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O rex mundi triumphator: Hohenstaufen politics in a sequence for Saint Charlemagne*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 December 2008

Michael McGrade
Michael McGrade
Affiliation:
University of Chicago
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Extract

In March 1152, the German princes gathered in the city of Frankfurt and elected Frederick ‘Barbarossa’ of Hohenstaufen (r. 1152–90) their new king. The dynamic young Swabian duke took the throne with a sense of entitlement unknown since the days of the Emperor Henry III (r. 1039–56). Shortly after his election, he confidently notified Pope Eugenius III of his new station. Seeking neither warrant nor approval, Frederick informed the pope of a new relationship between the imperium and the Roman Church. Barbarossa portrayed his election, as well as his subsequent anointment by Pope Hadrian IV in 1155, as the fulfilment of preordained circumstances. The new king was determined to make the imperial title more than a hollow honour, and from the first years of his reign he sought to strengthen his position by adding to his dominion the wealth and resources of Italy, riches he deemed the rightful assets of his office.

Type
Research Article
Information
Early Music History , Volume 17 , October 1998 , pp. 183 - 219
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Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1998

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References

1 Monumenta Germaniae Historica (hereafter MGH), Diplomata regum et imperatorum Germaniae, x, Friderici I Diplomata (hereafter DFT), ed. H. Appelt (Hannover, 1979), pt. 1, p. 10–11 (no. 5)Google Scholar.

2 A brief general survey of Staufen politics is Reuter, T., ‘The Medieval German Sonderweg? The Empire and Its Rulers in the High Middle Ages’, in Kings and Kingship in Medieval Europe, ed. Duggan, A.J. (London, 1993), pp. 179–211Google Scholar. Other important research includes Appelt, H., ‘Die Kaiseridee Friedrich Barbarossas’, in Friedrich Barbarossa, ed. Wolf, G., Wege der Forschung 390 (Darmstadt, 1975), pp. 208–44Google Scholar; Töpfer, B., ‘Kaiser Friedrich Barbarossa – Grundlinien seiner Politik’, in Kaiser Friedrich Barbarossa: Landesausbau – Aspekte seiner Politik – Wirkung, ed. Engel, E. and Töpfer, B. (Weimar, 1994), pp. 9–30Google Scholar; M. Lindner, ‘Fest und Herrschaft unter Kaiser Friedrich Barbarossa’, in ibid., pp. 151–70; Leyser, K., ‘Frederick Barbarossa and the Hohenstaufen Polity’, in Communications and Power in Medieval Europe: The Gregorian Revolution and Beyond, ed. Reuter, T. (London and Rio Grande, Ohio, 1994), pp. 115–42Google Scholar; Herkenrath, R. M., ‘Regnum und Imperium in den Diplomen der ersten Regierungsjahre Friedrichs I’, in Friedrich Barbarossa, ed. Wolf, , pp. 323–59Google Scholar; and G. Wolf, ‘Imperator und Caesar – zu den Anfängen des staufischen Erbreichsgedankens’, in ibid., pp. 360–74.

3 Scholars have spent much time researching Frederick's endeavours in Italy. General surveys include Boockmann, H., Stauferzeit und spätes Mittelalter: Deutschland 1125–1517 (Berlin, 1987), pp. 88–110Google Scholar; Keller, H., Propyläen Geschichte Deutschlands, ii, Zwischen regionaler Begrenzung und universalem Horizont: Deutschland im Imperium der Salier und Staufer 1024 bis 1250 (Berlin, 1986), pp. 391–414Google Scholar; Fuhrmann, H., Germany in the High Middle Ages c. 1050 –1200, trans. Reuter, T. (Cambridge, 1986), pp. 142–9 and pp. 157–62Google Scholar; and Haverkamp, A., Medieval Germany 1056–1273, trans. Braun, H. and Mortimer, R. (Oxford, 1988)Google Scholar.

4 The charter commemorating the canonisation mentions the hymns and sacred songs that accompanied the event (ymnis et canticis spirit [u]alibus), but there is no way of knowing whether Urbs aquensis was composed before or after the ceremony; MGH DFI, pt 2, p. 433 (no. 502). The sequence survives in fourteen manuscripts spanning 250 years; the earliest version appears in the late-twelfth-century Aquensian gradual Aachen, Domarchiv, HS G13; see Analecta hymnica, 55 vols., ed. Dreves, G. M., Blume, C. and Bannister, H. M. (Leipzig, 1886–1922), lv, p. 226Google Scholar.

