Steti Miniature Coronation Crown, The Crown of the Holy Roman Emperor of Austria

Also know as the ‘Reichskrone’ and ‘ The Crown of Charlemagne’, this ancient crown is believed to have been made at the Monastery of Reichenau for the Coronation of Emperor Otto I in 962. made of eight joined plated, four depict enameled figures of Our Lord enthroned in Majesty, King Solomon, Kings David and Hezekiah and the Prophet Iaiah. The remaining four plates are heavily set with large precious stones, the color and arrangement of which abounds with symbolic meanings. The crowns are kept at the Schatzkammer Museum, Vienna.

Roman emperor, German king, and successor of Henry I (died 936); crowned at Aix-la-Chapelle; born 23 November 912; died Memleben, Saxony, 7 May 973. Directing his efforts towards the establishment of a strong central power, he finally triumphed over the particularism of the nobles, thus preparing for a reorganization of the constitution, and extending his influence over France, Burgundy, and Italy, then in a demoralized condition. His victory at Lechfelde in 955 saved Germany from the Hungarian peril. To secure his power he planned an alliance between the Church and State, the spiritual hierarchy to be merely a branch of the royal service; this however necessitated control of the papacy, which he secured by going to the aid of the unworthy John XII, and was crowned emperor at Rome, 2 February 962. He conflrmed the privileges granted to the Church by the Carlovingians and arranged that kings should not be consecrated, before swearing allegiance to the German ruler. When John turned against Otto, the latter set up an antipope, Leo VIII, and made the Romans swear never to elect a pope without his or his son's approval.