The central feature of the coronation rite was his crowning, and this is a feature that seems to have been lacking in the Western rites for the consecration of a king, while on the other hand it is in strict agreement with the Byzantine procedure. Charlemagne always pretended that the whole affair was unexpected by him, and that the Pope alone arranged the coronation and took him by surprise. But there can be little doubt that the whole business, except perhaps as to the details of the rite, was premeditated and arranged beforehand. Charlemagne was crowned as Roman Emperor, and therefore in theory was the colleague and the equal of the Emperor at Constantinople. Hence it would seem natural that the ceremony by which Charlemagne was crowned should follow in essential details the rite used on such an occasion at Constantinople. It may be added that there is no mention of any anointing in the earliest forms for the coronation of an Emperor at Rome. It would seem, then, that the rite by which Charlemagne was crowned, was, so far as the West was concerned, an entirely new rite, following in outline the rite used at Constantinople. Thus then, in the West, in the ninth century, we find two groups of rites, quite independent of each other, (1) The Spanish-Frankish rite, (2) The Roman Imperial rite. In later days these two groups speedily reacted on each other, and produced a definite type of Western rite. The forms of the first group, French and English (no early Spanish forms are extant), probably do not represent their earliest state. There is not only an unction but a coronation, and also a formal delivery of kingly insignia, in the English rite, of Sceptre, Verge, and Crown; in the French rite, of Crown and Sceptre. It will be noticed that if the act of crowning was first observed in the West at the coronation of Charlemagne, it was very speedily introduced into the Western rite for the consecration of a king. There is no Roman coronation rite for a king at this date, but there is a Milanese rite of the ninth century, and with some such rite probably Berengar Margrave of Friuli was crowned at Milan in 887. It is noticeable that this Milanese rite for the coronation of a king is more or less identical with the imperial rite of the same date. It is very simple, the king being crowned and invested with a sword. This Milanese rite may perhaps be taken as representing the Roman rite of the coronation of a king in its earliest form.