5 Leyser, ‘Frederick Barbarossa and the Hohenstaufen Polity’, pp. 135–40. For a summary of Frederick's election and the early years of his reign see Fuhrmann, , Germany in the High Middle Ages, pp. 135–57Google Scholar; and for an interesting analysis of the imperial position visà-vis the king of England, see Leyser, K.J., ‘Frederick Barbarossa, Henry II and the Hand of St James’, in Medieval Germany and Its Neighbors 900–1250 (London, 1982), pp. 215–40Google Scholar. Leyser has also discussed how the empire changed under Frederick in ‘Frederick Barbarossa: Court and Country’, in Communications and Power in Medieval Europe, ed. , Reuter, pp. 143–70Google Scholar. A stimulating discussion of the symbiotic relationship between the Germanic aristocracy and the emperor during the twelfth century appears in Arnold, B., Princes and Territories in Medieval Germany (Cambridge, 1991), pp. 40–60CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

6 For a brief overview of these disputes and their relevance to the liturgy of the Marienkirche in Aachen, see my ‘Gottschalk of Aachen, the Investiture Controversy, and Music for the Feast of the Divisio apostolorum’, Journal of the American Musicological Society 49 (1996), pp. 351–408, especially pp. 351–64CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

7 An English translation of the Concordat appears in Tierney, B., The Crisis of Church and State 1050–1300 (Toronto, 1988), pp. 91–2Google Scholar; general surveys of the Worms agreement and its ramifications appear in Fuhrmann, , Germany in the High Middle Ages, pp. 93–95Google Scholar, and Robinson, I. S., The Papacy 1073 –1198: Continuity and Innovation (Cambridge, 1990), pp. 421–41CrossRefGoogle Scholar. A careful analysis of the events preceding the agreement is Chodorow, S., ‘Ecclesiastical Politics and the Ending of the Investiture Controversy: The Papal Election of 1119 and the Negotiations of Mouzon’, Speculum 46 (1971), pp. 613–46CrossRefGoogle Scholar. See also Classen, P., ‘Das Wormser Konkordat in der deutschen Verfassungsgeschichte’, Vorträge und Forschungen herausgegeben vom Konstanzer Arbeitskreis für mittelalterliche Geschichte 17 (1973), pp. 411–60Google Scholar.

8 The starting point for studies of this change is Kantorowicz, E., The King's Two Bodies: A Study in Medieval Political Theology (Princeton, 1957), pp. 87–97Google Scholar; see also idem, ‘Kingship under the Impact of Scientific Jurisprudence’, in Selected Studies (Locust Valley, N.Y., 1965), pp. 151–66.

9 See Appelt, H., ‘Friedrich Barbarossa und das römische Recht’, in Friedrich Barbarossa, ed. Wolf, , pp. 58–82Google Scholar; Benson, R. L., ‘Political Renovatio: Two Models from Roman Antiquity’, in Renaissance and Renewal in the Twelfth Century, ed. Benson, R. L. and Constable, G. with Lanham, C. D. (Cambridge, Mass., 1982), pp. 359–79Google Scholar; a study of the imperial chancery's role in the Staufen revival of Roman law appears in MGH DFI, pt 5, pp. 123–38, and Appelt, ‘Die Kaiseridee’, pp. 227–9. A brief introduction with source documents is Tierney, , The Crisis of Church and State, pp. 97–126Google Scholar.

10 Appelt, ‘Friedrich Barbarossa und das römische Recht’, pp. 75–9; Benson, ‘Political Renovatio’ p. 362.

11 For a general overview see Kuttner, S., ‘The Revival of Jurisprudence’, in Renaissance and Renewal in the Twelfth Century, ed. Benson, et al. , pp. 299–323Google Scholar; and K. W. Nörr, ‘Institutional Foundations of the New Jurisprudence’, in ibid., pp. 324–38, esp. pp. 324–5 for a discussion of Bologna. A study that investigates the limited practical effect of the revival on Frederick's government is Koeppler, H., ‘Friedrich Barbarossa and the Schools of Bologna’, English Historical Review 54 (1939), p. 577CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

12 The term ‘sacrum imperium’ first appears in a chancery document dated March 1157; see MGH DFI, pt 1, p. 280 (no. 163). See Appelt, ‘Die Kaiseridee’, pp. 213–18; and Koch, G., ‘Sacrum imperium. Bemerkungen zur Herausbildung der staufischen Herrschaftsideologie’, in Ideologic und Herrschaft im Mittelalter, ed. Kerner, M., Wege der Forschung 530 (Darmstadt, 1982), pp. 268–302Google Scholar.

