English Translation

For the first time in a poem in 1198, poet Walther von der Vogelweide named the crown with this name. He says that although the crown is much older than Philip, it fits him wonderfully, even though it is not made for him personally. Reichskleinodien comprise a large number of precious pieces. Then there are the signs of the imperial lordship: the emperor's crown, the sword, the scepter and the imperial apple, signs of world power. But also the Reichsornat belongs to it. These are the clothes worn in the imperial crown: coat and gloves. And finally the "Heiltum", the relics. This ornate coat is a special splendour; golden lions are embroidered on fire red Byzantine silk, the camels spring up, lined with pearls. We know that the coat was made by order of Roger II of Sicily and that it is made in Palermo. Who was this Roger? A Viking prince from the Norman family who once made Sicily a power factor of importance in the Mediterranean and whose buildings still stand today. Roger's ancestors had come from Normandy a hundred years ago, where they founded the exemplary Norman Empire. Thus we see how the Germanic history of centuries is connected with these gems, how much this moving time speaks to us. The ships with which these noble Normans once sailed to the south bore bronze pennants with ribbons, as we know one from that time from Sweden. Henry VI brought Sicily to the empire and thus the crown treasure. One hundred and fifty load animals were needed to transport this treasure. Heinrich barged these treasures in the Staufenburg Trifels in the Rhine Palatinate. Thus also the princely coat came to the Reichsleinodien. In 1350, during the uprisings of the Hussites, Charles IV had the jewels transferred to Prague. In 1421 they were taken to Hungary. So they were inside, but also outside the empire, until after many negotiations with the emperor and the pope, the Free City of Nuremberg received the consent to "be allowed to keep the small odies forever." In the elevator, with great enthusiasm of the population, they were caught up in the city on 22 March. Once a year, at Easter, they were shown to the people in the square from there. The council of the city carefully kept the pieces; at the emperor's crowns they were taken to Aachen, Rome or Regensburg and immediately after the coronation they were returned to Nuremberg; the day after they were then shown to people so that they could be convinced that they were well administered. In 1796, when the French invaded Germany, they were brought to Vienna under great danger by all kinds of misguided paths. It was not until 1818 that they dared to make known in Vienna that the jewels were there. In 1938, Adolf Hitler brought them back from Vienna to Nuremberg, in the middle of the empire. 10