Monarchia e arcana imperii. Corpo, simboli, liturgie

Engramma’s issue 202, “Monarchy and arcana imperii. Body, symbols, liturgies”, was published in May 2023, just a few weeks after the world-wide broadcasted coronation of Charles III, King of England, which took place on 6 May. The topic of the Monarchy and the King’s Body emerged with absolute relevance and urgency due to the legacies that interfere with its contemporary imagery. A view on the subject from both a theoretical and political perspective is proposed in Peppe Nanni’s paper "Finzioni che non funzionano: due corpi di troppo". Monica Centanni expands on the theme of the King’s two bodies from Kantorowicz’s seminal text in her "Explicit tragoedia. The Undressing of the King’s Body: Xerxes, Constantine XI Palaeologus, Richard II" (also in full Italian version) "“Rex Iudaeorum”. Citare in giudizio un titolo regale?" by Letizia Biazzo is dedicated to the titulus “Rex Judaeorum”, imposed on Christ’s cross as a motivation for simultaneous condemnation and mockery, accompanied by a gallery of examples on the iconography of the trilingual epigraph. The essay "“Vigilasne rex? Vigila”. Il doppio corpo del re e le sue bellicose resurrezioni primaverili" by Barbara Biscotti and Matteo Alberio focuses on the archaic institutions of Kingship in Roman institutional culture (and that of the names rex and βασιλεύς). A historical, as well as legal, reading of the inventio of the holy oil, linked to the miracles of the first princeps, Augustus, is the topic of an important paper by Orazio Licandro, "“Odium regni" e “olio santo” da Augustus alla res publica christianorum". Jelena Erdeljan focuses on the rituality of Serbian medieval monarchy in her "Royal bodies of Serbian medieval kings. Entwined in the vine of salvation". From Antiquity to the Modern age, passing through Byzantium and the Middle Ages, the King’s body also stands at the centre of a series of dangerous relationships. Massimo Stella’s fine contribution, "Corpo sovrano e sovversione del corpo cristiano. Edward II tra Amor ovidiano e mors paolina", illuminates this constellation of meanings, taking the cue from Marlowe’s text. The aloofness in itself is a common trait of the images of kings and emperors. It is similar to that enacted by Christ (and, more figuratively, by the Virgin and other saints), as a signum of belonging to another world, and of a deactivated personal empathy towards the visual user. Composure, in fact, deletes emotions – as it was until the time of Hirohito, the predecessor of the last two Japanese Emperors – and it is the last example of God on earth until the renunciation of sacred dignity in Tenno no ningen sengen, in 1946. On the topic, we publish here an evocative note by Kurt Foster, "Fosco Maraini. The Man Who Wondered About The Kingship of Tennō".