13 Rainald of Dassel, the Archbishop of Cologne and royal chancellor, was the mastermind who arranged the canonisation. Few of Frederick's administrators were as zealous and successful in promoting Staufen interests. Important studies of this complicated figure include Herkenrath, R. M., ‘Reinald von Dassel als Verfasser und Schreiber von Kaiserurkunden’, Mitteilungen des Instituts für österreichische Geschichtsforschung 72 (1964), pp. 34–62CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Grebe, W., ‘Studien zur geistigen Welt Rainalds von Dassel’, in Frederick Barbarossa, ed. Wolf, , pp. 245–96Google Scholar. Interest in saint-kings, and in Charlemagne's canonisation in particular, has grown in the past twenty years. A general study of the subject is Folz, R., Les Saints rois du moyen âge en Occident (VI e –XIII e siècles) (Brussels, 1984)Google Scholar. Folz has also written the most extensive studies of Charlemagne's cult, namely Le souvenir et la légende de Charlemagne dans l'empire Germanique médiéval (Geneva, 1973)Google Scholar, Études sur le culte liturgique de Charlemagne dans les églises de l'empire (Geneva, 1973)Google Scholar, and ‘Le chancellerie de Frédéric Ier et la canonisation de Charlemagne’, Le moyen âge 70 (1964), pp. 13–31Google Scholar. See also Petersohn, J., ‘Kaisertum und Kultakt in der Stauferzeit’, in Politik und Heiligenverehrung im Hochmittelalter, ed. Petersohn, J., Vorträge und Forschungen 42 (Sigmaringen, 1994), pp. 101–46, esp. pp. 108–12Google Scholar; and idem, ‘Saint-Denis–Westminster – Aachen: Die Karls-Translatio von 1165 und ihre Vorbilder’, Deutsches Archiv für Erforschung des Mittelalters 31 (1975), pp. 420–54. A still useful study on the political implications of twelfth-century canonisations is Kemp, E. W., Canonization and Authority in the Western Church (London, 1948)Google Scholar.

14 The original date of the feast was 29 December, but soon after the canonisation the service was moved to the date of Charlemagne's death, 28 January, as reported by Einhard in his Vita Caroli, iv, §30. Perhaps this change in date took place after the martyrdom of Thomas of Canterbury on 29 December 1170. A translation feast was added to the Aquensian liturgy in July 1215, when Charlemagne's remains were moved into a new gilded shrine.

15 There has been disagreement over the melodic model for Urbs aquensis. Some have maintained that the source is Lauda sion salvatorem, a sequence composed in the diocese of Liège for the feast of Corpus Christi during the thirteenth century. This controversy is briefly summed up in Lerman, B. J., ‘“Urbs aquensis, urbs regalis …” – Versuch einer Deutung der Karlssequenz’, in Karl der Groβe und sein Schrein in Aachen, ed. Müllejans, H. (Aachen, 1988), pp. 168–70Google Scholar. The date of Urbs aquensis, however, is much earlier than that of Lauda sion based on Erika Eisenlohr's paleographic study of the piece in ‘Die älteste Niederschrift der Sequenz Urbs Aquensis Urbs Regalis im letzten Viertel des 12. Jahrhunderts und ihre mögliche Verbindung zum Karlskult Barbarossas’, Zeitschrift des Aachener Geschichtsvereins 96 (1989), pp. 35–68Google Scholar. The textual similarities between the Charlemagne sequence and Laudes crucis presented here make it clear that the latter was the source for Urbs aquensis.

16 Fichtenau, H., Arenga: Spätantike und Mittelalter im Spiegel von Urkundenformeln, Mitteilungen des Instituts für Österreichische Geschichtsforschung 18 (Graz and Cologne, 1957), pp. 54–5 and pp. 178–9Google Scholar. See also Benson, ‘Political Renovatio’, p. 381.

17 MGH DFI, pt 2, p. 40 (no. 243) ‘Hanc autem legem inter imperiales constitutiones sub titulo “Ne filius pro patre etc.” inseri iussimus.’ On the date of this important decree, see Stelzer, W., ‘Zum Scholarenprivileg Friedrich Barbarossas (Authentica “Habita”)’, Deutsches Archiv für Erforschung des Mittelalters 34 (1978), pp. 123–65Google Scholar; see also Benson, ‘Political Renovatio’, pp. 363–4.

