Editing Carantania (section)

==The Ducal Inauguration==
[[File:Maria Saal Dom Suedansicht.jpg|upright|left|thumb|Church of [[Maria Saal]] (Gospa Sveta)]]
The principality of Carantania is particularly notable for the ancient ritual of installing Carantanian dukes (or princes, both an approximate translation of [[Knez (title)|Knez]]/[[Knyaz]]/[[Fürst]]), a practice that continued after Carantania was incorporated into the later [[Duchy of Carinthia]]. It was last performed in 1414, when the [[House of Habsburg|Habsburg]] [[Ernest, Duke of Austria|Ernest the Iron]] was enthroned as Duke of Carinthia. The ritual took place on the [[Prince's Stone]] (Slovene ''Knežji kamen'', German ''Fürstenstein''), an ancient [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] column capital near ''Krnski grad'' (now [[Maria Saal|Karnburg]]) and was performed in [[Slovene language|Slovene]] by a free peasant who, selected by his peers, in the name of the people of the land questioned the new Prince about his integrity and reminded him of his duties. Later, when the Duchy of Carinthia had fallen to the Habsburgs, the idea that it was actually the people from whom the Duke of Carinthia received his legitimation was the basis of the  Habsburgs' claim to the unique title of Archduke.

The coronation of Carinthian Dukes consisted of three parts: first, a ritual in Slovene was performed at the Prince's Stone; then a [[mass (liturgy)|mass]] was held at the cathedral of [[Maria Saal]] ({{lang|sl|Gospa Sveta}}); and subsequently, a ceremony took place at the ''[[Duke's Chair]]'' ({{lang|sl|Vojvodski stol}}, German: {{lang|de|Herzogsstuhl}}), where the new Duke swore an oath in [[German language|German]] and where he also received the homage of the [[Estates of the realm|estates]]. The Duke's Chair is located at ''Zollfeld'' valley, north of Klagenfurt in modern [[Carinthia (state)|Carinthia]], Austria.

The ceremony was first described by the chronicler [[John of Viktring]] on the occasion of the coronation of [[Meinhard, Duke of Carinthia|Meinhard II of Tyrol]] in 1286. It is also mentioned in [[Jean Bodin]]'s book ''Six livres de la République'' in 1576.