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Kaisersalbung. The Unction of Emperors in Late Byzantine Coronation Ritual

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2016

Donald M. Nicol
Donald M. Nicol*
Affiliation:
University of London, King’s College
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Extract

The anointing of emperors (Kaisersalbung) in the late Byzantine coronation ritual formed part of the subject of an often cited article by Professor George Ostrogorsky in 1955.’ The purpose of these few words is to re-examine the evidence for this practice and to suggest some different conclusions.

Type
Research Article
Information
Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies , Volume 2 , 1976 , pp. 37 - 52
Copyright
Copyright © The Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies, University of Birmingham 1976

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References

1. Ostrogorsky, G., ‘Zur Kaisersalbung und Schilderhebung im spätbyzantinischen Krönungszeremoniell’, Historia, IV (Festschrift für Wilhelm Ensslin, 1955), 246–56 Google Scholar (reprinted in Ostrogorsky, G., Zur Byzantinischen Geschichte. Ausgewaählte kleine Schriften (Darmstadt, 1973), pp. 142–52 Google Scholar).

2. Ostrogorsky, op. cit., 246f. Brightman, F. E., ‘Byzantine Imperial Coronations’, Journal of Theological Studies, II (1901), 385 Google Scholar. Cf. Christophilopoulou, Aikaterine, (Athens, 1957), pp. 169f Google Scholar. See also Raybaud, L.-P., Le gouvernement et l’administration centrale de l’empire byzantin sous les premiers Paléologues (1258-1354) (Paris, 1968), pp. 69–73 Google Scholar, though the author seems to have been unaware of Ostrogorsky’s article. The essay by Goschew, I., ‘Zur Frage der Krönungszeremonien und die zeremonielle Gewandung der Byzantinischen und der Bulgarischen Herrscher im Mittelalter’, Byzantinobulgarica, II (1966), 145–68 Google Scholar, contains several inaccuracies and adds nothing new to the subject. The iconographical evidence for the rite of unction is discussed by Walter, Ch., ‘The Significance of Unction in Byzantine Iconography’, below pp. 53–73 Google Scholar.

3. Choniates, Niketas, Historia (CSHB), p. 70 Google Scholar line 12: … The text of this passage is rendered with a significant difference by Habert, Isaac, Liber Pontificalis Ecclesiae Graecae (Paris, 1643), p. 627 Google Scholar: …

4. Choniates, Historia, p. 603 line 7:…

5. George Akropolites, ed. Heisenberg, A., Georgii Acropolitae Opera, I (Leipzig, 1903), p. 11 Google Scholar, writes only of the proclamation and coronation of Theodore. See Angold, M., A Byzantine Government in exile. Government and Society under the Laskarids of Nicaea, 1204-1261 (Oxford, 1975), pp. 12–13 Google Scholar.

6. Nicetae Choniatae Orationes et Epistulae, ed. van Dieten, J. A. (Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae: Berlin and New York, 1972), p. 127 Google Scholar lines 20-23 :

7. Ibid., p. 134 line 18.

8. Ostrogorsky, op. cit., 250.

9. van Dieten, J.-L., Niketas Choniates. Erläuterungen zu den Reden und Briefen nebst einer Biographie (Supplementa Byzantina, 2: Berlin & New York, 1971), pp. 141–2, 146–52 Google Scholar. See also Karpozilos, A. D., The Ecclesiastical Controversy between the Kingdom of Nicaea and the Prindpality of Epiros (1217-1233) 7: Thessaloniki, 1973), pp. 22–5 Google Scholar.

10. Dieten, Van, Niketas Choniates. Erläuterungen, p. 154 Google Scholar: ‘Die Reden, welche Niketas an ihn richtete und für ihn verfasste, lassen aber keinen Zweifel, dass er in dem ihm botmässigen Reichsteil ab 1205 als Kaiser anerkannt wurde und den Titel Basileus führte’. Angold, op. cit., pp. 43-5.

11. D(ölger), F., in BZ, XLIX (1956), 201 Google Scholar. Cf. Angold, op. cit., p. 43.

12. See Menevizoglou, P., 14: Thessaloniki, 1972), pp. 129f Google Scholar. and passim; Petit, L., ‘Du pouvoir de consacrer le Saint Chrême’, and ‘Composition et consécration du Saint Chrême’, EO, III (1899), 1–7, 129–42 Google Scholar; Hermann, E., ‘Wann ist die Chrysamweihe zum ausschliesslichen Vorrecht der Patriarchen geworden?’, Sbomik v pamet’ na Prof. P. Nikov (Sofia, 1940), pp. 509–15 Google Scholar; Angold, op. cit., p. 43.

