It has been shewn above how and why, about the time of Henry II, the German monarch began to entitle himself 'Romanorum rex.' Now it was not uncommon in the Middle Ages for the heir-apparent to a throne to be crowned during his father's lifetime, that at the death of the latter he might step at once into his place. (Coronation, it must be remembered, which is now merely a spectacle, was in those days not only a sort of sacrament, but a matter of great political importance.) This plan was specially useful in an elective monarchy, such as Germany was after the twelfth century, for it avoided the delays and dangers of an election while the throne was vacant. But as it seemed against the order of nature to have two Emperors at once[434], and as the sovereign's authority in Germany depended not on the Roman but on the German coronation, the practice came to be that each Emperor during his own life procured, if he could, the election of his successor, who was crowned at Aachen, in later times at Frankfort, and took the title of 'King of the Romans.' During the presence of the Emperor in Germany he exercised no more authority than a Prince of Wales does in England, but on the Emperor's death he succeeded at once, without any second election or coronation, and assumed (after the time of Ferdinand I) the title of 'Emperor Elect[435].' Before Ferdinand's time, he would have been expected to go to Rome to be crowned there. While the Hapsburgs held the sceptre, each monarch generally contrived in this way to have his son or some other near relative chosen to succeed him. But many were foiled in their attempts to do so; and, in such cases, an election was held after the Emperor's death, according to the rules laid down in the Golden Bull. The first person who thus became king of the Romans in the lifetime of an Emperor seems to have been Henry VI, son of Frederick I. It was in imitation of this title that Napoleon called his son king of Rome. NOTE D. LINES CONTRASTING THE PAST AND PRESENT OF ROME. Dum simulacra mihi, dum numina vana placebant, Militia, populo, mœnibus alta fui: At simul effigies arasque superstitiosas Deiiciens, uni sum famulata Deo, Cesserunt arces, cecidere palatia divûm, Servivit populus, degeneravit eques. Vix scio quæ fuerim, vix Romæ Roma recordor; Vix sinit occasus vel meminisse mei. Gratior hæc iactura mihi successibus illis; Maior sum pauper divite, stante iacens: Plus aquilis vexilla crucis, plus Cæsare Petrus, Plus cinctis ducibus vulgus inerme dedit. Stans domui terras, infernum diruta pulso, Corpora stans, animas fracta iacensque rego. Tunc miseræ plebi, modo principibus tenebrarum Impero: tunc urbes, nunc mea regna polus. Written by Hildebert, bishop of Le Mans, and afterwards archbishop of Tours (born A.D. 1057). Extracted from his works as printed by Migne, _Patrologiæ Cursus Completus_[436]. FOOTNOTES: