| Bonaparte having assumed the title of Emperor of the Gauls, solicitations
were sent from all parts of Italy, entreating him to take upon himself and
his heirs the Italian diadem. On the 23rd of May, 1805, he was crowned at
Milan with the greatest splendour and magnificence. |
| |
| Seated upon a superb throne, he had on his right the honours of the empire,
on his left, the honours of Italy, before him the honours of Charlemagne;
he was invested with the usual insignia of royalty by the Cardinal Archbishop,
and ascending the altar, he took the iron crown, and placing it on his head,
exclaimed, being part of the ceremony used at the enthronement of the Lombard
kings, "Dieu me la donne, gare à qui la touche;" God gives
it me, beware those who touch it. |
| |
| Being thus invested, he constituted a new order of knighthood by the name
of the Iron Crown, and soon completed the organization of the new kingdom,
appointing Prince Eugene Beauharnois the first Viceroy. |
| |
| Agilulfus, whose crown is here represented, was crowned King of the Lombards,
at Milan, A. D. 591; in a great degree the reign of Bonaparte assimilates
itself with that of the Lombard King Agilulfus. See Universal History. |