18 Much later, in May 1182, Frederick reiterated his role in the establishment of law with an allusion to Justinian's Civil Law: ‘Truly, just as it is our [prerogative] to establish laws, it is likewise [for] Us benevolently to interpret those that are unclear’ (‘Quoniam vero sicut nostrum est leges condere, ita et, quae dubia sunt, benigne interpretari’), MGH DFI, pt 4, p. 34 (no. 827); see Corpus Iuris Civilis, ed. Krueger, P., ii (Berlin, 1877), p. 67 (Book I.14.1)Google Scholar; and Scott, S. P., The Civil Law, vi (New York, 1972), p. 85Google Scholar. The passage is discussed in Fichtenau, , Arenga, pp. 178–9Google Scholar.

19 Thomas, J. A. C., The Institutes of Justinian: Text, Translation and Commentary (Amsterdam and Oxford, 1975), p. 1Google Scholar. ‘The barbarian races brought under our subjection know our military prowess; and Africa and countless other provinces have after so long a time been restored to Roman obedience through the victories which we, with divine guidance, have achieved and proclaim our empire. But all these peoples are also now governed by the laws which we have made or settled’ (‘et bellicos quidem sudores nostros barbaricae gentes sub iuga nostra deductae cognoscunt et tarn Africa quam aliae innumerosae provinciae post tanta temporum spatia nostris victoriis a caelesti numine praestitis iterum dicioni Romanae nostroque additae imperio protestantur. omnes vero populi legibus iam a nobis vel promulgatis vel compositis reguntur’). English translation by Thomas.

20 MGH DFI, pt 2, p. 433 (no. 502). For an interpretation of this decree, see Meuthen, E., ‘Karl der Große – Barbarossa – Aachen: Zur Interpretation des Karlsprivilegs für Aachen’, in Das Nachleben, Karl der Groβe, iv, ed. Braunfels, W. (Düsseldorf, 1967), pp. 54–76Google Scholar. Meuthen sees the charter as a foundation for a capital city (Hauptstadt). From a practical standpoint, however, one cannot speak of medieval Aachen as an administrative centre analogous to Paris or London.

21 For remarks on this forgery see Hagermann, D., ‘Urkundenfalschungen auf Karl den Großen’, in Falschungen im Mittelalter, iii, Diplomatische Falschungen (i), MGH Schriften 33 (Hannover, 1988), p. 440Google Scholar.

22 MGH DFI, pt 2, p. 433 (no. 502). ‘His autem omnibus gloriosae peractis cum in predicto loco, cuius ipse fundator extiterat, de ipsius loci libertate, institutis legum et pacis atque iusticiae, quibus totum orbem rexerat, diligenter inquireremus, ecce fratres eiusdem aecclesiae privilegium sancti Karoli de fundatione et dedicatione ipsius nobilissimae aecclesiae et de institutionibus legum humanarum et civilis iuris eiusdem civitatis nobis in medium protulerunt.’

23 Thomas, , Institutes of Justinian, pp. 4–13Google Scholar.

24 The reform of Baume-les-Messieurs was initiated by Barbarossa himself in 1153 at the request of Abbot Peter the Venerable; see MGH DFI, pt 1, pp. 98–9 (no. 58). When Frederick reversed his position, he wrote that ‘since properly it should have been recalled that [the reform] had been accomplished by unlawful ventures against the most sacred laws of the emperors, we absolve the church of Baume-les-Messieurs from all the extraneous and insufficent power of the Cluniac monks’ (‘quia digne revocandum erat, quod contra sacratissimas imperatorum constitutiones illicitis ausibus patratum fuerat, aecclesiam Balmensem ab omni extranea et incompetenti Cluniacensium potestate absolvimus’). MGH DFI, pt 1, p. 324 (no. 193).

25 ‘Nos igitur predecessorum nostrorum divorum imperatorum magni Constantini videlicet et Iustiniani et Valentiniani nee non Karoli et Ludowici vestigiis inherentes et sacras leges eorum tamquam divina oracula venerantes imitari non erubescimus Constantinum imperatorem de sacrosanctis ecclesiis et rebus et privilegiis eorum constituentem.’ MGH DFI, pt 2, p. 416 (no. 492); the italicised passage is taken from the Corpus Iuris Civilis, Book I.2.1; see Krueger, , Corpus Iuris Civilis, ii, p. 12Google Scholar, and Scott, , The Civil Law, vi, p. 15Google Scholar.

