A few days ago I wrote ...
Ubriachi was travelling (as a banker likely) and he had some business with the emperor (Charles IV), who thanked him for this with a noble title. Charles IV was known for a great interest in relics. And he had done just in 1366 a great coup, by moving the relics of Sankt Sigismund to Prague. San Sigismund was a saint, who once had been king, long ago ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigismund_of_Burgundy
I've to study the case a little bit longer. Another surprise. Some holy kings enter the stage, that's an invasion. Another blind spot detected. .... :-)
... and it triggered me to consider, which kings got the title saint, and if these real kings with Saint-career and a connected process, by which they got the title, might have influenced the long story, how the 3 Holy kings developed their dominant state.
I found only a few "holy kings" in the relevant time. There may be more, which I didn't notice.
A "List of Canonizations" maybe helpful in a search.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_canonizations
**********************
Sigismund, King of Burgundy (516-524)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigismund_of_Burgundy
canonized (? when) likely for the reason, that he installed the abbey in St. Maurice.
St. Maurice became location of the veneration of the Thebean Legion, which were 6666 men and between them many Saints.
That's the Saint, who was honored in the church of Cremona, in which Bianca Maria Visconti anf Francesco Sforza married. Also it#s the same saint, which was honored by Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta in his Tempio.
And Malatesta married "somehow synchron" Polissena Sforza (Sforza's daughter) at that opportunity.
**********************
Stephan I of Hungary, Holy King
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_I_of_Hungary
lived c. 975 – 15 August 1038
canonized by Gregory VII in 1083, 15 August
Emeric of Hungary, son of Stephan (not really king, but intended to become king)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Emeric_of_Hungary
canonized by Gregory VII in 1083 in same context, 15 August
Gerard Sagredo, bishop of Gerard Sagredo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerard_Sagredo
lived 23 April 980 – 24 September 1046
not a king, but canonized in same context as Stephan and Ermeric by Gregory VII in 1083, 15 August
The threefold canonization of Stephan, Emeric and Gerard Sagredo was initiated by ...
Ladislaus I, King of Hungary
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladislaus_I_of_Hungary
lived c. 1040 – 29 July 1095
canonized (possibly in same context as above) in 1192 possibly without authorisation of the Holy See, initiated by Bela III, king of Hungary
**************************
Henry II, German Emperor
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_II,_ ... an_Emperor
lived 6 May 972 – 13 July 1024, reigned 1002 - 1024 about the same time as Stephan of Hungary. It's said, that Emeric got the name "Emeric" on suggestion of Henry II in 1007
canonized by Eugen III in 1146
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Eugene_III
Henry was the last of the Ottonian kings, to which are counted:
Henry I the Fowler, King of the East Franks and Duke of Saxony, died 936
Otto I the Great, Holy Roman Emperor and Duke of Saxony, died 973
Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor, died 983
Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor, died 1002
Saint Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor, died 1024
(The Ottonian kings were Saxons, and belonged to that population, which was fought by Charlemagne during 8th century and finally integrated to the empire)
Cunigunde of Luxemburg, empress and wife of Saint Henry II, was declared Saint in 1200.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cunigunde_of_Luxembourg
Henry moved the capital from Quedlinburg to Bamberg.
Henry arranged that Bamberg got the state of a Bistum (1007).
2nd Bishop of Bamberg (Suidger) became Pope (1046/47)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Clement_II
possibly prepared, that Henry II became saint in 1146
(he was buried in Bamberg, the only pope, who was buried north of the alps; the sarkophag was decorated with 4 remarkable cardinal virtues; we discusssed these earlier ...
viewtopic.php?f=23&t=397&p=15353&hilit= ... ues#p15349
...).
8th Bishop of Bamberg (Otto the Saint) became Saint
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_of_Bamberg
(lived 1160-1039)
possibly prepared, that Henry II became saint in 1146
canonisized in 1189 by pope Clement III (11 years before Cunigunde), in the time, when emperor Barbarossa went to a crusade and when the canonization of Charlemain was discussed.
*************
Charlemagne
A canonization was arranged in 1165 in Aachen by Barbarossa and anti-pope Paschalis III, one year after the 3 Holy Kings arrived in Cologne (1164).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antipope_Paschal_III
Pope Alexander III didn't accept the canonization.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Alexander_III
A deciding role in the disrupted canonization process played the battle of Legnano (1176), which was lost by Barbarossa.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Legnano
Charlemagne himself was accorded sainthood inside the Holy Roman Empire after the twelfth century. His canonisation by Antipope Paschal III, to gain the favour of Frederick Barbarossa in 1165, was never recognised by the Holy See, which annulled all of Paschal's ordinances at the Third Lateran Council in 1179. His name does not appear among the 28 saints named Charles who are listed in the Roman Martyrology. However, his beatification has been acknowledged as cultus confirmed and is celebrated on 28 January.
