Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-09-12
The Coronation Robes.


All Of the coronation robes of the emperor
of the holy Roman empire. the mantle. the
tunic, the dalmatica, the stole, the girdle
gloves. stockings and shoes, are preserved
here. and. curiouSy. enough, they were
made by Mohammedans, designed and exc
cuted by Saracen artists at Palermo In 1133.
In shape and style they are very much like
the pontificaf robes worn by the Catholic
clergy and are embroidered In similar
manner. The material Is of oriental manu-
facture: the embroidery Is heavy in gold
thread in the most lavish style, and nearly
all the designs include Inscriptions in Kufic
or ancient Arabic characters, including ex-
tracts from the Koran and prayers to God
for strength and salvation. 1t is rather a
curious fact that the sovereign Of the great
Christian nation should have gone to the
Mohammedans for his imperial robes, and
should have permitted himself to attend at
his most important ceremonies wearing in
scriptions from the writings of Mohammed.
ALI Of the robes are heavily mounted with
precious stones. and the delicacy of design
and the artistic workmanship are unsur-
passed The .mantle is white. the alba or
surplice is purple, the dalmatica or cloak
is a dark violet and the stole Is yellow. The
girdle is made Of gold wire and bears the
Inscription 'Christus Rehgnat CrtstusQ I'm
parat Devs" In Roman capitals woven
through the whole length.
The gloves are Of red silk. The palms are
embroidered with an eagle and foliage de-
sign, while the backs are embellished with
golden scales and precious stones. The
stockings are of red silk and around the
top Is a border with an ornamental inscrip-
ton in Kufic (ancient Arabic) to the effect
that they belong to 'The Most Holy and
Highly Honored King William. who Is be-
loved of God and sustained by the power of
the Almighty"
These coronation robes are older and more
elaborate and of greater intrinsic and ar
tistic value than any other garments that
exist, and they have been worn by each
successive emperor for nearly 600 years.
Relics Of Christ and Apostles.
!. But what Is Of even greater value are the
relics Of Christ and the apostles which be-
longed to Charlemagne and have been
passed down from generation to generation
of sovereigns since his time. There Is
tooth of John the Baptist. q piece Of a gar
ment worn by John the beloved apostle.
three links of the iron chains with which the
apostles were bound, q bone from the arm or
st. Anne, the mother of the virgin. in q tube
manger In which Christ was born. a piece of
coarseiy woven linen which is said to have
been used by our Savior to dry the feet OF
his Disciples q part Of the table cloth used
at the last supper, a piece of the holy cross,
surpassed in size only by that preserved at
articles In Importance. the lance which
pierced the Savior's side. A slit has been
made In. the center Of the blade In order to
admit q nail which Is said to have been
taken from the cross. The history of this
lance can be traced back to the legendary
tfme3 of the Merovingian kings, and with
the other sacred relics Is supposed to have
been presented to their ancestors by the
Empress Helena, mother of Constantine the
Great who brought them from Jerusalem.
This lance Is said to have been carried by
St Maurice In TIA Crusadas. but ia AN