The Talisman of Charlemagne: from Aachen to Reims

In the Palais du Tau, beside Reims Cathedral, a small gold jewel bearing an illustrious name is on display: the Talisman of Charlemagne. It is a reliquary to be worn around the neck, decorated with precious stones and pearls, with a large transparent blue stone at its centre. Tradition holds that it was found on the emperor's body, and its story spans more than a thousand years of European history.

A Carolingian reliquary

Scholars date the object to the ninth century, in the Carolingian period, on the basis of the style of its goldwork. Its form is that of a small pectoral case, of the type the sources call an encolpion, meaning “on the breast”. According to tradition it originally held hairs of the Virgin, and later a fragment believed to be of the True Cross was placed in it. Both faces are dominated by large blue stones, at least one of which is a sapphire.

That the jewel truly belonged to Charlemagne cannot be proved. The most widespread account claims that it was found around the emperor's neck during one of the medieval openings of his tomb at Aachen, such as the one ordered by Otto III around the year 1000 or the one promoted by Frederick Barbarossa in 1165, on the occasion of the canonisation. The sources, however, do not allow this provenance to be confirmed. The very name of talisman, moreover, does not appear in medieval documents: it is a modern label, given to the jewel when its fame became bound up with the Bonapartes.

From Aachen to the Bonapartes

For centuries the jewel was kept in the treasury of Aachen Cathedral. In 1804, during Napoleon's journey through the Rhineland territories annexed to France, the cathedral chapter presented it to the Empress Josephine. The gesture had an obvious political meaning: the new emperor presented himself as Charlemagne's heir, and an object linked to the great ruler reinforced this image.

After Josephine's death the talisman passed to her daughter Hortense and then to Hortense's son, Louis Napoleon, the future Napoleon III. It was thus kept for decades by the Bonaparte family, who saw in it a symbol of imperial continuity. In those years its reputation as a talisman, that is, as a lucky and protective object tied to the destiny of the dynasty, grew still stronger.

The gift to Reims

In 1919, after the bombardments of the First World War had badly damaged Reims Cathedral, the former Empress Eugénie, widow of Napoleon III, gave the jewel to the archbishop of the city. The gift was meant as a gesture of solidarity with the cathedral in which the kings of France had been consecrated for centuries. Since then the object has belonged to the treasury of Reims, now displayed in the Palais du Tau.

The Talisman of Charlemagne shows how a devotional object can take on political and magical meanings over the centuries. Born as a reliquary, it became a talisman in popular perception and a dynastic symbol for the Bonapartes. Its story reminds us that the word talisman, in modern usage, often refers more to an object's reputation and the hopes of its owner than to its original function.