page_title: Monomachus Crown
section_title: Authenticity and function
hierarchical_section_title: Monomachus Crown / Authenticity and function
caption_attribution_description: English: So-called Crown of Konstantinos IX Monomakhos, National Museum of Hungary, Budapest
context_page_description: The Monomachus Crown is a piece of engraved Byzantine goldwork, decorated with cloisonné enamel, in the Hungarian National Museum in Budapest, Hungary. It consists of seven gold plates depicting Byzantine Emperor Constantine IX Monomachus, his wife Zoe, her sister Theodora, two dancers and two allegorical figures. The piece has puzzling aspects that have long made it the subject of scholarly debate; it was probably made in Constantinople in 1042.
  It was unearthed in 1860 by a farmer in what is now called Ivanka pri Nitre in Slovakia, then Nyitraivánka in Hungary. If it is a crown, it is, with the Holy Crown of Hungary of a few decades later and the kamelaukion of Constance of Aragon, one of only three surviving Byzantine crowns.
context_section_description: In 1937 Magda von Bárány-Oberschall investigated the enameled gold plates. The size of the crown formed from the plates led her to argue that it had to be a Byzantine consort's crown from the eleventh century.
  In 1994, the Greek Byzantinist Nicolas Oikonomidès expressed the view that the Monomachus Crown might be a nineteenth-century forgery. He was led to this opinion by the plain design, coarse finish and the erroneous and unusual captions, when combined with the circumstances of the discovery and plausible models for a forgery. In all these respects the crown contrasts strongly with the Holy Crown of Hungary. He suspected the forger came from Venice, without however being able to put a name to him.
  In his article, "The State of Research into the Monomachos Crown and Some Further Thoughts," which addresses Nicolas Oikonomidès' theory in detail and largely argues against it, Etele Kiss of the Hungarian National Museum mentioned that the crown could have been made for the emperor, to be presented in a triumphal procession, thus explaining the presence of the dancers, one area of debate.  Another problem is that the seven plates form a circle with a diameter of ca. 22 cm, too small even for a woman's head, and the plain plaques, lacking jewelled surrounds, are unlike other Byzantine crowns.
  Already in 1997, Henry Maguire had argued that the plaques were intended to be sewn to a leather or cloth backing, and suggested a belt, for which there are some sources, or diadem.  He related the dancers to a "chorus of graces" supposed, at least in Byzantine rhetoric, to form a ring around the emperor, dancing and singing his praises. The motifs of birds and plants are metaphors for the virtues of the emperor.
  In 2009 Timothy Dawson elaborated on these arguments, proposing that the crown was actually a ceremonial armband, a grand version of an armilla given to soldiers as an award. The De Ceremoniis of Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos written a century earlier describes how the emperor was presented with a crown on returning after a victory, which he then wore on his right arm. Dawson suggested that the most likely recipients in Constantine IX's reign were Stephanos Pergamos, a court eunuch who was a surprising success as a general, for his victory over George Maniakes at the Battle of Ostrobos on 2 February 1043, or the emperor himself on the same occasion. Michael Psellos records that the emperor sat between the two empresses to view the procession, which the placement of the plaques may reflect.
  The armill is a medieval variation, more often part of coronation regalia, which may also be relevant. 
  The triumph of Stephanos Pergamos was approved by the Emperor at the last moment and Dawson argued that rushed production could explain the coarse finish and spelling errors; if it was given to Pergamos, the lower quality and relative plainness of the piece are explicable. The same would apply to the depiction of the emperor, odd on a piece he would wear himself, as is the depiction of a figure representing Humility. If it belonged to the emperor, or came to do so when Pergamos' possessions were later confiscated, then after the celebrations it would have been stored in the Imperial treasure chamber and then later sent to Hungary as a diplomatic gift.  Alternatively it may have escaped Byzantium in the wake of the downfall of Pergamos. Another possibility is that it is simply loot from the Crusaders' sack of Constantinople in 1204, or the period of Latin rule thereafter. All these are speculative accounts.
caption: The crown from behind
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