II.: The Crowns.

Of the four crowns something has been said in the text. They were those of Germany, taken at Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle) in earlier times, latterly at Frankfort, once or twice at Regensburg;—of Burgundy, at Arles;—of Italy, sometimes at Pavia, more usually at Milan or Monza;—of the world, at Rome.

The German crown was taken by every Emperor after the time of Otto the Great; that of Italy by every one, or almost every one, who took the Roman down to Frederick III, but by none after him; that of Burgundy, it would appear, by four Emperors only, Conrad II, Henry III, Frederick I, and Charles IV. The imperial crown was received at Rome by most Emperors till Frederick III; after him by none save Charles V, who obtained both it and the Italian at Bologna in a somewhat informal manner. From Ferdinand I onwards the Emperor bound himself by his capitulation, to use all diligence to obtain the imperial crown with reasonable promptitude (‘sich zum besten befleissigen zu wollen die kayserliche Cron auch in ziemlich gelegener Zeit zum schiersten zu erlangen’). At the Diet of Ratisbon in 1653 (when Ferdinand archduke of Austria was chosen king of the Romans) the Protestants protested against this article; but the Emperor, appealing to the Golden Bull, insisted on its retention. In the capitulation of Leopold I, however, and his successors down to Francis II, the article was modified so as to bind the new sovereign ‘die Romische-Konigliche Cron forderlichst zu empfangen, und alles dasjenige dabey zu thun so sich derenthalben gebuhret.’

It should be remembered that none of the three inferior crowns were necessarily connected with that of the Roman Empire, which might have been held by a simple knight without a foot of land in the world. For as there had been Emperors (Lothar I, Lewis II, Lewis of Provence, son of Boso, Guy, Lambert, and Berengar) who were not kings of Germany, so there were several (all those who preceded Conrad II) who were not kings of Burgundy, and it is not clear that all were formally crowned or installed as kings of Italy. It is also worth remarking, that although no crown save the German was assumed by the successors of Charles V, their wider rights remained in full force, and were never subsequently relinquished. There was nothing, except the practical difficulty and absurdity of such a project, to prevent Francis II from having himself crowned at Arles, Milan, and Rome.