The Holy Roman Emperor received the imperial regalia from the hands of the Pope, symbolizing both the pope's right to crown Christian sovereigns and also the emperor's role as protector of the Catholic Church. The Holy Roman Empresses were crowned as well.

The Holy Roman Empire was established in 962 under Otto the Great. Later emperors were crowned by the pope or other Catholic bishops. In 1530 Charles V became the last Holy Roman emperor to be crowned by a pope, Clement VII, albeit in Bologna (Frederick III was the last to be crowned in Rome). Thereafter, until the abolition of the empire in 1806, no further crownings by the pope were held.See also Guy Stair Sainty, The Holy Roman Empire: Introduction . From the Almanach de la Cour website. Retrieved on 14 September 2008. Later rulers simply proclaimed themselves Imperator Electus Romanorum ("Elected Emperor of the Romans") after their coronation as German king.

Preliminaries Before being crowned emperor by the pope, a monarch first had to win the support of the majority of the seven prince-electors in the Imperial election, then to be crowned King of the Romans by an archbishop, for example that of Cologne, Mainz, or Trier. He then had to conduct an Italienzug (Romzug), leading his army from Germany to Rome and occasionally having to fight off enemies barring the way, making his coronation into a military expedition. Some elected or crowned Kings of the Romans never made it that far, and thus were never confirmed as Holy Roman Emperors by the Holy See. The papal coronation was necessary for the Imperial title until 1508, when the Venetians blocked the journey of Maximilian I, and he was instead proclaimed emperor elect by Pope Julius II at Trent. This established the right of elected German monarchs to use the imperial title.

Ceremonies Locations

Successors of Charlemagne were crowned in Rome for several centuries, where they received the imperial crown in St. Peter's Basilica from the pope.

The Iron Crown of Lombardy (with the title King of Italy or King of the Lombards) was conferred in the Church of St. Ambrose at Milan or at the cathedral of Monza, that of Burgundy at Arles. The German crown—which came to be the most important of all—was usually given at Aachen.Muir (1911), p. 187. From 1562 until the last German coronation in 1792, the emperors-elect were crowned kings of Germany in Frankfurt Cathedral, which had already in 1356 had become the established site for the imperial elections.

German royal coronation The German coronation ceremony first required the electors to meet at Frankfurt, under the presidency of the elector-archbishop of Mainz, who formally summoned the electors and had the right of the last vote. The new emperor-elect was led to the high altar of the cathedral and seated, then conducted to a gallery over the entrance to the choir, where he sat with the electors while his election was proclaimed. The coronation itself took place on a subsequent day.

If the coronation was performed (as usual before 1562) at the Palatine Chapel at Aachen (now Aachen Cathedral), then the archbishop of Cologne, as local metropolitan, was the chief officiant and was assisted by the two other clerical electors, the archbishop of Mainz and the archbishop of Trier.This account is of the German royal coronation ritual used for Rudolf I in 1273 and remained substantially the same until that of Matthias II at Frankfurt in 1612. The account is found in Woolley (1915), pp. 122–125. These three archbishop-electors met the emperor-elect at the entrance of the church, where the archbishop of Cologne said the prayer, "Almighty, everlasting God, your servant,..."The canons of the Palatine Chapel in Aachen would bring the silver-gilt reliquary bust of Charlemagne with them to the entrance for the emperor-elect to venerate as he enter the Palatine Chapel. The choir sang the antiphon, "Behold, I send my Angel..." (Ecce mitto Angelum meum...) as the emperor-elect and the archbishops filed into the church. The archbishop of Cologne then said the prayers, "God, who knows the human race,..." and "Almighty and everlasting God of heaven and earth,...." The Mass then began with the propers of the Feast of the Epiphany and the collect for the Feast of St. Michael. After the sequence and the Litany of the Saints, the archbishop of Cologne put six questions to the emperor-elect, each time receiving the response "I will": 1. Will he defend the holy faith? 2. Will he defend the holy church? 3. Will he defend the kingdom? 4. Will he maintain the laws of the empire? 5. Will he maintain justice? 6. Will he show due submission to the pope?"Will you be duly subject and show reverent faith to the Father and Lord most holy in Christ, the Roman pontiff and to the holy Roman church?" The emperor-elect then laid two fingers on the altar and swore his oath. The Recognition then followed, with the emperor-elect asking those assembled to accepted him as their king, three times receiving the response "Let it be done".

