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Royal Divine Coronation Iconography in the Medieval Euro-Mediterranean Area
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Royal Divine Coronation Iconography in the Medieval Euro-Mediterranean Area

A special issue of Arts (ISSN 2076-0752). This special issue belongs to the section "Visual Arts".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (24 July 2020) | Viewed by 24043

Printed Edition Available!
A printed edition of this Special Issue is available here.

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Mirko Vagnoni

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Human Sciences, University of Basilicata, I-85100 Potenza, Italy
Interests: royal iconography; royal sacrality; meanings and functions of royal portraits; representation of power; royal kingship; political use of royal body; cultural transfers in the Mediterranean; Kingdom of Sicily in Norman–Swabian and Angevin–Aragonese period
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In the last decades, art historians have stressed the benefits of analysing medieval images and their figurative contents within their specific context and, in particular, they have underlined the importance of their visual impact on the viewers to determine their functions and specific meanings. In other words, in the analysis of a Medieval image, it has become fundamental to verify where it was located and who it was aimed at (and therefore its visibility) and for which practical reasons it was made. This has opened new perspectives, by creating an active historiographical debate about one of the most fascinating and studied iconographic themes of the Middles Ages: namely, the royal divine coronation. Indeed, in the specific case of some Ottonian and Salian illuminations, it has been proposed that their function was not political, or to legitimize power as traditionally suggested (Herrscherbilder), but liturgical and religious (Memorialbilder). This has led to a complete rethinking of the meaning of this iconographic theme: e.g., the divine coronation of the king would not symbolically allude to his earthly power but to the wholly devotional hope of receiving the crown of eternal life in the afterlife.

If this academic debate has been concentrated above all on Ottonian and Salian royal images, this Special Issue of Arts would like to deal with this topic by stimulating the analysis of royal divine coronation scenes in religious and liturgical context with a wider geographical and temporal setting, that is, the European and Mediterranean kingdoms in the period from the 12th to the 15th centuries. In other words, the area of investigation includes, but it is not limited to royal divine coronation (or blessing) scenes in mosaics, frescos, or paintings placed in cathedrals or monastic churches and illuminations of liturgical texts in European, Eastern European, Balkan, Mediterranean, Caucasian, and Middle Eastern kingdoms and empires.

Dr. Mirko Vagnoni
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Arts is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • royal divine coronation
  • royal iconography
  • royal sacrality
  • religious medieval arts
  • European kingdoms
  • Mediterranean kingdoms

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Editorial

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11 pages, 4305 KiB  
Editorial
Royal Divine Coronation Iconography. Preliminary Considerations
by Mirko Vagnoni
Arts 2019, 8(4), 139; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/arts8040139 - 23 Oct 2019
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3367
Abstract
In recent decades, art historians have stressed the benefits of analysing medieval images and their contents within their specific context and, in particular, have underlined the importance of their visual impact on contemporary beholders to determine their functions and specific meanings. In other [...] Read more.
In recent decades, art historians have stressed the benefits of analysing medieval images and their contents within their specific context and, in particular, have underlined the importance of their visual impact on contemporary beholders to determine their functions and specific meanings. In other words, in the analysis of a medieval image, it has become fundamental to verify where it was collocated and whom it was aimed at, and which practical reasons it was made for (its visibility, fruition, and usability). As a result, new perspectives have been opened, creating an active historiographical debate about one of the most fascinating and studied iconographic themes of the Middle Ages: the royal divine coronation. Hence, there has been a complete rethinking of the function and meaning of this iconographic theme. For instance, the divine coronation of the king might not symbolically allude to his earthly power but to the devotional hope of receiving the crown of eternal life in the afterworld. Moreover, in the specific case of some Ottonian and Salian illuminations, historiographers have proposed that their function was not only celebrative (a manifesto of the political ideologies that legitimized power), but also liturgical and religious. This paper places this topic in a historiographical framework and provides some preliminary methodological considerations in order to stimulate new research. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Royal Divine Coronation Iconography in the Medieval Euro-Mediterranean Area)
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Research

