FAMOUS OLD CROWNS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1866, 26 August 1887, Page 32

FAMOUS OLD CROWNS.

Some Hot in the French Collection— Sketches

of the Priceless Diadems of Europe -Charlemagne's Iron Crown— Th« Holy Crown of Hungary- Scotland's Eoyal Diadem—Napoleon's Special Crown. The collection of French crown jewels recently sold at auction, though they have adorned royal crowns, contain none of historic value. Those were stolen during the Revolution a hundred years ago. The iron crown is hoarded as a national relic in the Cathedral of the little Lombard town, Monza, a good day's journey from Paris. It has been there from time immemoria'. It was made in the sixth century by a skilled Roman goldsmith for King Antharic's energetic Queen Theodolina, whom Pope Gregory the Great wished to compliment for ridding Lombardy of the Arian heretics. When a German Emperor was to be crowned it used to be brought to Milano in great state. It was no joke to be crowned Emperoi of Germany in those days. It had to be done three times over. First there was Germania's silver crown, to be received at Aix laChnpellc ; then the iron crown at Milano. And, lastly, at Rome the Pope placed the golrlon diadem upon the sovereign's head. jEaeh had its peculiar significance, but the -iron crown was held in the highest esteem. It derives its name from an iron ring within the outer golden rim, which, according to tradition, was made from a nail of the true (oroES. Of all royal crowns it is the plainest : .a broad fiat rim. of hammered gold, decorated -with flowers in enamel and precious stones, >not polished as diamonds are used nowadays, but uncut emeralds, sapphires and rubies in their, natural shapes. The -fron .crown, il &a«ro chiodo —

The Holy Nail, as the of Monzacall it — was worn fey Charlemagne and by a long succession of <jerman Eajperors after him, ending -with iCharles V. ifapoleon Bqnaparte was the last •sovereign upon whose head it rested. With characteristic audacity he put it there himself. It was in May 1805 that he gathered about him at Milano the dignitaries of the the .empire, the foreign diplomates and his generals, and, in the presence of his victorious army, set the crown upon his own Bieadl with the words that stand engraved upon its rim : ." God gave it to me. Woe *anto him who touches it."

In 1859, when the Austrians were driven 'ffro-ni Lomba-rdy, they carried the iron crown 'With them, first to Mantua and afterward to Vienna, where it iwas kept' until Venice was

ceded to Italy by the peace of 1866. ' Then it was returned to the Cathedral at Monza, and there it remains still, jealously . guarded with Queen Theodolinda's other treasures and the crown of her royal husband. The Crowns Worn by the Gothic Kings, who ruled in Spain before the Moorish invasion are not quite t as old as the iron crown, but they are both handsomer and costlier. They were found a score of years ago in the old cemetery Fuente di Guerrazar, near Toledo, and form now the chief attraction in the Elung Museum. There are eight of ' them, and their aggregate gold value exceeds £2000. The biggest and handsomest is nearly a foot across and studded with diamonds, pearls, rubies, and sapphires, A row of little crosses of gold,and carnelian.runs all they way around it, and the letters forming the words " Receswinthus Rex Offeret" are fastened to these with chains of the same precious metal. Twenty-two pearlo and golden tears depend from the letters, bearing as many heart-shaped rubies. The next largest of the crowns is supposed to have belonged to the Queen. Like the King's it is studded with diamonds. The whole collection was apparently given to some church, as was the practice in the early Middle Ages. An inscription in all the crowns reads : "In the name of the Lord, Sonnica donates this to Santa Maria di Abaxo," and it is known that a church of that name once stood near Toledo. 'Receswinthus reigned in the middle of the seventh century. It is probable that the priest buried the crowns to hide them from the invading Moors half a hundred years after his death, and they were either killed or driven into exile, where their secret perished with them. The crowns were found by accident by workmen digging a vault in the old churchyard.

The Holy Crown of Hungary is another historic diadem. According to the popular tradition, it was wrought by the angels for his Apostolic Majesty, King Stephan I, but history records its two-fold birth, for it is really made out of two separate crowns. Pope Sylvester II sent one of them to Stephan when he was crowned in the year 1001 ; the other was given to Geiza, a Hungarian noble, less than 100 years later by the Byzanthine Emperor, Michael Ducas, and when Geiza succeeded to the throne of Hungary he had the two crowns made into one. In this shape it looks the popular ideal of a crown ; a broad gold rinse, surmounted by four golden bows that meet at the top. On the rim at the starting point of each of the four is an enamelled portrait. One represents the Saviour, the other three Geiza, Michael Ducas and Constantius Porphyrogenitus. Four smaller portraits in enamel on the front of the rim depict the archangels Michael and Gabriel and the saints George and Demetrius. The crown is covered with uncut sapphires, amethysts, and rubies.

The Hungarian people fairly revere this crown. To them it stands for more than the mere symbol of political sovereignty; it is the very palladium of Hungary. A troop of halberdiers and two nobles of ancient lineago who are responsible for the treasure with their lives, guard it night and day in the castle at Buda, where it is kept. In olden times no king could reign in Hungary without it had rested upon his brow. If he died before he had been crowned his name was stricken from the record of kings, even a pretender acquired a quasi, title to the kingdom, if by force or strategem he could possess himself of it. When the last King of the House of Arpad died by poison in the year 1301, the throne became the prey of rival claimants. Charles Robert, Prince of Anjou, a nephew of the King of Naples, who was backed by the See of Rome, had the prize almost within his grasp, when his Bohemian opponent received unexpected succour from his father, the Emperor Wenceslaus, who swooped down on Buda, captured the holy crown and carried it off to Prague. But he did not effect his purpose. The Hungarians rejected both candidates after this catastrophe and choose a third, Otto of Bavaria. Thus baffled, old Wenceslaus made his son's lucky rival pay roundly for the crown, without which his election would have been an empty form. It was an expensive bargain for Otto, but it did not end his troubles.

