Book contents
- Medieval Self-Coronations
- Medieval Self-Coronations
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 Self-Coronation As Ritual
- Part I Heritage
- Part II Infamy
- Part III Convention
- 9 Alfonso XI of Castile
- 10 Peter IV of Aragon’s Self-Coronation
- 11 Charles III of Navarra
- 12 Early Modern Dramatisation
- Conclusion
- Index
12 - Early Modern Dramatisation
The Road to Napoleon
from Part III - Convention
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 May 2020
- Medieval Self-Coronations
- Medieval Self-Coronations
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 Self-Coronation As Ritual
- Part I Heritage
- Part II Infamy
- Part III Convention
- 9 Alfonso XI of Castile
- 10 Peter IV of Aragon’s Self-Coronation
- 11 Charles III of Navarra
- 12 Early Modern Dramatisation
- Conclusion
- Index
Summary
This last chapter traces a general vision of the survival of some self-coronations during early modernity, focusing on the self-coronations of Frederick I of Prussia (1701) and Napoleon (1804), and the most recent examples in the twentieth century, as the practice is globalised, dramatised and formalised. The traditional anointment performed by medieval kings progressively turned into a secular gesture in early modern Northern Europe. In three decades, Europe witnessed three solemn self-coronations: Christian V of Denmark (1671), Charles XII of Sweden (1697) and Frederick I of Prussia (1701). After Napoleon’s self-coronation, this ritual became an opportunity for pomp and spectacle, as in the cases of Shah Reza Pahlavi (1926) and his son Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (1967), Jean-Bédel Bokassa (1977) and Tupou VI of Tonga (2015). The crucial question here is to what extent early modern and modern self-coronations have lost the actual content carried by their medieval precursors, even if they maintain the same ritual forms, in a secularised context.
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- Medieval Self-CoronationsThe History and Symbolism of a Ritual, pp. 296 - 301Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020