The New International Encyclopædia/Iron Crown

IRON CROWN. The name of the old crown of the Lombards, still preserved in the Church of Saint John the Baptist at Monza. It is made of six pieces, and is adorned with twenty-two jewels, twenty-six golden roses, and twenty-four enamels. On the inside there is a circlet of iron, said to be formed from a nail used at the Crucifixion, given by Pope Gregory I. to the Lombard Princess Theodelinda. Before the twelfth century it was called the golden crown. It was used at the coronation of the Lombard Kings, and of the German Emperors as Kings of Italy. In 1805 Napoleon crowned himself at Milan with it. Later it was worn by two Austrian Emperors, and carried to Venice. After 1866 it was restored to Monza. Consult Hodgkin, Italy and Her Invaders, vol. vi. (Oxford, 1880).