6 - Anglo-Saxon and Ottonian Christocentrism

Summary

The liturgification and sacralisation of royal investitures during the Carolingian period, analysed in the previous chapter, had ritual-ceremonial and symbolic-iconographic effects. This sixth chapter explores the liturgical transformations experienced in England and Germany during the Anglo-Saxon and Ottonian periods. From the mid-tenth century, the practice of imperial and royal coronations was enriched with new conceptions of kingship, notably the assumption of the Christus Rex model. Iconographic messages were consistent with liturgical meanings in Anglo-Saxon and Ottonian theory of Christocentric kingship. These new ideas and practices then spread following a specific liturgical and iconographic programme, leaving generous evidence: royal diplomas, theological and liturgical commentaries, ceremonial investiture ordos and miniatures. This chapter also focuses on the durable interchange and transference between Anglo-Saxon and Ottonian iconographical models and the liturgical meanings they developed.