that he took his other two crow r ns at Bologna. From the time of Charles A ., down to the close of the empire in 1806, every emperor bound himself at his accession that he would proceed to Rome, and receive the imperial crown from the Pope, but as a matter of fact no one of them complied with the obligation. We have clear traces of the coronation of the English kings before the Conquest, though, as in the case of the Jewish kings, we read of their being anointed more frequently than we read of their being crowned. Eath, Winchester, or Kingston-upon-Thames was the place commonly chosen for the rite. After the foundation of Westminster Abbey by Edward the Confessor, Westminster succeeded to the privilege to the exclusion of the others. Harold, we read, was made king at Westminster, and so was William I. Of the actual crowning of the kings before William there are sometimes precise notices by the chroniclers, and the ceremony itself is sometimes to be found represented on medals. That the king was hallowed or anointed is, how ever, the phrase generally employed; but that crowding also was an essential part of the rite we may infer from the case of William, I., of whom we are told that Archbishop Aldred hallowed him to king at Westminster, and also swore him, ere that he would set the crown on his head, that he would as well govern the nation as any king before him best did. For some time the archbishops of Canterbury claimed the sole right of crowning, personally or by deputy. Becket made it a cause of complaint against Henry II. that he had not been called in to crown Henry s son, and he even procured the excommunication of the archbishop of York and the bishop of Durham for having acted in the matter without his licence. It was usual with the early Norman kings to be crowned more than once, and also, as we have seen in Henry II. s case, to have their sons crowned, and oaths of allegiance taken to them during their own lifetime. The reader will be reminded here of the case of David and Solomon, though he may- refer the resemblance to nothing more than an accidental choice of the same obvious means to secure a disputable succession. He will find, however, in some parts of the English coronation rite traces of its Jewish original not so easily to be explained away. The coronation of Richard I. is the earliest of which we have a circumstantial account. The archbishop of Canter bury officiated at it, and with him were the archbishops of Rouen, of Treves, and of Dublin, and all the bishops of the kingdom. The king was accompanied to the abbey by a grand procession of nobles, and among them came the earl of Chester bearing the royal crown. When the crown had been laid on the altar, and the coronation oath had been taken by Richard, next came the actual ceremony of coronation, or rather the long series of ceremonies of which the placing of the crown on Richard s head formed a part. After Richard had drawn near to the altar, his head was first covered with a sacred linen cap. He was then anointed in several places. The great crown was then brought to him, and was by him handed to the archbishop, who placed it on the king s head. After various further rites and prayers, the king left the altar and went back to his former seat, and there exchanged the great crown for a lesser crown, which he continued to wear when he left the abbey. The doubtful title of Henry IV. was confirmed by a double ceremony. The already crowned king, Richard II., was brought to the Tower of London in his coronation robes, holding in his hands his crown and other royal insignia. These he resigned into the hands of Henry, then duke of Lancaster. The public assumption of them by Henry was made afterwards with great splendour. On the day appointed, after having confessed and heard three several masses, he went to Westminster Abbey with a vast procession of nobles and clergy. A high scaffolding was erected in the abbey, and on this Henry was displayed to the people, seated, and with his head bare. The archbishop of Canterbury then demanded of the assembly whether he should crown Henry, and was answered by general shouts of yes, yes. Henry then drew near to the altar, and was first anointed by the archbishop in six places. The crown of Edward the Confessor was then brought forward, blessed by the archbishop, and placed by him upon Henry s head. Mass was then again said, and the king and his attendants 