The archbishop of Cologne then said the prayers, "Bless, Lord, this king,..." and "Ineffable God,...."The German rite as also the English has the word 'ineffable', whereas the other European coronation rites has 'inexecutable.' The archbishop then anointed the emperor-elect with the oil of the catechumens on his head, breast and shoulders, saying, "I anoint you king with the oil of sanctification in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen." and then on the palms of both hands, saying, "Let these hands be anointed, as kings and prophets were anointed and as Samuel anointed David to be king may you be blessed and established king in this kingdom over this people, whom the Lord, your God, has given you to rule and govern, which he vouchsafes to grant, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns,...."A number of other prayers of consecration then follow, which Woolley assumes were intended as alternative prayers, since the king had already been consecrated and anointed. He was then vested in the imperial robes, including buskins, a long alb, a dalmatic, a stole crossed priest-wise over the breast, gloves, and mantle. The sword was given with the words, "Receive this sword at the hands of us bishops...." The ring was given with the words, "Receive this ring of royal dignity...." The sceptre and orb were given with the words, "Receive this rod of virtue and equity...." Finally the crown was set on his head conjointly by the three archbishop-electors with the words, "Receive this royal crown...." The oath was taken again, this time in the direct form in both Latin and German, "I promise and pledge in the sight of God...." The responsory is chanted, "My soul is longing,..," and the king is enthronedWhen the ceremony took place in Aachen, the throne used was Charlemagne's own marble throne directly opposite the high altar.Before the coronation proper Saint Stephen's Purse, reliquary containing earth soaked the blood of the first Christian martyr and which had once been in Charlemagne's tomb was placed within the throne. with the words, "Stand fast and hold firmly...." At the coronation of Charles V the archbishop-elector of Mainz preached a homily at this point.

The coronation of the queen followed and was conducted jointly by the archbishop-electors of Mainz and Trier. The Te Deum was then sung during which Charles V dubbed a number of knights with the imperial sword, although at subsequent coronations this took place after the Coronation proper. The Mass was then concluded, during which the king communed in one kind. Whenever the coronations were performed at Aachen, the new king was made a canon of the church at its conclusion.

From 1562 to 1792 the German coronation took place before the Altar of St. Bartholomew in the crossing of the Frankfurt Cathedral.

Roman imperial coronation The Holy Roman imperial coronation in Rome evolved over the thousand years of the empire's existence from an originally very simple ritual (which by its very simplicity paralleled and most clearly demonstrated its origins in its Byzantine counterpart) to one of increasing complexity. The oldest manuscript of the Roman imperial coronation ritual is found in the 9th century Gemunden Codex and while it is uncertain for whom (if anyone) the ritual described in it was intended to be used in it we come the closest to seeing the very types of forms which would have been used for Charlemagne himself.Woolley (1915), p. 42. The ritual began with a short prayer for the emperor, "Hear our prayer, Lord, and those of your servant...". This was immediately followed by the prayer, "Look, Almighty God, with a serene gaze on this, your glorious servant,...", in which a golden crown was placed on the emperor's head during the words of the concluding phrase of this prayer, "Through whom honor and glory are yours through infinite ages of ages. Amen." A sword was then given to the emperor with the word, "Receive this sword by the hands of bishops, who, though unworthy, are consecrated to be in the place and authority of the holy Apostles, deliver it to you, with our blessing, to serve for the defense of the holy Church, divinely ordained, and remember of whom the Psalmist prophesied, saying, 'Gird the sword upon your thigh, O most Powerful One, that with it you may exercise equity.'", a form which would have a long history both in the imperial coronation ritual and in those of numerous European royal coronation rituals as well. The Laudes Imperiale (a series of formal acclamations that originated in Roman times—see below) were then chanted. The ceremony traditionally took place in Saint Peter's basilica.

Coronation of Frederick I Barbarossa In its more developed form during the High Middle Ages, before the coronation proper the emperorThe emperor is attended by German archbishops or bishops, as the British monarch is similarly attended by the Anglican bishops of Durham and of Baths and Wells. went in procession first to the Church of St. Mary in Turri,A church which formed part of the complex of buildings around the east atrium of the Old St. Peter's. where he took an oath to protect the Roman Church, "In the name of Christ, I, Frederick, the emperor, promise, pledge and guarantee in the sight of God and the blessed Apostle Peter that I will be the protector and defender of this holy Roman Church in all ways useful to her, however many, in so far as I am supported by divine assistance according to my knowledge and ability." The imperial party then proceeded to the Basilica of St. Peter.