13. It is surely to these circumstances (the appointment of a head of the Church and the preparation of the holy chrism) that Michael Choniates refers in his letter to Basil Kamateros, ed. Sp. Lambros, P., II (Athens, 1880), p. 258 Google Scholar lines 20-4: Basil Kamateros, who was uncle of the wife of Theodore Laskaris, seems to have advised the Emperor to take these measures.

14. The first certainly attested case of an Emperor being raised on a shield in the thirteenth century is that of Theodore II Laskaris in 1254. Akropolites, ed. Heisenberg, I, p. 105 lines 20-1; Gregoras, Nikephoros, Byzantina Historia (CSHB), I, p. 55 Google Scholar lines 1-3. Ostrogorsky’s suggestion (op. cit., 255) that this ceremony was revived at Nicaea in imitation of the Schilderhebung of Baldwin of Flanders at Constantinople in 1204 is unacceptable. Neither Geoffrey of Villehardouin nor Robert of Clari mentions any such ceremony at the coronation of Baldwin, despite the assertions of Longnon, J., L’empire latin de Constantinople et la principauté de Morée (Paris, 1949), pp. 50f Google Scholar., and others—most recently Hendrickx, B., ‘Les institutions de l’empire latin de Constantinople (1204-1261): Le pouvoir impérial’, Byzantina, VI (1974), 102–3 Google Scholar. On the iconographical and other evidence for Schilderhebung and its revival in the thirteenth century see Walter, C., ‘Raising on a shield in Byzantine iconography’, REB, XXXIII (1975), 315–56 Google Scholar.

15. Ostrogorsky, op. cit., 252: ‘Dennoch zeigen wohl die Quellenangaben, die wir anführen konnten, mit genügender Sicherheit, dass die Sitte der Kaisersalbung im Kaiserreich von Nikaia bestanden hat. … Diese Sitte, die sich in der Gedankenordnung der Byzantiner so fest eingefügt hatte, war jedoch ohne Zweifel in Byzanz in Nachahmung abendländischer Vorbilder entstanden’.

16. Clari, Robert de, La conquête de Constantinople, ed. Lauer, P. (Paris, 1924), § XCVI, p. 95 Google Scholar; ed. Hopf, C., in Chroniques gréco-romanes inédites ou peu connues (Berlin, 1873), p. 74 Google Scholar. Kalojan of Bulgaria was likewise anointed and crowned according to the Latin rite by the cardinal legate Leo of Santa Croce at Trnovo in November 1204. See Wolff, R. L., ‘The “Second Bulgarian Empire”. Its Origin and History to 1204’, Speculum, XXIV (1949), 197 Google Scholar; Sweeney, J. R., ‘Innocent III, Hungary and the Bulgarian Coronation: A Study in Medieval Diplomacy’, Church History, XLII (1973), 320–34 Google Scholar (especially 323-4 and references).

17. See, e.g., Wilson, H. A., ‘The English Coronation Orders’, Journal of Theological Studies, II (1901), 481–504 Google Scholar.

18. The sources make very little specific mention of anointing at any of the imperial coronations in Nicaea. George Akropolites says nothing about it. Gregoras, however, records that Theodore II Laskaris was anointed by the Patriarch: Gregoras, I, p. 55 line 23: Furthermore, the anointing of Michael VIII is clearly implied by Pachymeres (see below p. 46 and n. 30); and, for what it is worth, a short chronicle listing the Patriarchs between 1204 and 1254 says the same of John Vatatzes: Sp. Lambros, P., II (1910), § 27, p. 134 Google Scholar. Nikephoros Blemmydes composed a poem in honour of the birdi of Théodore II’s son John Laskaris. In this he makes much play on the word ‘anointed’, implying that the new prince was already anointed by virtue of his descent from a line of anointed Emperors. Nicephori Blemmydae Curriculum Vitae et Carmina, ed. Heisenberg, A. (Leipzig, 1896), p. 110 Google Scholar lines 8-9: Angold, op. cit., p. 45.

19. Gregoras, I, p. 26 lines 6-8: For the date of Theodore’s coronation Stiernon, L., ‘Les origines du Despotat d’Epire (suite). La date du couronnement de Théodore Doukas’, Actes du XIIe Congrès International des Etudes Byzantines, II (Belgrade, 1964), pp. 197–202 Google Scholar, proposed the end of 1227 or early in 1228. Some doubt about this chronology is expressed by Karpozilos, op. cit., p. 74, who has now argued in favour of the formerly accepted date of 1225: Karpozilos, A., ‘The date of coronation of Theodore Doukas Angelos’, Byzantina, VI (1974), 251–61 Google Scholar. Cf. Nicol, D. M., The Despotate of Epiros (Oxford, 1957), pp. 65–6 Google Scholar.