26 Thomas, , Institutes of Justinian, p. 1Google Scholar (Prooemium.2). ‘After bringing into lucid harmony the august constitutions which were previously in disarray’ (‘Et cum sacratissimas constitutiones antea confusas in luculentam ereximus consonantiam’). English translation by Thomas.

27 Thomas, , Institutes of Justinian, p. 5Google Scholar (Book I.2.6). ‘But also the will of the Emperor has the force of law since, by the lex regia which regulated his imperium, the people conceded to him and conferred upon him all their authority and power’ (‘Sed et quod principi placuit legis habet vigorem, cum lege regia, quae de imperio eius lata est, populus ei et in eum omne suum imperium et potestatem concessit’). English translation by Thomas.

28 See Mt. 9.37–8, Mk 4.29, Lk. 10.2, Jn 4.35–8, and Apoc. 14.14–20.

29 MGH DFI, pt 3, p. 30 (no. 563). ‘Fridericus divina favente clementia Romanorum imperator a deo coronatus magnus et pacificus, inclitus triumphator et semper augustus’. See Benson, ‘Political Renovatio’, p. 373, and Schramm, P. E., Kaiser, Rom, und Renovatio, i (Leipzig and Berlin, 1929), pp. 283–4Google Scholar.

30 Thomas, , Institutes of Justinian, p. 1Google Scholar (Proeemium). ‘et princeps Romanus victor existat non solum in hostilibus proeliis, sed etiam per legitimos tramites calumniantium iniquitates expellens, et fiat tarn iuris religiossimus quam victis hostibus triumphator’. English translation mine.

31 Fassler, M., Gothic Song: Victorine Sequences and Augustinian Reform in Twelfth-Century Paris (Cambridge, 1993), p. 65Google Scholar.

32 A complete translation of Laudes crucis, from which this excerpt is taken, appears in Fassler, , Gothic Song, pp. 70–2Google Scholar.

33 There are other precise verbal references connecting Urbs aquensis and Laudes crucis. The second and last versicles end with similar lines, the third versicles share rhetorical features, and rhyme schemes occasionally agree. The correspondence with the seventh versicle, however, has the greatest exegetical significance.

34 Eusebius of Cesarea, , The Life of the Blessed Emperor Constantine, trans, anon. (London, 1845), pp. 26–7Google Scholar (Book 1.28). ‘And while [Constantine] was thus praying with fervent entreaty, a most marvellous sign appeared to him from heaven … He said that about midday, when the sun was beginning to decline, he saw with his own eyes the trophy of a cross of light in the heavens, above the sun, and bearing the inscription, “Conquer by this”.’

35 The sequence appears in Aachen, Domarchiv, HS G13, fol. 142v. The Aquensian source is the oldest for this chant, and it is the only non-French witness. Geographical disagreement notwithstanding, the text reads:

37 Eusebius of Caesarea, , Vita Constantini, pp. 138–9Google Scholar (Book III.27); quoted in Bowman, G., ‘Pilgrim Narratives of Jerusalem and the Holy Land: A Study in Ideological Distortion’, in The Anthropology of Pilgrimage, ed. Morinis, A. (Westport and London, 1992), pp. 156–7Google Scholar.

38 Eusebius of Caesarea, , Vita Constantini, p. 143Google Scholar (Book III.33); in Book III. 28, Eusebius credits Constantine with uncovering the Holy Sepulchre; see ibid., p. 139.

39 MGH, Diplomatum Karolinorum (hereafter D Karol.), i, ed. Mühlbacher, E. (Hannover, 1906), pp. 441–2 (no. 295)Google Scholar. ‘Nostis, qualiter ad locum, qui Aquis ab aquarum calidarum aptatione traxit vocabulum, solito more venandi causa egressus, sed perplexione silvarum, errore quoque viarum a sociis sequestratus inveni termas calidorum fontium et palatia inibi reperi, que quondam Granus, unus de Romanis principibus, frater Neronis et Agrippe, a principio construxerat, que longa vetustate deserta ac demolita, frutectis quoque ac vepribus occupata nunc renovavi, pede equi nostri, in quo sedi, inter saltus rivis aquarum calidarum perceptis et repertis. Sed et ibidem monasterium sancte Marie, matri domini nostri Iesu Christi, omni labore et sumptu quo potui edificavi.’

40 MGH DFI, pt 2, p. 433 (no. 502). ‘Haec enim mutatio est dexterae excelsi, quod pro Grano fratre Neronis fundatorem habet sanctissimum Karolum pro pagano et scelesto imperatorem catholicum.’

