Barbarossaleuchter
May be a curiosity for those who interpet the
World card as the New Jerusalem, as an interesting ecclesiastical-liturgical embodiment of the doctrine.
While looking up information on David in Florence, I learned that 29 December is his feast day in the Western Church (this was interesting to me in connection with his appearance in a Magi procession of 1429). This date brought me to a book which mentioned Frederick I ("Barbarossa") Hohenstaufen's canonization of Charlemagne, in the Aachener Dom (part of Aachen Cathedral now, but then the
Marienkirche of the imperial household) on December 29, 1165. Fulvio Delle Donne,
Il potere e la sua legittimazione: Letteratura encomiastica in onore di Federico II di Svevia (Nuovi Segnali, 2005), connects the choice of this day with David's day:
http://www.rosscaldwell.com/images/carr ... nne157.jpg
(the referenced lines: "... one cannot but recognize in his [Frederick II] conception of power that same hierocratic impulse that had led Barbarossa to canonize Charlemagne on 29 December 1165, the same day in which the biblical King David is also celebrated, and that had brought Henry VI to designate his own lineage with the character of the
imperialis prosapia (imperial family/line) called to reign forever over the earthly destiny of humanity.")
The reference to Barbarossa's canonization of Charlemagne led to Anne A. Latowsky,
Emperor of the world : Charlemagne and the construction of imperial authority, 800-1229 (Cornell UP, 2013), p. 188:
http://www.rosscaldwell.com/images/carr ... 13p188.jpg
Her description of the descent of the
corona, representing the New Jerusalem as well as a symbolic coronation that signaled the End Times, was too much to resist. I had to see McGrade's paper, to see if that were all true and to get some solid primary sources.
Michael McGrade, "
O Rex Mundi Triumuphator: Hohenstaufen Politics in a Sequence for Saint Charlemagne",
Early Music History, vol. 17 (1998), pp. 183-219.
Of course he doesn't disappoint. The
corona, chandelier, Barbarossa's
Leuchter, fortunately still exists, in great condition.
The panorama of the Aachener Dom here shows what the view from under the
corona up to the mosaic of Christ in Majesty surrounded by the animals of the Evangelists and the 24 Elders looks like:
http://www.aachendom.de/panorama.html
A still (you can obviously find lots of pics online of this stunning object in context):
JERUSALEM COMES DOWN
http://www.rosscaldwell.com/images/carr ... Kijcoa.jpg
This view from directly underneath shows the ultimate intended visual effect: Christ enthroned in the heart of the city, surrounded by the Evangelists and 24 Elders (and matching perfectly the octagonal shape of the chapel).
http://www.rosscaldwell.com/images/carr ... 697339.jpg
McGrade provides the text and a translation of the inscription on the bands:
http://www.rosscaldwell.com/images/carr ... 98/219.jpg
The "CELICA IHERVSALEM" part (SE corner of the lamp, looking NW) part:
http://www.rosscaldwell.com/images/carr ... usalem.jpg