To get to his new capital he had to cross Austrian territory, and now followed a succession of almost incredible adventures, in which the crown played the chief role. It oecame once more the prey of pretenders, and in the midst of a general fight for its possession, it suddenly disappeared. Nothing was seen or heard of it for many generations. Hungary got along as best she could, and in the course of time fell under a foreign yoke. At last the crown was found — how or where is to this day unknown— and was brought to Vienna by Joseph 11. From Vienna it found its way back to Hungary. In the national uprising of 1848 the provisional government obtained possession of it, but, after the defeat and flight of Kossuth, it disappeared once more. This time it was supposed to be lost for good. It was believed by some that it had been sent to London by the despoilers, and by others that Kossuth had picked the diamonds out of their setting in the crown and sold them to the Turks. Both the stories were groundless. It was lying safely buried all the while in Hungarian soil. A few months after the defeat of the national cause a peasant betrayed the spot where Kossuth and his friends had hidden it, hoping thus to thwart the conquerors, to the Austrians, and it was brought back to the Castle Buda with great pomp. It has not left it since.

Scotland's Ancient Grown

is another royal diadem that has had its full share of queer adventures. The antiquaries assume iljat it was made for King Robert Bruce. It is made out of two circlets of gold, the upper decorated with crosses and lilies, the lower with uncut diamonds. Two gold bands rise from the lower ring, and, bending over the head, support a golden ball and cross. When the Stuarts became rulerg of England and took up their residence there, they kept up the practice of going north to receive Scotland's crown on Scotch soil. Charles I did express the wish that the crown and regalia might be sent to London for his convenience, so that the ceremony might take place there ; but he changed his mind in a hurry, when the Scots took it as an insult, and went up to be crowned like the

rest. That was in June 1633. Charles II was crowned in Scotland on New Year's Day,1651, when he olaimed the throne ; but on the advance of the. protector's forces the regalia were hurried off to Dunnottar, a strong castle on the North Sea coaat, lest they should fall into the hands of the enemy. In the following year the castle was invested by the Cromwellians under Lambert and its commander, Earl Ogilvy, was summoned to surrender. He replied with a challenge, and Lambert laid siege to the castle.

Earl Ogilvy had sent urgent messages to I the king for a ship to carry off the crown, foreseeing the fall of the castle ; but Charles had none to send. Thus thrown upon their own resources, the involuntary custodians of the regalia — there were beside the crown, ■the sword and the sceptre used at coronations — cast about for a way of putting them beyond the wanton enemy's reach, for it was made clear very scon that the castle could not hold out long. Here, as often before in the world's history,- it was a woman's wit that saved the day. The woman was the wife of James Grnn<?er, the minister of a little church a few miles from Dunnottar. On pretence of visiting a sick friend in the castle she passed unchallenged through the besieging army with her maid, and, returning, they carried away the regalia concealed under their skirts. Safe outside the enemy's line, they wer(? buried in the church in a spot known only to the minister and his faithful wife. The castle fell and Lambert stormed and raged when he learned that the crown had slipped through his fingers. Suspicion fell on the minister and his spouse ; it is reported that they were put to the rack to make them confess, and it is more than probable that the story is true.' People were put- to the torture in those days for much less than that. However, they confessed nothing, and in the crowding events of that stirring time the crown and its disappearance were alike soon forgotten. At the restoration rho regalia were recovered in good condition by Charles 11. After the union bet wven England ;md Scotland they were put away in a gigantic iron-mounted and padlocked trunk in the strongest room in Edinburgh da! k\ for fear that the sight of them might, offend English prejudices, and' there tlicy lay for more than 100 years— from 1707 to 1818— when they were once more brought to light by a commission specially appointed for the purpose. The regalia are still at Edinburgh. These are the most famous of the historic crowns of Europe ; but there are others that possess much intere&t. In the cathedral at Aix-la-Chapelle is one donated to the church by Mary, Queen of Scots; another in the church at Namur was worn by Baldwin, Count of Flanders, whom the crusaders made King of Jerusalem. The thorns that are set in the gold are said to have been taken from the crown of thorns worn by the Saviour on the Cross. The Pope's Tiara or Tiara*— there are no less than four of them — are among the most interesting of the crowns of more recent date. The triple crown is worn by the Pope only on extraordinary occasions. Ordinarily he wears a common bishop's mitre. The tiara was originally a plain pointed cap, but Pope Harmisdas added a crown in the year 523, Boniface VIII another at the beginning of the fourteenth century, and John XXII the third a score of years later. The three together represent the ecclesiastical, civil and jndicial supremacy of Rome. A mound and a cross of gold surmount the triple-crowns. The handsomest of the four at the Vatican is the one presented by Napoleon to Pope Pius VII in 1805. Its three golden rings are studied with precious stones. At the apex is an emerald said to be worth alone 16,000f. The value of the whole crown is estimated at fully 200,000f.

Napoleon's Crown,

Napoleon had another splendid crown made— for himself. It was that one he put on his own head at the famous coronation in the Church of Notre Dame in Paris. After his fall it was kept under lock and key in the national treasury until the nephew of his uncle assumed it after the eouj> d'etat in 1852. To Frenchmen who worship the name of Napoleon but hate the empire, it is now rather an embarrassing relic — New York Mail and Express.