THE ORIGIN OF THE WESTERN RITE
The Eastern rite was one and one only. There was only one monarch in the
East to be crowned, and therefore the rite was subject only to a natural
and internal development.
When, however, we turn to the history of the Western rite, we approach a
very much more intricate matter, for the contemporary western documents
give only general accounts and are not explicit as to details.
In the old Empire the coronation of the Emperor took place always
at Constantinople and never at Rome, and therefore the old rite was
essentially Eastern. When, however, the Neo-Roman Western Empire came
into existence, and Charlemagne was crowned at Rome on Christmas day 800,
there came into existence a Western Imperial rite. There is no record
of the forms used, nor do we even know for certain what took place on
that occasion, but we may perhaps presume that the Pope intended to
do what was proper on the occasion of the accession of an emperor,
and followed the Constantinopolitan ritual in outline, while it seems
probable that the actual prayers used were Roman compositions made for
the occasion. Here, at any rate, in the coronation of Charlemagne we have
the beginnings of the Roman Imperial rite.
But if the coronation of Charlemagne marks the origin of the Western
imperial rite, it does not mark the introduction into the West of the
rite of the consecration of a king, for such a rite had already been in
existence in Spain some two centuries before this time. Whether this
Spanish rite, which appears to have been well established in the seventh
century, was an independent religious developement of the ceremonies
which seem to have been observed at the inauguration of a new chieftain
among most of the northern peoples, or whether the idea of it was in any
way borrowed from Constantinople, there is not sufficient evidence to
show.
The Spanish rite was, as has been said, well established in the seventh
century. In the canons of the sixth council of Toledo in 638 a reference
is made to the oath taken by a Spanish monarch. Julian Bishop of Toledo
in his _Historia Wambae_[30] gives a short description of the anointing
of King Wamba, at which he himself was present in 672, and in his account
speaks of the customs observed on such occasions. It is then abundantly
clear that a consecration ceremony was observed at the accession of the
kings of Spain some two centuries before the rite of the coronation was
introduced at Rome.
But not only in Spain did such a rite exist before the introduction of
the imperial rite at Rome. It is found in existence in the eighth century
in France, and probably it was used there before this date. We read how
the first of the Carolingian kings sought the official recognition of
his dynasty from the Church, and that in response to his appeal Pope
Zacharias, ‘lest the order of Christendom should be disturbed, by his
apostolic authority ordered Pippin to be created king and to be anointed
with the unction of holy oil[31].’ He was accordingly consecrated in 750
by St Boniface, on which occasion we are told that he was elected king
according to the custom of the Franks[32]; and to make assurance doubly
sure he was a second time consecrated by Pope Stephen himself, who came
over the Alps for the purpose and ‘confirmed Pippin as king with the holy
unction, and with him anointed his two sons Carl and Carloman to the
royal dignity[33].’
For England, if we leave out of consideration the Pontifical of Egbert,
which cannot be ascribed to Egbert with any confidence, and of which the
date is uncertain, we have only scanty evidence of the existence of
any coronation ceremony before the tenth century, though we read of two
isolated instances in which, in Northumbria and in Mercia, under special
circumstances, kings are said to have been ‘consecrated’ during the
eighth century[34].
There remains the fact, then, that in Spain in the seventh century it was
the custom to consecrate the Visigothic kings with unction, and a similar
practice appears in France during the eighth century in connection
with the new dynasty inaugurated by Pippin. For England the evidence
is slight, though we read of kings being consecrated in two isolated
instances. This evidence is earlier in date than the period at which the
exigencies of the Roman Empire called an imperial rite into existence at
Rome. Thus there were in the West two separate and distinct introductions
of the consecration rite, the first into the Visigothic kingdom of Spain
from which, in all probability, the Frankish and Anglo-Saxon rites were
derived; the second in Rome on the occasion of the renaissance of the
Western Empire. About the end of the ninth century these two rites began
to influence one another, and from the Roman rite of the coronation of an
Emperor a Roman rite of the coronation of a King was produced.
In the consideration of the different Western rites and their
developements, perhaps the method most convenient to follow is, first to
treat of the imperial rite, and then of the royal. Though this method has
its disadvantages from the point of view of the interaction of the two
rites upon each other, yet on the whole it is the simplest and clearest
way of treating the many varieties of rite that accumulated in process of
time.
NOTE
There seems to be no evidence of the existence of any coronation rite
among the Britons. Gildas is sometimes quoted as evidencing the existence
of a British rite. He says as follows; ‘Kings were anointed, and not by
God, but such as stood out more cruel than other men; and soon they would
be butchered, not in accordance with the investigation of the truth, for
others more cruel were chosen in their place[35].’ It is plain that this
language is merely metaphorical.
There is a passage occurring in Adamnan’s life of St Columba which is
more to the point[36]. It speaks of an ‘ordination’ (_ordinatio_) of King
Aidan by the saint. ‘And there (i.e. in Iona) Aidan coming to him in
those same days he ordained (_ordinavit_) as king, as he had been bidden.
And among the words of ordination he prophesied things to be of his sons
and grandsons. And laying his hands upon his head, ordaining him, he
blessed him.’
I do not think that this occurrence can be regarded in any sense of the
word as a consecration of Aidan. It appears to be nothing more than a
very solemn blessing. The word _Ordinatio_ is curious, but it is probably
referring to the laying on of the hand in benediction.