Jump to: Editorial

15 pages, 1133 KiB  
Article
The Abbey of Saint-Denis and the Coronation of the King of France
by Elodie Leschot
Arts 2020, 9(4), 111; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/arts9040111 - 02 Nov 2020
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3594
Abstract
Addressing the coronation issue in France always comes down to talking about Reims, its archbishop, its cathedral, and its Holy Ampulla. If these elements are indeed constitutive of the consecration ceremony, they only became so from the 13th century onwards. Before that, Reims [...] Read more.
Addressing the coronation issue in France always comes down to talking about Reims, its archbishop, its cathedral, and its Holy Ampulla. If these elements are indeed constitutive of the consecration ceremony, they only became so from the 13th century onwards. Before that, Reims had difficulty asserting its alleged prerogative to welcome the consecration’s ceremony. The practice of “festival crowing”, practiced by monarchs to assert their authority, did not indeed help the metropolitan Reims to assert its monopoly. In this context, Saint-Denis sought recognition of his rights to host the royal ceremony. Saint-Denis has always been intimately connected to the monarchy and hosted Pepin the first consecration, Pepin the Short and his heirs, in 754. In the 12th century, Abbot Suger’s arrival at Abbey’s head marked a new impetus for the Abbey in this race for prestige. The Saint-Denis church’s reconstruction and its liturgical organization demonstrate the great project that the Abbey pursued through the hosting of the ceremony’s coronation of the Kings of France. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Royal Divine Coronation Iconography in the Medieval Euro-Mediterranean Area)
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12 pages, 3123 KiB  
Article
Between Silences: The Coronation of Portuguese Medieval Kings (12th–14th Centuries)
by Carla Varela Fernandes
Arts 2020, 9(4), 109; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/arts9040109 - 29 Oct 2020
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2668
Abstract
The coronations of Portugal’s first dynasty constitute a complex topic. Approaching the theme requires understanding that an omission of words in written documentation can both affirm and deny possibilities. Likewise, visual documentation, such as illuminations, sculptures and other figurative arts, is scarce, raising [...] Read more.
The coronations of Portugal’s first dynasty constitute a complex topic. Approaching the theme requires understanding that an omission of words in written documentation can both affirm and deny possibilities. Likewise, visual documentation, such as illuminations, sculptures and other figurative arts, is scarce, raising a significant number of questions and thus is not trustworthy as a historical source. For this reason, the study of Portuguese coronations is filled with questions and silences. Art does not testify to these ceremonies, but shows that Portuguese kings valued regalia pertaining to both religious and secular ceremonies affirming their power, and that those insignias were different from those used by French or English kings in the same time period. In this study, I will use art, particularly funerary sculpture, but also objects with iconographic value, to demonstrate how these reflect elements of thought and the emotional pulsar of the various European societies that produced them. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Royal Divine Coronation Iconography in the Medieval Euro-Mediterranean Area)
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18 pages, 2126 KiB  
Article
De Modo Qualiter Reges Aragonum Coronabuntur. Visual, Material and Textual Evidence during the Middle Ages
by Marta Serrano-Coll
Arts 2020, 9(1), 25; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/arts9010025 - 18 Feb 2020
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2695
Abstract
The aim of this study is to analyze the coronation ceremonies carried out in the Crown of Aragon throughout the Middle Ages. Although the pope granted most Western monarchies the right to hold these ceremonies in their own kingdoms in 1204, our study [...] Read more.
The aim of this study is to analyze the coronation ceremonies carried out in the Crown of Aragon throughout the Middle Ages. Although the pope granted most Western monarchies the right to hold these ceremonies in their own kingdoms in 1204, our study will address the mechanisms used to appoint kings both before and after the consolidation of these ceremonies, mechanisms which reflected the power struggles between the parties involved, that is, the prince and the Church. We will examine the elements that remained constant throughout this period but we will also pay particular attention to the alterations that were made and how these had important consequences that went beyond politics and entered religious terrain. Among the changes were the kings’ efforts to participate in priestly orders, the promotion and consolidation of new liturgy with content intended to legitimize the kings, and the use of new iconographies with sacred references. As will be seen, these are only a small example of the mechanisms used by the sovereigns of the Crown of Aragon to re-emphasize their links with God, which had been weakened by the transformations to the anointing and coronation ceremonials and the resulting tensions with Rome, particularly during the times of Peter IV (1336–1387). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Royal Divine Coronation Iconography in the Medieval Euro-Mediterranean Area)
