§ 1. The election and inauguration of Monarchs must be conducted with the most celebrated magnificence of preparations and the varied pomp of ceremonies.
For the greatness of the matter demands this, so that, in order that it may be more conspicuous even to all the imprudent, it should be adorned by the addition of outward splendor. Next, the difficulties in a Principate are so great and so continual that no one would undertake it unless he were induced to those enormous labors by these things as though by enticements; for Kings undertake the care of an exceedingly monstrous beast. Plato truly said: if there were a city of good men, περιμάχητον ἂν εἶναι τὸ μὴ ἄρχειν, ὥσπερ νῦν τὸ ἄρχειν; it would come to pass that men would flee from commands as eagerly as they now seek them.
Therefore, biting cares must be made to appear easy, and the most perilous dangers magnificent, lest their weight become apparent.
§ 2. When a Monarch is elected, singular provision must be made for the security and liberty of the electors.
Accurate provision concerning this matter was made in the Roman Empire. For the Golden Bull of Charles IV not only commands that all territories lie open to all who journey to the election, but also binds everyone so that no one may hinder them, and commands that safe conduct be furnished to them:
We furthermore decree and command all the other Princes holding Fiefs from the Holy Roman Empire, by whatever name they are designated, and likewise all Counts, Barons, Knights, Vassals, Nobles and Commoners, Citizens and communities of all castles, cities, and places of the Holy Empire, that at the same time—namely, when an Election of a King of the Romans to be advanced as Emperor is to be celebrated—they shall, without guile and in the manner aforesaid, escort through their territories, and elsewhere as far as they can, every Prince Elector who asks safe conduct of them or any of them, or his messengers whom he has directed to that Election, as stated above.
But if any presume to act contrary to this our constitution, they shall by that very fact incur the penalties written below. All Princes, Counts, Barons, Knights, Vassals, and all others acting to the contrary shall incur the guilt of perjury and deprivation of all Fiefs which they hold from the Holy Roman Empire and from any others whatsoever, and also of all their possessions held from whomsoever.
All citizens and communities who presume to act against the foregoing shall likewise be perjured and, moreover, shall be entirely deprived of all their rights, liberties, privileges, and favors obtained from the Holy Empire; and they, together with their persons and all their goods, shall fall under the Imperial Ban and proscription. By that very fact we deprive them of right from now as from then; and henceforth it shall be permissible for any person, by his own authority and without judgment or invocation of any magistrate, to attack them with impunity. The person who attacks them shall have to fear no penalty on this account from the Empire or from anyone else, especially since such rash contemners of so great a matter are proved to act faithlessly and perversely as rebels, disobedient men, and perjurers against the state and the status and dignity of the Holy Empire, and also against their own honor and safety.
We furthermore decree and command that the citizens and communities of all cities shall sell, or cause to be sold, provisions at the common price and rate to the aforesaid Princes Electors and to each of them who requests this, and to their messengers, for their necessities or those of their aforesaid messengers and men, both when they approach the aforesaid city for the purpose of celebrating the aforesaid Election and when they depart from it, employing no fraud whatsoever in the foregoing. Otherwise, we will that those acting to the contrary shall by that very fact incur those penalties which we declared above to be promulgated against citizens and communities.
Furthermore, if anyone among the Princes, Counts, Barons, Knights, Vassals, Nobles or Commoners, citizens, or communities of cities presumes to set hostile watches or prepare ambushes for a Prince Elector going to celebrate the Election of the King of the Romans or returning again from it, or to attack or disturb them or any one of them in their own persons, in the persons of their men, or in their property, or their aforesaid messengers or any of them—whether they requested safe conduct or did not judge it necessary to require it—we decree that he, together with all the accomplices of his malice, has by that very fact incurred the aforesaid penalties, so that every person shall incur the penalty or penalties which, according to the foregoing, we judged should be inflicted according to the condition of the persons.
But if any Prince Elector were carrying on enmities with any fellow Elector, and any contention, controversy, or dissension were proceeding between them, notwithstanding these things each shall be bound to escort the other, or the other’s messengers to be dispatched to an Election of this kind, in the manner previously provided, under the penalty of perjury and the loss, on that occasion only, of his vote in the Election, as was expressed above.
But if any other Princes, Counts, Barons, Knights, Vassals, Nobles and Commoners, citizens, or communities of cities harbored an adverse disposition toward any Prince Elector or several of them, or any discord, war, or dissension were proceeding among them, nevertheless, with all contradiction and guile ceasing, they shall be obliged to furnish to the Prince Elector or Princes, or to his or their messengers going to an Election of this kind and returning from it, such safe conduct as each will desire to furnish in order to avoid the aforesaid penalties laid by us upon them; and we decree that those who act otherwise have incurred these penalties by that very fact.
