The royal consecration ordines of the Pontifical of Sens from a new perspective

Historians have long turned to royal consecration ordines for insights about early medieval kingship . Christian royal consecrations go back into late antiquity, but ordines for these rites first emerged in Carolingian Europe, above all in ninth-century west Francia . Generally speaking, an ordo is a liturgical text that prescribes the actions and words of celebrants during a rite . Ordines for royal consecration are thus transcripts for that most significant of rites, a king’s or queen’s ina..