In this part of our session,
I will talk about the so-called coronation mantle,
which is today kept at the Imperial Treasury in Vienna.
It was made for the Sicilian King, Roger II between 1133
and 1134 at his Royal Workshop at Palermo.
The mantle is semicircular in shape
and would reach down to the floor when being worn. The fabric
is embroidered with silver and gold thread,
and in the middle of it we can see a palm tree
and on each side of it there is a lion sitting on a camel.
The edges of the mantle are inscribed
with an Arabic inscription, which is written in Kufic script,
and it carries the place and time of production.
Also, it contains blessings and glorifications for Roger II
The whole
textile is covered with thousands of pearls and gemstones.
In general, we can perceive the mantle
as a reference
to the socio political situation of Sicily during the 12th century,
because the style of the motives and inscriptions
refer to the Arabic Islamic heritage of Sicily
and th over type of the mantle does semi-circular long cloak
refers to the Byzantine Empire as the Byzantine emperors
would have worn this type of cloak as well.
Also, we have to keep in mind that Sicily was formerly part
of the Byzantine Empire and the Arabic Emirate of the Maghreb region.
Also during the time of the reign of Roger II
Sicily was surrounded by the Byzantine empire,
the Roman Empire and Arabic emirate of the Maghreb region.
So here we have different cultural influences,
which makes the object actually also
a culturally hybrid mantle.
Also, there are many different
interpretations of the iconography of the motifs,
but they all have one underlying notion,
and this is the idea of the legitimization
of the rule of Roger II over Sicily.
It is
thought that the different cultures
which are prevailing in Sicily at that time are shown here
in the mantle, which refers to the political unification
Roger II reached within Sicily.
Alao we can say that he kind of creates a cultural history
or actually historical identity for his Norman Sicily.
Later on, when
Roger II died, the mantle was
was taken over by the Hohenstaufen and then also integrated
in the imperial regalia of the Holy Roman Empire.
Later, it was then also used for the coronation
ceremonies of the Roman emperors.
However, at that time, the Norman history
or origin of the piece was erased, and, because it was believed
that the mantle was actually made for Charles the Great, so it was
was the Norman Sicilian heritage
was replaced by a Christian heritage.
The identity was changed.
Also it was Charles the
Great was kind of the ideal ruler for the whole holy Roman emperors.
So it was a very important or
very alluring to the holy Roman emperors
to put themselves in line with Charles the Great.
Even in the 18th century, when the inscriptions finally got
translated in Europe
the translation was altered
to serve this Christian identity of the Holy Roman Empire.
Concluding we can say
that the mantle actually is a reference
for legitimization twice one time during its original context
of the Norman Sicily, under Roger II
and the second time when the memory of the object
was changed under the Holy Roman Empire.