DOI Artikel:
Crossley, Paul: "Bohemia Sacra" and "Polonia Sacra"
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20619#0057
Charles himself wrote the ordinal between 1344—1347,
at least ten years before he and Peter Parler began to
give the cathedraPs south transept and Wenceslas chapel
its present shape, but it seems elear that the spatial dis-
positions and liturgical stations along the Southern axis
of the cathedral were conceived with reference to the
ordinal, and indeed crystallize into imagery the generał
thrust of the ordinaPs meanings17.
The coronation centred on three areas of the cathe-
dral, each of them consecutive stations in the ordinal:
the south transept porch, the Wenceslas chapel, and the
finał place of coronation - the high altar and shrine of
St Vitus. Although the south transept entrance has no
specifically ‘coronation’ iconography, the splendour of
its decoration facing the royal pałace immediately to the
south of the cathedral, the heraldry of Bohemia and the
empire decorating its spectacular staircase, and the im-
ages of Charles himself in the mosaic and among the
lost standing figures of the portal - all this draws it into
the ambience of the king’s pałace (ill. 1). So did the or-
dinal. On the morning of the coronation, the archbishop
of Prague and his suffragans process in fuli vestments,
carrying the sword of St Wenceslas, crosses and thuribles,
from the cathedral to the royal bedchamber in the pał-
ace, where the king waits in the presence of princes and
nobles. The prelates cense and asperge the chamber, and
then, to the singing of the Ecce mitto, and the pealing
of the great beli, the archbishop helps the king to his
feet and leads him and the nobles in procession out of
the pałace and through the south transept portal to the
altar of the Holy Cross. Pałace and portal are thus United
in the first stage of the ceremony18 (ill. 3).
The next station, at the Holy Cross altar, is critical in
the symbolic merging of liturgy and architectural ambi-
ence, for here a kind of ‘ceremoniał polarity’ is set up
between the high altar of St Vitus on the one hancl and
the area around the south transept and Wenceslas chapel
on the other. The prelates and nobles process before
the king, in the direction of the high altar, leaving the
latter, in the company of two bishops, to kneel before
the altar of the Holy Cross and venerate ‘the relics placed
upon it’, while the anthem Firmetur manus tua, Psalm
89, and the prayer Deus, qui scis (calling for God’s help
to empower the king) are sung and said19 (ill. 3). This
protracted station acts as a preparatory and invocatory
part of the service, before the king proceeds to the ac-
tual crowning and anointing at the St Vitus altar. The
17 The ordinal is published by J. Ci bulka, Ćesky korunovaćni
Md a jebo pńvod, Prague 1934. Charles must have written the ordinal
between the promotion of Prague to an archbishopric in 1344 and his
own coronation as King of Bohemia in 1347. For the dating see K.
O t a v s k y, Die Sanktwenzelskrone im Prager Domschatz und die Pragę
der Kunstauffassung am Hofe Kaiser Karls IV, Berne 1992, pp. 26-37,
Ormrod, op. cit., pp, 316-337, presents the most convincing analysis
of the ordinal in relation to the architecture. I am grateful to her for
generously sharing her ideas with me.
18 C i b u 1 k a, op, cit,, pp. 77-7H.
19 Ibidem.
6. Prague cathedral. Interior of choir looking south east
(photo: Courtauld Institute of Art)
psalm celebrates the futurę powers which God will give
the ruler, and his ‘throne which I will make endure for-
ever’. The anthem calls on God’s power to protect and
strengthen the king, and on ‘mercy and truth to go be-
fore the king’s face’; ‘may justice and judgements be pre-
pared for your throne’ (iusticia et iudivium prepaj-acio
sedis tue)20. The hopeful and prophetic tonę of these
prayers, for a king-elect about to step from secular suc-
cession to sacral consecration, was given a special reso-
nance in the setting of the Holy Cross altar. Sometime
between 1367 and 1369 Charles moved the position of
the altar from its traditional site in the centre of the Ro-
manesąue cathedral to the south transept, placing it up
against the northern part of the western wali of the
newly-consecrated Wenceslas chapel21. At a stroke, this
preparatory station was thus brought into direct contact
with the ambience of St Wenceslas and his chapel and
20 This ‘preParatory’ stage of the coronation had been signalled
liturgically in the procession from the bedchamber to the cathedral,
for the anthem Ecce mitto angelum m,eum was prescribed for the re-
ception of emperors in their adventi. The emperor, as God’s anointed,
prepares the way for, and in a symbolic sense is, Cbristus Dei, the
Chrlst-King. See E. K a n torowi c z, The King’s Aduont and the Enig-
matic Panels in the Doors of Santa Sabina, Art Bulletin, 26: 1944, pp.
207-231.
21 In the Romanesąue cathedral the altar of the Holy Cross stood
probably in front of the screen and steps leaciing down to the eastern
crypt, roughly on a linę with the western apse of the Wenceslas ro-
53
at least ten years before he and Peter Parler began to
give the cathedraPs south transept and Wenceslas chapel
its present shape, but it seems elear that the spatial dis-
positions and liturgical stations along the Southern axis
of the cathedral were conceived with reference to the
ordinal, and indeed crystallize into imagery the generał
thrust of the ordinaPs meanings17.
The coronation centred on three areas of the cathe-
dral, each of them consecutive stations in the ordinal:
the south transept porch, the Wenceslas chapel, and the
finał place of coronation - the high altar and shrine of
St Vitus. Although the south transept entrance has no
specifically ‘coronation’ iconography, the splendour of
its decoration facing the royal pałace immediately to the
south of the cathedral, the heraldry of Bohemia and the
empire decorating its spectacular staircase, and the im-
ages of Charles himself in the mosaic and among the
lost standing figures of the portal - all this draws it into
the ambience of the king’s pałace (ill. 1). So did the or-
dinal. On the morning of the coronation, the archbishop
of Prague and his suffragans process in fuli vestments,
carrying the sword of St Wenceslas, crosses and thuribles,
from the cathedral to the royal bedchamber in the pał-
ace, where the king waits in the presence of princes and
nobles. The prelates cense and asperge the chamber, and
then, to the singing of the Ecce mitto, and the pealing
of the great beli, the archbishop helps the king to his
feet and leads him and the nobles in procession out of
the pałace and through the south transept portal to the
altar of the Holy Cross. Pałace and portal are thus United
in the first stage of the ceremony18 (ill. 3).
The next station, at the Holy Cross altar, is critical in
the symbolic merging of liturgy and architectural ambi-
ence, for here a kind of ‘ceremoniał polarity’ is set up
between the high altar of St Vitus on the one hancl and
the area around the south transept and Wenceslas chapel
on the other. The prelates and nobles process before
the king, in the direction of the high altar, leaving the
latter, in the company of two bishops, to kneel before
the altar of the Holy Cross and venerate ‘the relics placed
upon it’, while the anthem Firmetur manus tua, Psalm
89, and the prayer Deus, qui scis (calling for God’s help
to empower the king) are sung and said19 (ill. 3). This
protracted station acts as a preparatory and invocatory
part of the service, before the king proceeds to the ac-
tual crowning and anointing at the St Vitus altar. The
17 The ordinal is published by J. Ci bulka, Ćesky korunovaćni
Md a jebo pńvod, Prague 1934. Charles must have written the ordinal
between the promotion of Prague to an archbishopric in 1344 and his
own coronation as King of Bohemia in 1347. For the dating see K.
O t a v s k y, Die Sanktwenzelskrone im Prager Domschatz und die Pragę
der Kunstauffassung am Hofe Kaiser Karls IV, Berne 1992, pp. 26-37,
Ormrod, op. cit., pp, 316-337, presents the most convincing analysis
of the ordinal in relation to the architecture. I am grateful to her for
generously sharing her ideas with me.
18 C i b u 1 k a, op, cit,, pp. 77-7H.
19 Ibidem.
6. Prague cathedral. Interior of choir looking south east
(photo: Courtauld Institute of Art)
psalm celebrates the futurę powers which God will give
the ruler, and his ‘throne which I will make endure for-
ever’. The anthem calls on God’s power to protect and
strengthen the king, and on ‘mercy and truth to go be-
fore the king’s face’; ‘may justice and judgements be pre-
pared for your throne’ (iusticia et iudivium prepaj-acio
sedis tue)20. The hopeful and prophetic tonę of these
prayers, for a king-elect about to step from secular suc-
cession to sacral consecration, was given a special reso-
nance in the setting of the Holy Cross altar. Sometime
between 1367 and 1369 Charles moved the position of
the altar from its traditional site in the centre of the Ro-
manesąue cathedral to the south transept, placing it up
against the northern part of the western wali of the
newly-consecrated Wenceslas chapel21. At a stroke, this
preparatory station was thus brought into direct contact
with the ambience of St Wenceslas and his chapel and
20 This ‘preParatory’ stage of the coronation had been signalled
liturgically in the procession from the bedchamber to the cathedral,
for the anthem Ecce mitto angelum m,eum was prescribed for the re-
ception of emperors in their adventi. The emperor, as God’s anointed,
prepares the way for, and in a symbolic sense is, Cbristus Dei, the
Chrlst-King. See E. K a n torowi c z, The King’s Aduont and the Enig-
matic Panels in the Doors of Santa Sabina, Art Bulletin, 26: 1944, pp.
207-231.
21 In the Romanesąue cathedral the altar of the Holy Cross stood
probably in front of the screen and steps leaciing down to the eastern
crypt, roughly on a linę with the western apse of the Wenceslas ro-
53