Dinanderie; A History and Description of Medi Val Art Work in Copper, Brass and Bronze

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1910. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... remarkable brass font belong to a later period; but there is little doubt that the school of metal workers thus founded in the city continued for a long time, and may have produced many of the works to be found scattered all over North Germany. The bronze doors of Augsburg, which we will describe later on, are generally regarded as slightly anterior in date to those of Hildesheim; and we pass to the next important historical event in Germany affecting the art of metal work, which was the re-opening of the tomb of Charlemagne for the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, and the removal of the remains, together with the store of golden relics by which they were surrounded. This happened in 1165 during one of Frederick's infrequent visits to Germany, in his presence and that of the Archbishop of Cologne and the Bishop of Liege; when the sceptre and other symbols of royalty were removed to serve in the coronation ceremonies of future emperors. The crown, however, must have been already removed, as it appears to have been used at the coronation of the Emperor Conrad III. in 1138, when the arch and the inscription set in pearls which it bears, CHOVONRADVS DEI GRATIA ROMANORVM IMPERATOR AVG, were added. Charlemagne's canonisation was proclaimed on the occasion of the disinterment, and Frederick presented to the church, in commemoration of the event, the great corona which still hangs there, and ordered the preparation of a magnificent shrine to contain the remains, which was not completed, however, until a much later date. In 1215 Frederick II. was crowned at Aix-la-Chapelle, and then only were the remains placed in the finished shrine; but after some years, and all through the Middle Ages, it was believed to contain the body of a S. Leopard, until in the last century when, t...