41 Augustine of Hippo, The City of God, Book XVIII.2.

42 A focus on Roman history and its manifestations in twelfth-century politics is one aspect common to writings some historians have identified as ‘Staufen historiography’. According to the historian Timothy Reuter, other characteristic themes include a cultivation of local histories, especially when there is evidence of a Roman settlement or some other similarity to Rome, and an interest in eschatology. See Reuter, T., ‘Past, Present and No Future in the Twelfth Century Regnum Teutonicum’, in The Perception of the Past in Twelfth-Century Europe, ed. Magdalino, P. (London and Rio Grande, Ohio, 1992), p. 20Google Scholar.

43 Preaching the first crusade in 1198, Pope Urban II urged his listeners to recall Charlemagne's efforts to propagate the Christian faith. The Carolingian's successes, Urban noted, were evidenced by the churches he built: ‘Rise up and remember the manly deeds of your ancestors, the prowess and greatness of Charlemagne, of his son Louis, and of your other kings, who destroyed pagan kingdoms and planted the holy church in their territories. You should be especially aroused by the fact that the Holy Sepulcher of the Lord our Savior is in the hands of these unclean people, who shamefully mistreat and sacreligiously defile the Holy Places with their filth.’ Translation in Brundage, J. A., The Crusades: A Documentary Study (Milwaukee, 1962), pp. 18–9Google Scholar. ‘Moveant vos et incitent animos vestros ad virilitatem gesta praedecessorum vestrorum, probitas et magnitudo Karoli Magni regis, et Ludovici filii ejus aliorumque regum vestrorum, qui regna paganorum destruxerunt et in eis fines sanctae Ecclesiae dilataverunt. Praesertim moveat vos sanctum Domini Salvatoris nostri Sepulcrum, quod ab immundis gentibus possidetur, et loca sancta, quae nunc inhoneste tractantur et irreverenter eorum immundiciis sordidantur.’ Recueil des historiens des Croisades, iii, Historiens occidentaux (Paris, 1866), p. 728Google Scholar.

44 This new history could challenge the account given in an edict promulgated by Pope Hadrian IV on 22 September 1157 or 1158, in which he takes the Marienkirche under his protection because the church had the honour of a consecration by Leo III: ‘antecessor noster Leo papa, qui, prout superius diximus, prefatam basilicam propriis manibus consecravit’. The text appears in Meuthen, E., Aachener Urkunden 1101–1250, Publikationen der Gesellschaft für rheinische Geschichtskunde 58 (Bonn, 1972), pp. 185–93, at p. 192 (no. 29)Google Scholar. The counterfeit foundation charter, however, describes the consecration as a cooperative effort: ‘This [i.e., the establishment of Aachen as capital of the new Roman empire] was confirmed and made irrevocable by the reverend apostolic Roman pontiff Leo and by me, Charles, august emperor of the Romans and first founder of this basilica and this [place], that this our statute and decree might remain fixed and undestroyed, and that the seat of the realm north of the Alps might be held here, and that it might be the capital of all the cities and provinces of Gaul’ (‘Confirmatum et sanccitum est hoc a domno apostolico Leone Romano pontifice et a me Karolo Romanorum imperatore augusto et primo auctore huius templi et loci, quatinus ratum et inconvulsum hoc statutum et decretum nostrum maneat et hic sedes regni trans Alpes habeatur sitque caput omnium civitatum et provinciarum Gallie’) MGH D Karol., i, p. 442 (no.295)Google Scholar.

45 The rubric for the matins readings on Charlemagne's feast day is Piissimus igitur Karolus (Aachen, Domarchiv, HS Gl, fol. 60r), the same as the incipit for a chapter on the life and merits of Charles in the twelfth-century Karlsvita (Book I.3); see Rauschen, G., Die Legende Karls des Groβen im II. und 12. Jahrhundert (Leipzig, 1890), p. 24Google Scholar; and Aachen, Domarchiv, HS G12, fol. 4v. On the octave, the rubric instructs the celebrant to read Lecciones de gesta beati karoli (Aachen, Domarchiv, HS Gl, fol. 60v).

46 Schramm, , Kaiser, Rom, und Renovatio, i, pp. 56–7Google Scholar; Benson, ‘Political Renovatio’ pp. 355–7.

47 MGH DFI, pt 1, p. 116 (no. 70). ‘sub fasce regalis magnificentiae suspirantes aecclesias dei sublimare et amplificare intendimus.’

