Ordines Coronationis Franciae. Texts and Ordines for the Coronation of Frankish and French Kings and Queens in the Middle Ages, Volume I., ed. by Richard A. Jackson (review)

BOOK REVIEWS 517 a now-modest-seeming sum of£.8,000), theJarrow Lectures have for many years deserved their reputation as one of the most prestigious forums for the presentation of research on Bede. The collection,which makes this significant body of scholarship widely available for the first time, belongs in every library in which the early Middle Ages are seriously represented. Publishing these crammed and costly volumes was a worthy venture, in several senses. To adapt slightly the comments ofJ. O. Cobham, who introduced Colgrave's inaugural lecture, "It is hoped that those who read [these lectures] will send a cheque to the Rector, St. Paul's Rectory, Borough Road,Jarrow, Co. Durham" Q, 2), as well as to their bookseller . Allen J. Frantzen Loyola University Chicago Ordines Coronationis Franciae. Texts and Ordines for the Coronation of Frankish and French Kings and Queens in the Middle Ages, Volume I. Edited by Richard A.Jackson. [Middle Ages Series.] (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. 1995. Pp. xiv, 283. $49.95.) A number ofmodern scholars have studied or produced editions of the royal or imperial coronation ordines of the Middle Ages; Georg Waitz, Carl Erdmann, Percy Ernst Schramm, Michel Andrieu,Reinhard Elze are a few ofthe names that come to mind. Richard A.Jackson,the author ofa good book on the later French coronation ceremony, now joins this select group with his edition of all French coronation texts and orders from the Sacramentary of Gellone (790-800) down to the Ordo of 1200, some nineteen in all. This constitutes the first volume of a projected two-volume work and contains, among other topics, a general introduction to coronation rituals, a discussion oftheir manuscript sources, an analysis of the historical development of the ceremony and a statement of principles governing the edition and presentation of texts. Like some other scholars, perhaps, the present reviewer was initially dubious of the need for a new edition, especially for the Early Middle Ages, since I had long trusted the MGH texts as well as some of those published by the scholars noted above. In his introduction, as well as in related studies recently published in Viator,Jackson convincingly argues otherwise. Not only has he made a real contribution with his new edition of the four orders attributed to Hincmar of Reims and his analysis of their liturgical and political background, but he has produced a complete series of dependable texts for future students of kingship, liturgy, and church-state relations. It is especially welcome to have all of these between two covers. Jackson's introduction and individual commentaries for each order are clearly written and fully footnoted; his presentation of variant readings after each paragraph in smaller type rather than in a separate apparatus criticus is a good idea, and the layout of materials is visually pleasing. The scholarship throughout is reliable and impressive. 518 BOOK REVIEWS I venture to disagree with one interpretation, however, although because of the brief space allotted, the explanation will be in summary form. In Jackson's view, the origin of the royal anointing rite of the Franks—a critically important ritual because it was a decisive step in the Christianization of Germanic kingship —might have developed through eitherVisigothic or Irish influence or else have been developed by the Franks themselves by drawing on the Old Testament or the baptismal ritual. In my view, the evidence for Irish influence is much stronger than he allows, while arguments for other possible sources fail for several reasons. To take the latter two hypotheses first: although the unction rite might theoretically have been developed by the Franks themselves from Old Testament examples or the baptismal rite, there is absolutely no evidence that they ever actually considered applying such ideas to the contemporary kingship. The Franks simply did not think in such terms whereas copious evidence (that discussed by Raymund Kottje and Kim McCone, for example) shows that the Irish very definitely did, and did so frequently and programmatically. Moreover, the Carolingians sought for new legitimation techniques on a number of occasions in the seventh and eighth centuries right up to Pippin's own time, but the best they could do was the cappa of...