Coronation Crown of France

Personal study. The coronation crown of the kings of France, known as the Crown of Charlemagne.

Made for Philip Augustus at the end of the 12th century, after the Third Crusade, the crown was later fitted with a red cap by John II to assert the sacred character of kingship. It was melted down by the Catholic League in 1590 and replaced with a near identical crown lacking the cap, itself destroyed during the Revolution. Nothing survives. The reconstruction therefore rests entirely on the documentary and iconographic record, principally the work of Hervé Pinoteau, and on comparison with contemporary goldsmiths' work.

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