48 ‘Et eris corona gloriae in manu Domini, et diadema regni in manu Dei tui’ (Is. 62.3).

49 Apoc. 4.10; on such scenes in general see Christie, Yves, ‘The Apocalypse in the Monumental Art of the Eleventh through Thirteenth Centuries’, in The Apocalypse in the Middle Ages, ed. Emmerson, R. K. and McGinn, B. (Ithaca, N.Y., and London, 1992), pp. 234–58, esp. p. 236 and pp. 246–55Google Scholar. A drawing from 1699 shows us how the original mosaic appeared; a restored version completed in 1881 preserved the theme, but the elders' thrones are no longer shown. See Maas, W., Der Aachener Dom (Cologne, 1991), p. 18–20Google Scholar.

50 The sequences in Aachen, Domarchiv, HS G13 are grouped into French/Victorine and German/St Gall style pieces. See Hesbert, R., Monumenta musicae sacrae, iii, Le Prosaire d'aix-la-Chapelle, XIIIe; siècle début (Rouen, 1961), pp. 22–36Google Scholar.

51 MGH D Karol., i, p. 442 (no. 295)Google Scholar; the quotation is from Frederick's forgery.

52 See White, H., Tropics of Discourse: Essays in Cultural Criticism (Baltimore and London, 1978), p. 2Google Scholar. White writes that a trope ‘is always not only a deviation from one possible, proper meaning, but also a deviation towards another meaning, conception, or ideal of what is right and proper and true “in reality”.’

53 There are other Aquensian sequences based on Victorine melodies, but this is the only one that seems to lend itself to such an interpretation. No other Aquensian contrafacts were written for such politically charged feasts.

54 For the relationship between the Charlemagne legend and patronage of the Abbey of St Denis, see Petersohn, ‘Saint-Denis – Westminster – Aachen’, pp. 441–4; Folz, , Le souvenir el la légende, pp. 205–7Google Scholar; van de Kieft, C., ‘Deux diplômes faux de Charlemagne pour Saint-Denis du XIIe siècle’, Le moyen âge 64 (1958), pp. 401–36Google Scholar. Charlemagne's canonisation was not unique in the twelfth century, and some scholars have sought to link it with the canonisation of Edward the Confessor in 1163 and that of Knut of Denmark in 1165. Apparently, the monks of St Denis contested the claims of the Aquensian canons in a decree attributed to Charlemagne that calls the Royal Abbey the caput omnium ecclesiarum regni nostri. Moreover, the fake charter stipulates that all the successors of Charles the Great ought to receive the crown of the Franks at St Denis: ‘Prohibemus insuper, ne successores nostri Franciae reges alibi quam in ecclesia saepe fati domni Dionysii sint coronati.’ See MGH D Karol., i, p. 429Google Scholar (no. 286). Although Charlemagne was crowned at St Denis along with his father and brother in 754, his cult was never adopted in the abbey; see Robertson, A. W., The Service-Books of the Royal Abbey of Saint-Denis: Images of Ritual and Music in the Middle Ages (Oxford, 1991), pp. 25ff and p. 466Google Scholar.

55 Based on the reference to Frederick's wife Queen Beatrice in the inscription, the lamp can be dated to the years between their marriage in 1156 and Beatrice's death in 1184. The most important recent studies of this lamp are Minkenberg, G., ‘Der Barbarossaleuchter im Dom zu Aachen’, Zeitschrift des Aachener Geschichtsvereins 96 (1989), pp. 69–102Google Scholar; and Bayer, C., ‘Die beiden großen Inschriften des Barbarossa-Leuchters’, in Celica Iherusalem: Festschrift für Erich Stephany, ed. Bayer, C., Jülich, T. and Kuhl, M. (Cologne-Siegburg, 1986), pp. 213–40Google Scholar. See also Giersiepen, H., Die Deutschen Inschriften, xxxi, Die Inschriften des Aachener Doms (Wiesbaden, 1992), pp. 24–7Google Scholar.

56 MGH DFI, pt 2, p. 433 (no. 502). ‘Laetetur igitur et exultet ineffabili gaudio Aquisgranum caput civitatum, venerabilis clerus cum devotissimo populo, quod in diademate regni aliis principibus et gloriosis locis speciosissimo ornamento distinctis in capite coronae positum quasi prelucidarum gemmarum splendore coruscat et illo singulari et corporali gaudet patrono, qui christianae fidei illustratione et legis, qua unusquisque vivere debeat, Romanum decorat imperium.’

