ing
significance.

The royal crown of Hungary has ever been, from the time it encircled the
brow of St. Stephen, an object of jealous solicitude and almost
superstitious veneration with the nation. It continued to loom up as a
brilliant and rallying point in the midst of the vicissitudes and
stirring events of the history of the country during all the centuries
that followed the coronation of the first king. The people looked upon
it as a hallowed relic, the glorious bequest of a long line of
generations past and gone, and as the symbol and embodiment of the unity
of the state. The different countries composing Hungary were known under
the collective name of the "Lands of the Sacred Crown," and, at the
period when the privileged nobility was still enjoying exceptional
immunities, each noble styled himself _membrum sacrae coronae_ ("a member
of the sacred crown"). In the estimation of the people it had ceased to
be a religious symbol, and had become a cherished national and political
memorial, to which the followers of every creed and all the classes
without distinction might equally do homage. Nor was the crown an
every-day ornament to be displayed by royalty on solemn occasions of
pageant. The King wore it only once in his life, on the day of his
coronation, when he was bound solemnly to swear fidelity to the
constitution, before the high dignitaries of the state, first in church,
and to repeat afterward in the open air his vow to govern the country
within the limits of the law. Thus in Hungary it has ever been the
ancient custom, prevailing to this day, that, on the king's accession to
the throne, it is he who, on his coronation, takes the oath of fidelity
to his people, instead of the latter swearing fealty to the king. The
right of succession to the throne is hereditary, but the lawful rule of
the king begins with the ceremony of coronation only. It requires this
ceremonial, which to this day is characterized by the attributes of
mediaeval pomp and splendor, to render the acts of the ruler valid and
binding upon the people; without it every public act of such ruler is a
usurpation.

During eight centuries all the kings and queens, without exception, had
been eager to place the crown on their heads, in order to come into the
full possession of their regal privileges. Joseph II was the first king
who refused to be crowned. He felt a reluctance to swear fidelity to the
constitution, and to promise, by a solemn