And this is the chief point in the election of the Supreme Emperor: that with true liberty the Princes may choose from among many the man who is to preside over all. For it must not be considered an election where fear extorts votes from the unwilling.
§ 3. The Emperor furnishes no less security within the very city appointed for the election:
We enjoin and command the citizens of Frankfurt faithfully and diligently, by virtue of the oath which we decree that they shall swear upon the sacred things concerning this matter, to protect and defend all the Princes Electors collectively, and each of them, from an attack by another if any adversity should arise among them, and also from every person, together with all their men whom they and each of them have brought to the aforesaid city within the aforesaid number of two hundred horses. Otherwise they shall incur the guilt of perjury and, moreover, shall entirely lose all their rights, liberties, privileges, favors, and concessions which they are known to have obtained from the Holy Empire.
They shall also by that very fact fall under the Imperial Ban, together with their persons and all their goods. From then on it shall be permissible for every person, by his own authority and without judgment, to attack with impunity those citizens whom in that event, from now as from then, we deprive of every right, as traitors, faithless men, and rebels against the Empire, so that those who attack them in this way need fear no penalty whatsoever from the Holy Empire or from anyone else.
Furthermore, during all the time in which the often-mentioned Election is discussed and conducted, the aforesaid citizens of Frankfurt shall admit no one into the aforesaid city, nor permit anyone to enter it in any way, whatever dignity, condition, or status he possesses, excepting only the Princes Electors or their aforesaid messengers or Procurators, each of whom must be admitted with two hundred horses, as stated above.
But if, after the entrance of the Princes Electors or in their presence, anyone happens to be found in the aforesaid city, those citizens shall arrange his departure at once, without delay and with effect, under all the penalties promulgated above against them and also by virtue of the oath which the citizens of Frankfurt themselves, by virtue of the present Constitution, shall be obliged to swear upon the sacred things concerning this matter, as was expressed above.
Nearly the same precaution is employed for Cardinals journeying to the assembly for electing a Pontiff and enclosed at Rome in the conclave.
§ 4. The end is that, after setting aside their affections, they may elect a man useful not to themselves but to the state. Thus the electors in the Empire are accustomed to swear, as is set forth in title 2 of the Golden Bull:
When a Mass of this kind has been completed, all those Ecclesiastical Electors shall reverently place their hands upon their breasts before the Gospel of blessed John—“In the beginning was the Word”—which shall have to be
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placed there before them. But the secular Princes Electors shall physically touch that Gospel with their hands. At that time all shall be obliged to stand there unarmed with their whole household. The Archbishop of Mainz shall give them the form of the oath, and he together with them, and they themselves, or the Messengers of those absent together with him, shall swear the oath in the common tongue in this form:
I, N., Archbishop of Mainz, Archchancellor of the Holy Empire throughout Germany and Prince Elector, swear upon the holy Gospels of God here physically placed before me that, by the fidelity by which I am bound to God and the Holy Roman Empire, according to all my discretion and understanding, with God’s aid, I will elect a temporal head for the Christian people—that is, a King of the Romans to be advanced as Caesar—who shall be suitable for this, insofar as my discretion and judgment direct me and according to the aforesaid fidelity; and I shall give my voice and vote, or the aforesaid Election, without any compact, payment, price, promise, or anything by whatever name such things may be called. So may God and all the Saints help me.
§ 5. Nevertheless, that pomp of ceremonies has not always been observed either in the Roman Empire or in other kingdoms. At times ambition, at times dangers, compelled everything to be conducted suddenly and hastily. Samuel solemnly designated Saul; he anointed David secretly, and after Saul’s death David held part of the kingdom. Judah called Rehoboam King, and Israel Jeroboam, with the rites passed over. Jehu was suddenly raised to be King; the soldiers dragged forth the trembling Claudius.
Tiberius immediately usurped the power and falsely refused the name. The soldiers themselves created innumerable Emperors after the authority of the Senate had collapsed. The beginning was made with Claudius; thereafter so many human monsters infested the world.
But care must be taken in the state that the judgment of establishing so great a power should not rest in the votes of the very lowest men, and by no means in the hands of the soldiery; for in truth they seek the man under whom there will be the greatest license and the least justice.
