Commentary on the Splendor of the Arch-Offices in the Coronations of Charles VII, Maria Amalia, and Francis

drawn by six horses and flanked on either side by four nobles, whom they call the coronation guards. The consecrator sent the crown, scepter, golden orb, and sword of St. Maurice to the imperial palace so that they could be carried before the King of the Romans as he proceeded to the temple. The pluvial, or mantle, brought from the treasury, was placed upon the altar of the insignia—where the envoys from Aachen and Nuremberg stood throughout the entire time of the coronation—by the serving bishops and abbots. The dalmatic, alb, stole, sandals, stockings, gloves, and girdles were brought into the electoral conclave for the King to put on there. The gatekeeper of the Empire, Count of Werthern, closed the door. Meanwhile, the first legates of the absent secular Electors had gathered in the town hall; the canopy, under which the King was to ride to the temple, was carried from there to the imperial palace by soldiers, who were followed by the deputies of the senate in the procession. When they were informed by the Marshal of Pappenheim that nothing further stood in the way of his proceeding to the church of St. Bartholomew, they rode to the Emperor's palace. When they had approached, the King's legates entered the conclave, where they also found the insignia on the table. The Saxon legate, Count Schönberg, drew the sword of St. Maurice from the scabbard, which he left on the table, and gave it to Count Pappenheim, to be carried before the King. The Brandenburg legate, Baron of Schwerin, gave the scepter to the Baron of Busec, who was the substitute for the hereditary office of Archchamberlain on this occasion; the Palatine legate, Baron of Wachtendonk, gave the golden orb to the Baron of Ulner, who had then been appointed as the substitute for the hereditary office of Archsteward, Count of Zeil-Wurzach; and the Hanoverian legate, Baron of Münchhausen, gave the crown to the Count of Stolberg-Geudern, to whom the duties of the hereditary office of Archtreasurer had been assigned. Thus, in this august solemnity, the archstewardship, which was that of the King of the Romans himself as Elector of Bavaria, was held by the Elector Palatine, and the office of Archtreasurer, which belonged to the Elector Palatine, fell to the Elector of Hanover, which pleased those concerned at that time. For the King of the Romans aspired at that time to the Kingdom and Electorate of Bohemia, and thus simultaneously to the archcupbearership connected to it, by which means—