Reviewed by: Sacrum Monarchiae Speculum: Der Sacre Ludwigs XV. 1722: Monarchische Tradition, Zeremoniell, Liturgie by Josef Johannes Schmid Uwe Michael Lang Josef Johannes Schmid Sacrum Monarchiae Speculum: Der Sacre Ludwigs XV. 1722: Monarchische Tradition, Zeremoniell, Liturgie Münster: Aschendorff, 2007 xliii + 647 pages. Hardbound. €79.00. Josef Johannes Schmid's study of the consecration of the French kings (sacre) in the early modern period is a major contribution to the growing field of research into the ritual representation of monarchy in European history, including the liturgical celebrations in which the understanding of Christian kingship was made visible. This erudite volume was published more than a decade ago, but has not yet found the interest it deserves among historians of liturgy. In France, the idea of sacred monarchy was carried further than anywhere else in Europe; this fact was acknowledged by none other than King Frederick II of Prussia, who is reported to have said: "Compared with the French king, we are all minor aristocrats." Schmid focuses on the sacre of the young Louis XV in 1722, in which the world of the ancien régime found its full expression (the sacre of Louis XVI in 1775 already showed a crisis of confidence in the face of the Enlightenment). The breadth of the author's scholarship is impressive. His work is the fruit of extensive research in the archives and libraries of Paris, Reims and beyond. In addition to the many manuscript sources, the author draws on the existing literature on European monarchical traditions. Schmid has a clear grasp of the liturgical context, and this provides the basis for his fascinating analysis of the theological and political implications of sacre. The author also takes into account the logistical and economic aspects of the great event and thus sheds light on the more mundane aspects of the magnificent celebrations. [End Page 86] Ever since the baptism of Clovis in 497, the Frankish and then the French monarchy understood itself as sacred. The identity of the monarch was defined in Christological terms: he was at the same time king and priest (and head of the French Church, which caused much rivalry with the papacy over the centuries). The concrete symbol of this tradition was the sainte ampoule, believed to contain the very oil that descended from heaven to be used for the anointing of Clovis. This symbol was so powerful that it incited the particular hatred and ridicule of the revolutionaries, who made every effort to destroy it. Schmid not only presents the rites and texts of the sacre, but also elucidates their theological meaning: in a ceremony that was analogous to the consecration of a bishop, the king became Christus Domini, the Lord's anointed. In his discussion of the royal insignia, the author argues for an interpretation of the main de justice as the sceptre of St. Peter, the Prince of the Apostles. Thus it can be read as a concrete sign of the privileges of the Gallican Church versus papal primacy. The sacred character of the king was illustrated in a particularly dramatic way by the toucher du roy, the ceremony at which the newly anointed monarch healed lepers by imposition of his hands. Taking issue with Marc Bloch's discussion of the subject, Schmid construes this act as an expression of the Christological dimension of kingship. Through his anointing, the king is raised on a par with the apostles, to whom Christ entrusted the power of healing. The revolutionary fury of 1789 and beyond can only be understood against this ideological background. Schmid also shows that this exalted idea of the king was contested in France itself, not least by the nobility, which had been deprived of its traditional roles by the absolutism of the grand siècle. Moreover, the papacy was not at ease with the ecclesiological implications of sacred kingship, as is evident from the struggles between the popes and the kings of France in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. If any criticism could be levelled against Schmid's captivating work, then it is his harsh treatment of the popes who had reservations about the claims of the French monarchy. [End Page 87] Sacrum Monarchiae Speculum is...