Hence it was also long observed that those elected did not fully reign without the authority of the Senate. Indeed, this was customary even in the time of the Kings: for royal birth did not secure the command for Lucius Tarquinius, the son of Priscus; rather, the guile of his rival overturned it. But as vices increased, nothing remained for the Senate except the servile compliance of adoring and flattering those selected.
Nevertheless, the better each Emperor was, the more highly he valued the authority of the Senate, as did Vespasian, Titus, Trajan, Tacitus, Pertinax, and others. Hence it happened that Emperors chosen by the Senate were frequently hateful to the soldiers.
There is a rare example in Tacitus, concerning whom Vopiscus writes. The army, which had been accustomed hastily to create an Emperor, sent a letter to the Senate asking it to choose a Prince from its own order. But the Senate, knowing that Princes chosen by itself did not please the soldiers, referred the matter to the soldiers. And while this was done repeatedly, the sixth month was completed.
Finally the whole Senate acclaimed: “Tacitus Augustus, may the Gods preserve you! We love you! We make you Prince!” But this was not merely rare; it was altogether unique.
Now that power has been transferred to the leading men, the seven Electors, and the ancient struggles have subsided.
§ 6. Soldiers used to raise Emperors upon a shield or a litter. This was done in the time of Maurice, as Draco relates in book seventeen concerning Germanus. Thus, in the case of Phocas, the soldiers προεστήσαντο, ἐπὶ ἀσπίδος τε εἰς ὕψος ἐξάραντες εὐφήμουν ἐκτόπως τὴν ἀναγόρευσιν. They made him Prince, raising him upon a shield, and proclaimed him after accompanying him with auspicious acclamations. Because Jehu was chosen by God in a council, he was raised upon the cloaks of the Princes.
§ 7. Roman Emperors were conducted into the Palace, according to Capitolinus in his Pertinax. But they had already been elected. Among the Israelites they were placed upon the royal mule and upon the throne, 3 Kings 1:34. Soldiers generally made a raised platform for a throne out of turf, according to Suetonius in his Vitellius. But it was customary for the ruler to be placed upon a shield; the Canninefates also imitated this, according to Tacitus, book 4. Claudian is a witness:
But when presently the soldier had raised you with the accustomed acclamation, etc.
This, however, was not done when they were elected in the city of Rome or Constantinople. At Rome, rather, thanks were immediately given to the Senate and the army; at Constantinople they were carried into the circus, so that they might greet the people and hear their auspicious prayers.
But now the procession, or solemn court, is instituted by the law of Charles IV, title 24:
On the day on which a solemn Imperial or Royal Court is to be celebrated, let the Princes Electors, Ecclesiastical and Secular, come at about the first hour to the dwelling place of the Emperor or King; and there the Emperor or King himself shall be clothed with all the Imperial insignia. Having mounted their horses, let all proceed with the Emperor or King to the place prepared for the session, and there let each of them proceed in the order and manner more fully defined above in the law concerning the order of procession of the Princes Electors themselves.
For the Archchancellor in whose Archchancellorship these things are done shall carry upon a silver staff all the Imperial or Royal Seals and Dies. The Secular Princes Electors shall carry the scepter, orb, and sword, according to what is expressed above.
Immediately before the Archbishop of Trier, as he proceeds in his place, there shall also be carried, first, the crown of Aachen, and second, that of Milan; and this only before the Emperor, because he is now adorned with the Imperial insignia. Certain inferior Princes appointed for this purpose by the Emperor at his pleasure shall carry them. The Empress also, or Queen of the Romans, clothed in her august insignia, after the King or Emperor of the Romans, and also after the King of Bohemia, who immediately follows the Emperor, shall proceed at a suitable interval to the place of the session, accompanied by her nobles and attended by her maidens.
Indeed, in title 25 he also pursued the arrangement of the table:
We establish that whenever the Emperor or King of the Romans celebrates his solemn Courts, in which the Princes Electors ought to serve or exercise their offices, the order written below shall be observed in them.
First, while the Emperor or King himself is seated upon the Royal Seat or Imperial Throne, the Duke of Saxony shall perform his office in this manner. Before the building of the Imperial or Royal session there shall be placed a heap of oats of such a height that it reaches as far as the breast or breast-strap of the horse upon which the Duke himself shall sit. He shall have in his hand a silver staff and a silver measure which together shall make twelve marks of silver in weight; and, sitting upon the horse, he shall first take that same measure full of oats and give it to the first servant who comes. When this
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has been done, he shall thrust the staff into the oats and withdraw; and his Deputy Marshal, namely, the man of Pappenheim, shall approach—or, in his absence, the Marshal of the Court—and shall distribute those oats.
