This is the first of a series of 'One of One' masterpieces, in which we discover unique artworks.
The Throne of Dagobert is among France's—and the world's—rarest historical artifacts.
You probably never heard of it. There's no shame in that, as most people in France have never seen it.
It is not just a chair; it is a regalia.
For 1,500 years, the kings of France used regalia—crowns, scepters, and thrones—as instruments of power.
How many crowns survive? One, described in the story 'Fake Diamonds, Real Crown'.
Today, we discuss the only Royal throne of France.
What is a throne?
A throne is an elevated chair, literally elevating the person sitting on it above the fray.
Beyond the few Kings today, look at the images of tinpot dictators sitting on fake Versailles-style glided chairs.
Next time you're unfortunate enough to be called to another staff meeting, notice that the person with the bigger chair is literally chairing the meeting.
A bigger chair means more power.
Let's spend a minute getting a sense of the lost French royal thrones.
Louis XIV's solid silver throne
There’s better than a steel throne, a solid silver one.
A dragon's fiery breath may not have melted it, but at least it did exist in the real world.
For a time, Versailles was furnished with solid silver from Peru.
Twenty tons of precious metal were chased into furniture, including the throne in the painting below.
If we use today's silver value, that is 20 billion $ of precious metal used to furnish Versailles.
Versailles and its silver furniture glittered so much that a witness described them as "the brightness of one hundred thousand candles."...
But it only shone for three years, when Louis XIV melted everything to pay for another war.
He recovered one-fifth of its cost, a loss of 16 billion. Good job!
Please look again at that painting to understand the level of power expressed by the size of the throne and the steps that the Doge of Genoa had to climb to bow and apologize to the Sun King.
What did he apologize for? The inconvenience of forcing Louis to bomb Genoa...
The French Revolution
There's no mistaking the fact that the person seated on a throne is the lieutenant of God on earth. Lieutenant means one who takes the place of another.
The symbolism of a royal throne is that the man seated on it is God's deputy in this world.
The French Revolution wanted to abolish the Divine Right of Kings, so all signs of absolutism were destroyed.
Throne burning
Above is a rare image of the throne burning from the third Revolution of 1848. It helps understand the odds of a royal throne surviving the Revolution.
As a result, all the thrones of the French Kings are lost.
Nearly all.
Saint-Denis Basilica and the throne of Dagobert
No, this isn't Notre Dame, but a monument that will get its own story, Saint-Denis Basilica, North of Paris.
Not only is it the burial place of 43 Kings—the only place on Earth with that many rulers under one roof—but it also safeguarded the regalia, the royal objects of power.
One of them was the throne of Dagobert.
The only Royal throne of France
Below are three different painted manuscripts showing three Kings sitting on thrones that may—or may not—be our throne today.
In 1147, Suger, the abbot in charge of Saint-Denis, wrote:
We have repaired the most glorious throne of King Dagobert, old and broken, on which the French Kings were in the habit of sitting, after having taken power.
That's the gilded bronze throne here.
How old is it?
We don't really know!
Dagobert died in 639. The gilded bronze throne resembles a Roman folding chair and has been repaired, making its exact age challenging to determine.
It probably dates from the 800s, roughly the age of Charlemagne.
One thing is sure: the last ruler to sit on it was Napoléon in 1804.
A survivor from an age when legend and facts were intertwined, even without the dragons, you have about 1,000 years of royal power in one object.
If you get a chance to see it in real life one day, you will likely be alone looking at one of the rarest artifacts you will ever encounter.
Which would be an intimate Moment of Wonder.
Notes
https://www.bnf.fr/en/the-bnf-museum
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8409973v?rk=300430;4
https://books.google.fr/books?redir_esc=y&hl=fr&id=a7tlAAAAcAAJ&q=argent#v=onepage&q=bougies&f=false
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8447868p/f19
Abott Suger Liber de Rebus in Administratione sua Gestis.
https://artjourneyparis.com/saint-denis-basilica-private-tours.html
Guillaume….fondly recalling our trip to Saint Denis. What a treasure trove of history.