The accession of the King of France to the royal throne was legitimized by a ceremony performed with the Crown of Charlemagne at the Reims Cathedral. In late medieval and early modern times, the new king did not need to be anointed in order to be recognized as French monarch but ascended upon the previous monarch's death with the proclamation "Le Roi est mort, vive le Roi!" French queens were crowned either together with their husband at Reims or alone at Sainte-Chapelle or the Basilica of Saint-Denis.
The most important part of the French ceremony was not the coronation itself, but the Sacre – the anointing or unction of the king by the priest leading the ceremony. The Carolingian king Pepin the Short was anointed in Soissons (752) to legitimize the accession of the new dynasty. A second anointing of Pepin by Pope Stephen II took place at the Basilica of Saint-Denis in 754, the first to be performed by a pope. The unction served as a reminder of the baptism of king Clovis I in Reims by the archbishop, Remigius, in 496/499. The ceremony was transferred to Reims in 816 and was later completed with the use of the Holy Ampulla, found in 869 in the grave of the saint.
Since the ampulla, a Roman glass vial containing the balm due to be mixed with chrism, was allegedly brought by the dove of the Holy Spirit, the French monarchs claimed to receive their power by divine right. Out of respect for the supposedly miraculous oil, the king's shirt and the gloves put on after the unction of the hands were burned following the coronation.Patrick Demouy, Le sacre du roi, Strasbourg, 2016, éd. La Nuée Bleue, . Exceptionally, the shirt worn by Louis XV was not burned. Instead, it was donated to the King of Portugal, John V, and is today at the National Palace of Mafra, guarded by the Royal and Venerable Confraternity of the Most Blessed Sacrament of Mafra.
The coronation regalia, such as the throne and sceptre of Dagobert I or crown and sword of Charlemagne, were kept in the Basilica of Saint-Denis near Paris and the liturgical instruments in Reims like the Holy Ampulla and chalice, where they are still partly preserved as well as in the Louvre and other Parisian museums. The Holy Ampulla was kept in a reliquary in the form of a round gold plaque thickly set with jewels in the center of which was a white enamelled representation of the dove of the Holy Spirit, upright with the wings open and pointing down, of which the Holy Ampulla itself formed the body.
The reliquary of the ampulla had a heavy chain by which it could be worn around the neck of the abbot of the Abbey of Saint-Remi (where it was normally kept) when he brought it, walking barefoot at the head of a procession of his monks under a canopy carried by four noblemen on horseback, the Hostages of the Holy Ampulla, from the abbey to the very steps of the high altar of the cathedral, where he turned the relic over to the Archbishop of Rheims for its use in the coronation ritual. All succeeding kings of France were anointed with this same oilmixed with chrism prior to their coronation.
The participants in the coronation The king was crowned by the Archbishop of Reims who was assisted by four suffragan bishops of his ecclesiastical province, and of the Bishop of Langres and Chapter of the Cathedral of Reims. The established order of six bishops was:
The Archbishop of Reims anointed and crowned the king. The Bishop of Laon carried the holy ampulla. The Bishop of Langres carried the scepter. The Bishop of Beauvais carried and showed the coat of arms or royal mantle. The Bishop of Chalons carried the royal ring. The Bishop of Noyon carried the belt.
To these were added the Abbot of the Abbey of Saint-Remi, guardian of the holy ampulla, and the Abbot of the Abbey of Saint-Denis, guardian of other regalia.
Peers are cited for the first time in 1203 (first convocation) and 1226. However, their first recorded participation in the coronation is made on the occasion of the coronation of Philip V of France on 9 January 1317. These are the six aforementioned ecclesiastical peers and the six lay peers (the great vassals of the King of France, in the modern era of royal princes or lords). In order of protocol, the six lay peers are:
The Duke of Burgundy carried the royal crown, girded the king's sword, and gave him the order of chivalry. The Duke of Normandy carried the first square banner. The Duke of Aquitaine (or Guyenne, in texts, which is the same) carried the second square banner. The Count of Toulouse carried the spurs. The Count of Flanders carried the royal sword. The Count of Champagne presented the king with the war colour, which would be carried during battle, the count carried it during the ceremony.
The spiritual peerages were perpetual, and were never extinguished during the existence of the Kingdom of France. But as early as 1204, the roster of the lay peerages had been incomplete. Normandy had been absorbed into the French crown (1204); Toulouse in 1271, Champagne in 1284. Aquitaine was several times forfeited and restored, Burgundy became extinct in 1361 and again in 1477, and Flanders was ceded to the Empire in 1531. Hence, more often than not, princes of the royal blood and high-ranking members of the nobility acted as representatives of the ancient lay peerages. Spiritual peers were also represented if their see is vacant or they are unable to attend (such as the bishops of Langres, Noyon and Beauvais, who were enemies of Charles VII during the Hundred Years' War).