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27 pages, 7133 KiB  
Article
A Search for the Hidden King: Messianism, Prophecies and Royal Epiphanies of the Kings of Aragon (circa 1250–1520)
by Amadeo Serra Desfilis
Arts 2019, 8(4), 143; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/arts8040143 - 25 Oct 2019
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 7068
Abstract
Modern historiography has studied the influence of messianic and millennialist ideas in the Crown of Aragon extensively and, more particularly, how they were linked to the Aragonese monarchy. To date, research in the field of art history has mainly considered royal iconography from [...] Read more.
Modern historiography has studied the influence of messianic and millennialist ideas in the Crown of Aragon extensively and, more particularly, how they were linked to the Aragonese monarchy. To date, research in the field of art history has mainly considered royal iconography from a different point of view: through coronation, historical or dynastic images. This article will explore the connections, if any, between millennialist prophetic visions and royal iconography in the Crown of Aragon using both texts and the figurative arts, bearing in mind that sermons, books and images shared a common space in late medieval audiovisual culture, where royal epiphanies took place. The point of departure will be the hypothesis that some royal images and apparently conventional religious images are compatible with readings based on sources of prophetic and apocalyptic thought, which help us to understand the intentions and values behind unique figurative and performative epiphanies of the dynasty that ruled the Crown of Aragon between 1250 and 1516. With this purpose in mind, images will be analysed in their specific context, which is often possible to reconstruct thanks to the abundance and diversity of the written sources available on the subject, with a view to identifying their promoters’ intentions, the function they fulfilled and the reception of these images in the visual culture of this time and place. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Royal Divine Coronation Iconography in the Medieval Euro-Mediterranean Area)
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16 pages, 1249 KiB  
Article
Corona Angelica Pannoniae: ‘...ecce Angelus Domini’
by Edina Eszenyi
Arts 2019, 8(4), 141; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/arts8040141 - 23 Oct 2019
Viewed by 3519
Abstract
The article examines the Hungarian corona angelica tradition, according to which the Holy Crown of Hungary was delivered to the country by an angel. In order to embed Hungarian results into international scholarship, it provides an English language summary of previous research and [...] Read more.
The article examines the Hungarian corona angelica tradition, according to which the Holy Crown of Hungary was delivered to the country by an angel. In order to embed Hungarian results into international scholarship, it provides an English language summary of previous research and combines in one study how St. Stephen I (997–1038), St. Ladislaus I (1074–1095), and King Matthias Corvinus (1458–1490) came to be associated with the tradition, examining both written and visual sources. The article moves forward previous research by posing the question whether the angel delivering the Crown to Hungary could have been identified as the Angelus Domini at some point throughout history. This possibility is suggested by Hungary’s Chronici Hungarici compositio saeculi XIV and an unusually popular Early Modern modification of the Hartvik Legend, both of which use this expression to denote the angel delivering the Crown. While the article leaves the question open until further research sheds more light on the history of early Hungarian spirituality; it also points out how this identification of the angel would harmonize the Byzantine and the Hungarian iconography of the corona angelica, and provides insight into the current state of the Angelus Domini debate in angelology. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Royal Divine Coronation Iconography in the Medieval Euro-Mediterranean Area)
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