CORONATION HOOPLA. The Coronation of Alfonso of Aragon as King of Naples, 1494

 

De Souza as Alfonso II

• The royal insignia: The crown was adorned with pearls and precious stones and lined with a cap of white damask, from which hung down two silk ribbons brought together beneath the chin with a button. The sword had a scabbard studded with pearls and precious stones from end to end. The silver scepter had a gilded lily at the upper end, about two and a half spans long and somewhat thinner than my little finger. The round gilded imperial globe was topped with a small gilded cross of silver. Underneath there was a metal ring with a silken cord so that the globe could be fastened to the left finger of the king in order that it might not fall from his hand.

  

  The real Alfonso

• The royal dress: Alfonso entered wearing a close-fitting garment of black satin and over it a larger one of crimson colored brocade lined with flounces of ermine. On his head was a beret with a pendant of three pearls and one precious stone worth about ten thousand ducats. He kept the beret on his head until he received the crown.
• The procedure: The Archbishop of Naples and the Patriarch of Antiochia escorted him to the altar where he knelt before the papal legate for the blessing. Then he was dressed in another garment of black satin with a long outer garment reaching down to the floor with narrow sleeves, and with sandals over black stockings. Thus he advanced to the throne and was crowned.
• People not behaving well: The prelates could not form a proper circle because the barons, courtiers, and ambassadors crowded them and pushed forward to get a better view. Then there was a squabble over “souvenirs”: The black satin garment was due as a gift to Burchard, the master of ceremonies, but the papal legate demanded it for himself together with the beret.

(Source: The Diary of Johannes Burchardus, papal master of ceremonies)