But when the Emperor or King has entered for the meal, the Ecclesiastical Princes Electors—that is, the Archbishops—standing before the table with the other Prelates, shall bless him according to the order prescribed for them above concerning these matters. When the blessing has been completed, those same Archbishops, all of them if they are present, otherwise two or one, shall receive the Imperial or Royal Seals and Dies from the Chancellor of the Court. The one in whose Archchancellorship that Court happens to be celebrated shall proceed in the middle, with the other two joined to him on either side.
All of them, touching with their hands the staff upon which the Seals and Dies have been hung, shall carry them and reverently place them upon the table before the Emperor or King. But the Emperor or King shall immediately restore them to them; and the one in whose Archchancellorship this occurs, as stated above, shall wear the great seal hung from his neck until the end of the meal, and thereafter until, riding away from the Imperial or Royal Court, he reaches his lodging. The staff mentioned above shall have to be of silver, containing twelve marks of silver in weight; and each one of those Archbishops shall pay one third both of the silver and of its price. The staff itself, together with the Seals and Dies, must immediately be assigned to the Chancellor of the Imperial Court, to be converted to whatever uses he pleases. But after the one whose turn it was to carry the great seal has returned from the Imperial Court to his lodging, as stated above, he shall immediately send that seal back by one of his household to the aforesaid Chancellor of the Imperial Court upon a horse which, according to the propriety of his own dignity and the affection which he bears toward the Chancellor of the Court, he shall be obliged to present to the Chancellor.
Next, the Margrave of Brandenburg, the Archchamberlain, shall approach upon horseback, having in his hands silver basins containing water, of twelve marks of silver in weight, and a handsome towel; and, dismounting from his horse, he shall give water to the Emperor or King of the Romans for the washing of his hands.
The Count Palatine of the Rhine shall likewise enter upon horseback, having in his hands four silver dishes filled with food, each of which shall weigh three marks on the scale; and, dismounting from his horse, he shall carry them and place them upon the table before the Emperor or King.
After these things, the King of Bohemia, the Archcupbearer, shall likewise come upon horseback, carrying in his hands a covered silver cup or goblet weighing twelve marks and filled with wine and water mixed together; and, dismounting from his horse, he shall offer that goblet to the Emperor or King of the Romans to drink.
Moreover, just as we have learned that it has been observed hitherto, so we establish that, when the aforesaid Secular Princes Electors have performed their aforesaid offices, the man of Falkenstein, the Deputy Chamberlain, shall receive for himself the horse and basins of the Margrave of Brandenburg; the Master of the Kitchen of Nordenberg, the horse and dishes of the Count Palatine; the Deputy Cupbearer of Limburg, the horse and goblet of the King of Bohemia; and the Deputy Marshal of Pappenheim, the horse, staff, and aforesaid measure of the Duke of Saxony—provided that they are present at such an Imperial or Royal Court and each of them serves in his office. But if they or any of them determine to absent themselves from the aforesaid Court, then the daily ministers of the Imperial or Royal Court shall act in place of the absent men—that is, each in the place of that absent man with whom he shares a title or office—and, just as he performs the office, so shall he receive the profit in the foregoing matters.
Furthermore, the Imperial or Royal table ought to be prepared in such a way that it is raised in height six feet above the other boards or tables of the hall. On the day of the solemn Court, no one at all shall be seated at it except the Emperor or King of the Romans alone.
But the seat and table of the Empress or Queen shall be prepared at the side in the hall, in such a way that her table is three feet lower than the Imperial or Royal table and the same number of feet higher than the seats of the Princes Electors, who shall have among themselves seats and tables at one and the same height.
Below the Imperial session, tables shall be prepared for the seven Ecclesiastical or Secular Princes Electors: three, namely, on the right; another three on the left; and the seventh directly facing the Emperor or King, as was more clearly defined above in the chapter concerning the Seats and Order of the Princes Electors.
No other person, of whatever dignity or status he may be, shall sit among them or at their tables.
But none of the aforesaid Secular Princes Electors shall be permitted, after he has performed the duty of his office, to take his place at the table prepared for him while any of his fellow Princes Electors still has his office to perform. Rather, when any one or several of them have completed their service, they shall go to the tables prepared for them and wait while standing beside them until the others have completed their aforesaid services; and only then shall all and each together take their places at the tables set for them.