From Monte Mario the Teutonic host descended, when they had paid their
orisons, into the Neronian field, the piece of flat land that lies
outside the gate of St. Angelo. Here it was the custom for the elders
of the Romans to meet the elected Emperor, present their charters for
confirmation, and receive his oath to preserve their good
customs[332]. Then a procession was formed: the priests and monks, who
had come out with hymns to greet the Emperor, led the way; the knights
and soldiers of Rome, such as they were, came next; then the monarch,
followed by a long array of Transalpine chivalry. Passing into the
city they advanced to St. Peter's, where the Pope, surrounded by his
clergy, stood on the great staircase of the basilica to welcome and
bless the Roman king. On the next day came the coronation, with
ceremonies too elaborate for description[333], ceremonies which, we
may well believe, were seldom duly completed. Far more usual were
other rites, of which the book of ritual makes no mention, unless they
are to be counted among the 'good customs of the Romans;' the clang of
war bells, the battle cry of German and Italian combatants. The Pope,
when he could not keep the Emperor from entering Rome, required him to
leave the bulk of his host without the walls, and if foiled in this,
sought his safety in raising up plots and seditions against his too
powerful friend. The Roman people, on the other hand, violent as they
often were against the Pope, felt nevertheless a sort of national
pride in him. Very different were their feelings towards the Teutonic
chieftain, who came from a far land to receive in their city, yet
without thanking them for it, the ensign of a power which the prowess
of their forefathers had won. Despoiled of their ancient right to
choose the universal bishop, they clung all the more desperately to
the belief that it was they who chose the universal prince; and were
mortified afresh when each successive sovereign contemptuously scouted
their claims, and paraded before their eyes his rude barbarian
cavalry. Thus it was that a Roman sedition was the all but invariable
accompaniment of a Roman coronation. The three revolts against Otto
the Great have been already described. His grandson Otto the Third, in
spite of his passionate fondness for the city, was met by the same
faithlessness and hatred, and departed at last in despair at the
failure of his attempts at conciliation[334]. A century afterwards
Henry the Fifth's coronation produced violent tumults, which ended in
his seizing the Pope and cardinals in St. Peter's, and keeping them
prisoners till they submitted to his terms. Remembering this, Pope
Hadrian the Fourth would fain have forced the troops of Frederick
Barbarossa to remain without the walls, but the rapidity of their
movements disconcerted his plans and anticipated the resistance of the
Roman populace. Having established himself in the Leonine city[335],
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