by Wiki
Kanonisation: Auf Kaiser Friedrich Barbarossas Veranlassung erfolgte 1165 die Heiligsprechung Karls durch Rainald von Dassel, den Erzbischof von Köln unter Billigung von Gegenpapst Paschalis III., aber gegen den Willen von Papst Alexander III. Seit 1176 wird die Verehrung als Seliger geduldet: sie ist offiziell gestattet, nicht anerkannt, er ist deshalb nicht im Martyrologium Romanum verzeichnet.
http://www.heiligenlexikon.de/Biographi ... Grosse.htm
*************
Louis IX of France, the Saint
lived 25 April 1214 – 25 August 1270
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_IX_of_France
canonized by pope Bonifacius VIII in 1297
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Boniface_VIII
... a rather disputed pope
... in the time, when Philip IV the Fair of France, had been a rather successful French king
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_IV_of_France
... who finally caused, that the papacy took its place in Avignon.
********************
With this the series ends ... in the time of Charles IV we've then an emperor, who is very interested in religious matters and collects relics in a strange enthusiasm, possibly in the hope to become the next saint on a throne. He shows interests in Charlemagne, perhaps speculating, that this still might become a saint and possibly he himself would become the "second Charles the great".
His preferences were otherwise Wenzel, Vitus, Ludmilla, Adalbert and Sigismund with an accent on Wenzel, but also on Sigismund, king of Burgundy, who appears on the list above and in Charles attention variously between 1354 (preparing his state as new emperor) and 1368 (naming his new born son Sigismondo, later emperor Sigismondo).
In 1354 he got from Einsiedeln a part of the skull of Sigismondo, 11 years later he was crowned in Arles and he got further parts of the skull and a fighting axe of St. Maurentius from St. Maurice (where Sigismondo was buried originally).
A researcher Rudolf Chadraba has focussed on the condition, that Charles IV had prefered relics with victory or triumph symbols, for instance in the name of the saints (so from Veit, Sigismund, Victor, Corona, Laurentius, Palmaius Nikolaus). Chadabra points to buildings in Prague with triumphal character.
Since 1362 Sigismund relics got an own chapel in the St. Vitus Dome. Before 1359 he had send Sigismund relics to Freising, which became a center of Sigismund veneration in the Empire. Another Sigismund relic went to Kasimir, king of Poland. (Kaiser Karl IV - Staatsmann und Mäzen, Prestel 1978, p. 94 ff)
[Charles' interest on triumphs is related to Petrarca's "Trionfi" poem].
Charles interest on Sigismond of Burgundy (an early "holy king") went on Sigismondo, Charles' son and the later emperor. And so it reached Sforza and Malatesta in 1433 (emperor-visit) and in October 1441, when both married, rather precisely the time, when Trionfi cards started.
And it fitted the taste of all 3, cause Sigismondo the Saint has started the soldier cult around St. Maurice and the Thebain Legion, and was a king and soldier himself. Charles, Sforza and Malatesta were also soldier commanders. And Rene d'Anjou in 1449 with his founded Crescent knight order played in the same league, with special interest on St. Maurice. Emperor Sigismondo founded another knight order of the dragon, focussing on St. George, another knight saint.
*****************
So let's sort these all these dates a little bit:
Early time: I found two notes earlier than 10th century, that the "Magi" possibly were "Kings". The surviving old pictures show the Magi with Phrygian caps usually, not with crowns.
The oldest crowns seem to apear in Fulda c. 990, close to Quedlinburg, the caital of the Ottonian knigs. There were three kings with the name Otto and this might have triggered the idea to paint the Magi with crowns, as a new fashion. The great success of the Ottonian time is the victory against Hungarian invaders. The victory causes a Christian development in Hungary. A result of this developmen is, that 3 Hungarian Kings of 11th century (one only a king-in-spe) become Holy Kings (two in 1083 and one in 1192). As a sort of balance also a German holy king Henry II is formed (1146, in the preparation of a crusade with German participation) in the meantime, and also attempt was done to declare Charlemain a
holy king by Barbarossa (1165) and this already in relationship to the bones of the 3 magi in Cologne as "holy kings" (1164).
The stressed relationship between Empire and Papacy likely causes the 3rd Hungarian holy king, and dispute against Charlemain as saint (Hungary and France took side against the Barbarossa popes) .
With Fredrick II and the following time without clear emperor (1250-1272) the empire becomes weak and France gets strength, the Anjou expand to Southern Italy and finally also to Hungary. With some logic we see a Holy king of France, Louis IX (1297).
Generally it seems, that the idea to have holy kings in the church was operated in few cases only and was prefered only in few centuries.