57 MGH DFI, pt 2, pp. 486–7 (no. 539). ‘Cum firmissime domus decor et firmamentum immobilibus et solidis columpnis innititur, cum Romani imperii supereminens gloria illustrissimorum principum sustentatione fulcitur, utriusque status servatur incolumis et difficile alicui destructioni vel ruinose calamitati poterit subiacere.’

58 Apoc. 3.11–12. ‘Ecce veni cito: tene quod habes, ut nemo accipiat coronam tuam. Qui vicerit, faciam illum collumnam in templo Dei mei, et foras non egredietur amplius: et scribam super eum nomen Dei mei, et nomen civitatis Dei mei novae Jerusalem, quae descendit de caelo ad Deo meo, et nomen meum novum.’

59 See Augustine of Hippo, The City of God, Book XVIII.2, and Otto of Freising and Rahewin, , The Deeds of Frederick Barbarossa, trans. Mierow, C. C. (Toronto, 1994), pp. 146–7 (Book II.12–13)Google Scholar.

60 Eight-sided buildings were considered round in the Middle Ages; many such structures were baptisteries or mausolea. See Krautheimer, R., ‘Introduction to an “Iconography of Medieval Architecture”’, in Studies in Early Christian, Medieval, and Renaissance Art (New York, 1969), pp. 122–3Google Scholar. In 877 Charles the Bald founded a chapel dedicated to the Virgin in Compiègne. The new octagonal building, modelled on the Marienkirche in Aachen, inspired the poet Eriugena to write about the special qualities symbolised by its eight walls. See MGH, Poetae latinorum medii aevi, iii, Poetae latini aevi Carolini, iii, ed. Traube, L. (Berlin, 1896), pp. 550–2 (esp. lines 31–49)Google Scholar.

61 Fassler, , Gothic Song, p. 69Google Scholar.

62 In the liturgy of the Marienkirche, this text is the first responsory of the third nocturn of matins; see Aachen, Domarchiv, HS G20, fol. 133r. Interestingly, the text in this manuscript is missing the words ‘descendentem de caelo’ On the rarity of texts from Revelation in the chant repertory, see Flanigan, C. C., ‘The Apocalypse and the Medieval Liturgy’, in The Apocalypse in the Middle Ages, ed. Emmerson, and McGinn, , pp. 333–51, esp. p. 334Google Scholar.

63 MGH DFI, pt 2, p. 435 (no. 503). ‘Forma vero denariorum talis erit, quod in una parte erit imago sancti Karoli et eius superscriptio, ex altera parte nostra imago cum nostri nominis superscriptione.’

64 MGH DFI, pt 2, p. 434 (no. 503). ‘Quoniam Aquisgranum locus regalis turn pro sanctissimo corpore beati Karoli imperatoris inibi glorificato, quod solus ipse fovere cernitur, turn pro sede regali, in qua primo imperatores Romanorum coronantur, omnes provincias et civitates dignitatis et honoris prerogativa precellit, congruum et rationabile est, ut exemplo domni et sancti Karoli aliorumque precessorum nostrorum eundem locum imperialis defensionis et nostrae clementiae privilegiis et libertatis institutione quasi muro et turribus muniamus. Inde est, quod bis in anno universales et sollempnes nundinas Aquisgrani celebrari decrevimus ex consilio mercatorum vicinarum civitatum iura eatenus conservantes, quod nundinae istae non solum illarum nundinas non impediant, verum earum adaugeant emolumenta.’ According to the Annales Aquenses, the residents of Aachen resolved to build a new wall around the city at Frederick's prompting in 1172: ‘Aquenses ab imperatore commoniti iuraverunt, in 4 annis muro et menibus civitatem munire’ Annales Aquenses, ed. Waitz, G., MGH, Scriptorum, xxiv (Hannover, 1879), p. 38Google Scholar.

65 The institution of Charlemagne's feast in Aachen also inspired the composition of a rhymed office containing thirty-six antiphons and responsories. The texts of these chants revisit and elaborate many of the themes treated in Urbs aquensis. See my dissertation, ‘Affirmations of Royalty: Liturgical Music in the Collegiate Church of St Mary in Aachen, 1050–1350’ (Ph.D. diss., University of Chicago, 1998)Google Scholar.

66 See Giersiepen, H., ed., Die Deutschen Inschriften, xxxii, Die Inschriften der Stadt Aachen (Wiesbaden, 1993), pp. 10–12Google Scholar.

67 Aachen, Domarchiv, HS GI, fol. 61v