20. Apokaukos, John, ed. Vasilievskij, V. G., ‘Epirotica saeculi XIII’, VV, III (1896), 288 lines 7–8 Google Scholar: …

21. Ibid., 285 line 17: … …

22. Ibid., p. 286 lines 8-11: … Nicol, Cf., Despotate of Epiros, pp. 65–6, 91–2 Google Scholar.

23. Nicol, op. cit., p. 65.

24. Demetrios Chomatianos, ed. Pitra, J. B., Analecta Sacra et Classica Spicilegio Solesmensi Parata, VI (Paris and Rome, 1891), cols. 494–5 Google Scholar. Akropolites, Cf., ed. Heisenberg, I, p. 34 Google Scholar lines 1-5: Gregoras, I, p. 26.

25. Chomatianos, ed. Pitra, cols. 484-5.

26. Ibid., col. 490, where Chomatianos refers to ‘the ancient customs (observed) in Constantinople regarding the induction of Emperors and the election of Patriarchs …’ …).

27. Ibid., cols. 493-4. Cf. Nicol, op. cit., pp. 93-4; Karpozilos, ‘Ecclesiastical Controversy : : :’, p. 84; Menevizoglou, op. cit., pp. 129-40. Council of Carthage, Canon VI, in G. A. Rhalles and Potles, M., III (Athens, 1853), pp. 309–13 Google Scholar. The Patriarch Kallistos I, writing over a hundred years later (1355), was not so confident as Chomatianos about the propriety, or the efficacy, in the sacrament of baptism of the myron flowing from the tomb of the myroblytos Demetrios in Thessalonica. See his exhortation to the clergy of Trnovo in Miklosich, F. and Müller, J., Acta et Diplomata Graeca Medii Aevi, I (Vienna, 1860), no. CLXXXVI, p. 441 Google Scholar lines 5f. He also had fixed views about the patriarchal monopoly of the preparation of the myron for baptism (ibid., lines 30f). Herman, E., op. cit., Sbornik Nikov (Sofia, 1940), p. 513 Google Scholar, concludes that the Chrysamweihe was the monopoly of the Patriarchs or of the heads of autocephalous churches by the ninth century. It is noteworthy that the myron prepared by a Patriarch who was subsequently deemed to be in heresy was held to be invalid. So John Bekkos, the unionist Patriarch, at his trial in 1285, asks: … Pachymeres, George, De Michaele Palaeologo (CSHB), p. 98 Google Scholar lines gf.

28. Chomatianos, ed. Pitra, col. 493. … … Christophilopoulou, op. cit., pp. 211-12, notes the difference of opinion on the matter between Chomatianos and the Patriarch and ventures the suggestion that Chomatianos was not properly acquainted with former Byzantine practice and adopted that prevailing in the West, where simple oil and not chrism was used for the purpose. The significance of the statements of Chomatianos was also noticed by Jugie, M., Theologia dogmatica Christianorum orientalium, III (Paris, 1930), pp. 152–3 Google Scholar.

29. Cf. H.A. Wilson, op. cit., 481f.

30. Pachymeres, De Michaele Palaeologo, p. 507 lines 3-4. For the date and circumstances see Wirth, P., ‘Die Begründung der Kaisermacht Michaels VIII. Palaiologos’, JÕBG, X (1961), 85–91 Google Scholar; Nikephoros Gregoras, Rhomäische Geschichte (Historia Rhomaïke), übersetzt und erläutert van Dieten, von J. L., I (Bibliothek der griechischen Literatur, 4: Stuttgart, 1973), pp. 101–2, 236–7 Google Scholar. The Patriarch Arsenios in his Testamentum (MPG, CXL, 948-57) mentions only the ‘coronation’ of Michael VIII and not, as van Dieten implies (op. cit., p. 237), the Schilderhebung.

31. Cantacuzenus, John, Historiae (CSHB), I, p. 45 Google Scholar lines 17-18: …

32. Pachymeres, De Andronico Palaeologo, p. 196 lines 17-18: Westerink, L. G., ‘Le Basilikos de Maxime Planude’, BS, XXIX (1968), p. 43 Google Scholar lines 1179-92: Cf. Lamma, P., ‘Un discorso inedito per l’incoronazione di Michele IX Paleologo’, Aevum, XXIX (1955). P. 65 Google Scholar and n. 4. Raybaud, op. cit., p. 71, takes no account of the evidence of Apokaukos and Chomatianos and is therefore at fault in stating that ‘le seul sacre attesté au XIIIe (siècle) est celui de Michel IX, en 1295 (sic)’.

