Commentary on the Splendor of the Arch-Offices in the Coronations of Charles VII, Maria Amalia, and Francis

returned to the altar. Both upon entering and returning, the insignia were carried before the King, but in the conclave, the stockings and sandals were put on by the Nuremberg envoys. They, the Brandenburg legate, the master of the royal court, and the Nuremberg envoys again, placed the dalmatic, the alb, and the stole upon the King. Thus dressed, he was led by the same retinue that I just described to the altar, where he lay down on the lowest step. Behind him stood the Elector of Mainz and the legate of Trier at the epistle side, then the Bavarian and Saxon legates, and finally the Brandenburg, Palatine, and Hanoverian legates; the second and third legates returned to their own stations. When the consecrator had spent some time in pious prayer, one of the assisting bishops brought forth the sword of Charlemagne from the altar and drew it from its scabbard. He gave it to the consecrator, who in turn gave it to the King, adding a wish that he might use it for the dignity of the Kingdom and the defense of the church. Among the pious words were these:

Gird yourself with your sword upon your thigh, most powerful one, etc.

Then the King returned the sword to the Saxon legate, who, with the help of the Bavarian legate, inserted it into the scabbard and girded the inserted sword upon the King. The consecrator also adorned his finger with a ring of no ordinary value and interpreted it as the seal of the Catholic faith. While these things were being done, the master of ceremonies, positioned at the table of insignia, handed the scepter and the orb to two of the assistants; the consecrator received both and gave the scepter into the King's right hand and the orb into his left. That honor was again followed by pious explanations and prayers, at the end of which the King rose, handed the scepter to the first Brandenburg legate, Baron von Schwerin, and the imperial orb to the first Palatine legate, Baron von Wachtendonc; the legates entrusted them to the hereditary officials, or rather to those who had been adopted into their place for this occasion. Count von Schoenberg, the first legate of the Saxon Elector, took the sword of Charlemagne, which is accustomed to be kept among the imperial insignia at Nuremberg, freed it from the scabbard, and handed it to the hereditary marshal, who replaced the sword of St. Maurice, which he had held until then, on the table of insignia. The first Brandenburg legate approached and, as had been agreed, placed the pallium around the King, which the Nuremberg envoys had brought. Finally, the most noble act was celebrated, namely, the coronation. The King