Coronation sites After the first two kings of the House of Capet had been consecrated elsewhere (Hugh Capet in the cathedral of Noyon, Robert II in Orléans, both in 987), subsequent ceremonies were held at Reims Cathedral, beginning in 1027. However, there were a few notable exceptions: Louis VI was consecrated on August 3, 1108, at Orléans Cathedral. He was anointed by Daimbert, the Archbishop of Sens. He feared that his half-brother, Philip, Count of Mantes, would prevent his access to Reims. The Archbishop of Reims contested the coronation, which should have been his place by custom, but to no avail; the choice of the coronation site and the participants was deemed to be a prerogative of the crown. John the Posthumous was never consecrated, as although he was King of France from the moment of his birth (as the posthumous and only surviving son of Louis X), he died a few days after being born. Henry of Navarre was consecrated King of France as Henry IV on February 27, 1594, at Chartres Cathedral. Reims was then held by his enemies, the House of Guise and the Catholic League. After the French Revolution, Louis XVIII decided to dispense with a consecration. However, his successor, Charles X revived the consecration at Reims. He was the last king to be anointed there.
On December 16, 1431, Henry VI of England let himself be crowned as King of France at Notre Dame de Paris, according to a ritual similar to that established by his great-grandfather Charles V of France. This was an attempt to counter the coronation of Henry's uncle and rival, Charles VII of France, who had been consecrated at Reims in 1429.
The French Sacre from 1364 to 1825 (Charles V to Charles X) Like the English coronation ritual, the French ritual after being subject to considerable influence from the Roman ritual in the 12th and 13th centuries reverted to earlier French forms in the 14th century. The Roman text and ritual, however, were not completely abandoned but combined with the earlier texts and ritual so that this fourth and final recension was nearly twice the length of the earlier recension.The following account is based on that given in Coronation Rites by Reginald D. Maxwell Woolley, B.D. Cambridge: at the University Press, 1915 and from "Pertinent Extracts from the Ceremony of the Sacre" in The Legend of the Ste. Ampoule by Sir Francis Oppenheimer, K.C., M.G., London: Faber & Faber Limited, 24 Russell Square.
The king spends the night before his Sacre at the Palace of Tau and is awakened in the morning by the clergy and officials involved in the coronation ritual. They assist in dressing the king for the Sacre and the king then chooses which of his nobles will serve as the Hostages for the Sainte Ampoule and the clergy, as well, also swear to return the Sainte Ampoule to the Abbey of St. Remi after the Sacre.
The king enters Reims Cathedral after the singing of the canonical hour of Prime. At the king's entrance into the cathedral a prayer is said and, in the 17th and 18th centuries, the hymn 'Veni Creator Spiritus' is sung. Upon his entrance into the choir the prayer, "God, the Ruler of heaven and earth, etc." is said and Terce is sung as the abbot and monks of the Abbey of Saint-Remi come in procession bringing the Sainte Ampoule in its reliquary hanging by it chain around the abbot's neck while four monks in alb bear a silk canopy over him. Upon arriving at the entrance of the cathedral the Archbishop of Reims and the other archbishops and bishops present solemnly swear to return the Sainte Ampoule to them after the Sacre. Then the abbot and monks enter the cathedral and proceed to the altar, everyone bowing reverently as they pass before them.
The coronation proper begins with the bishops' petition that the traditional rights of the Church be maintained and the king's reply, followed by the king's taking of the coronation oath,From 1364 to 1484, this contained a clause in which the king promised to main the rights of the French Crown (i.e., against English claims to the throne of France) in the Bourbon era on the Reims Gospel. Then the Recognition takes place followed by the singing of the Te Deum. Then the prayer, "Inscrutable God, etc." is and then the buskins and spurs are placed upon the king's feet and his invested and gird with the Coronation Sword, Joyeuse, with the formula "Accept this sword from our hands, etc." Then the antiphon: "I was glad when they said to me, let us go into the house of the Lord" (Psalm 122:1). The king removes his coat and other outerwear and the special silver latchets on his silk shirt are opened to expose his chest, upper back and the joints of his arms. While special versicle and response and a collect (unique to the French rite) are said, a paten with Chrism on it is place on the altar, the Abbot of St. Remi presents the Saint Ampoule to the Archbishop, who with a small golden stylus removes a small particle from the contents of the Sainte Ampoule and carefully mixes it with the Chrism on the paten.
The king kneels while the Litany of the Saints is chanted by two archbishops or bishops, concluding with two prayers. The Archbishop then says the formal prayer of consecration: God eternal, All powerful, Creator and Governor of the