33. Cantacuzenus, I, p. 198 lines 8-10, p. 251 line 12. Cf. Gregoras, I, p. 373. Bosch, Ursula V., Kaiser Andronikos III. Palaiologos. Versuch einer Darstellung der byzantinischen Geschichte in denjahren 1321-1341 (Amsterdam, 1965), pp. 35–6 Google Scholar.

34. Cantacuzenus, II, p. 64: …

35. Cantacuzenus, II, p. 564; III, p. 29 lines 9-14. For the dates and circumstances see Nicol, D. M., The Byzantine Family of Kantakouzenos (Cantacuzenus) ca. 1100-1460 (Dumbarton Oaks Studies, XI: Washington, D.C., 1968), pp. 61, 65 Google Scholar.

36. Cantacuzenus, III, pp. 270-71: Cf. the remarks of Nicholas Kabasilas in his Encomium of the Emperor Matthew, ed. Jugie, M., ‘Nicolas Cabasilas, Panégyriques inédites de Mathieu Cantacuzene et d’Anne Paléologine’, Izvestija russkago archeologičeskago instituta v Konstantinopole, XV (1911), 116–17 Google Scholar: … Gregoras, III, p. 204 lines 12-16, says simply that the imperial crown was placed on Matthew’s head by his father, ‘assisted, according to ancient custom, by the Patriarch Philotheos who had recently succeeded Kallistos’.

37. Pseudo-Kodinos, , Traité des Offices, ed. Verpeaux, J. (Paris, 1966), p. 258 Google Scholar lines 19-23: Cf. Cantacuzenus, I, p. 198 lines 8-10.

38. Pseudo-Kodinos, ed. Verpeaux, Appendix VI (‘Protocole anonyme du Laurentianus Vili, 17 sur le couronnement de Manuel II’), p. 355 lines 5-7, 9-15.

39. Miklosich and Müller, , Acta et Diplomata Graeca Medii Aevi, II, p. 190 Google Scholar: … Barker, E., Social and Political Thought in Byzantium (Oxford, 1948), pp. 194–6 Google Scholar, and Barker, J. W., Manuel II Palaeologus (1391-1425) (New Brunswick, N.J., 1969), pp. 106–9 Google Scholar, provide English translations of parts of this letter. Both render the word myron by the English ‘myrrh’, which is a misunderstanding.

40. Symeonis Thessalonicensis Archiepiscopi Opera Omnia, in MPG, CLV (De Sacro Templo et ejus Consecrations), cap. CXLVI, 353 : Menevizoglou, op. cit., p. 225.

41. Symeon of Thessalonica, op. cit., 353C.

42. Theophanes, Chronographia, ed. C. de Boor (Leipzig, 1883-5), I, PP-472-3; Manasses, Constantine, Compendium Chronicum (CSHB), p. 193 Google Scholar lines 4513-19.

43. Raybaud, op. cit., pp. 72-3.

44. Gregoras, I, p. 55 line 23.

45. Choniates, Niketas, Historia, p. 603 Google Scholar line 7 (cited above, n. 4). Christophilopoulou, op. cit., p. 211, argues for a literal interpretation of the words of Choniates about the anointing of Alexios III.

46. Balsamon, Theodore, Canones, in MPG, CXXXVII, 1156 Google Scholar: … Cf. Brightman, op. cit., pp. 384-5; Menevizoglou, op. cit., pp. 225-6.

47. Symeon of Thessalonica, op. cit., 353B. Chrismation with the holy myron was performed separately to confirm the recantation and reception back into the Church of certain types of heretics, categorized in Canon 95 of the Council in Trullo: Rhalles and Potles, op. cit., Il, p. 530.

48. Pachymeres, De Michaele Palaeologo, p. 507.

49. Pseudo-Kodinos, ed. Verpeaux, pp. 258 lines 19-29, 354 line 21-355 line 5. On the significance of the words ibid., p. 223 n.1. Symeon of Thessalonica, op. cit., 353C:… Symeon makes much the same point in his De sacris ordinationibus when contrasting the ordination of a bishop with the chrismation of an emperor: MPG, CLV, 417A: Cf. 432 B….

50. Makarios of Ankyra, ed. Dositheos of Jerusalem, (Jassy, 1698), cap. XXIX; cited by Allatius, L., De Ecclesiae Occidentalis atque Orientalis Perpetua Consensione (Cologne, 1648), col. 219 Google Scholar: