Luke’s Iron Crown

George and Luke Dosa headed an unsucce ful revolt against the Hungarian nobles in the sixteenth century. Luke was put to death by a red-hot iron crown, in mockery of his having been proclaimed king. This was not an unusual punishment for those who sought regal honors in the Middle Ages. Thus, when Tancred usurped the crown of Sicily, Kaiser He in rich VI. of Germany, set him on a red-hot iron throne, and crowned him with a red-hot iron crown (twelfth century). ⁂ The “iron crown of Lombardy” must not be mistaken for an iron crown of punishment. The former is one of the nails used in the Crucifixion, beaten out into a thin rim of iron, magnificently set in gold, and adorned with jewels. Charlemagne and Napoleon I. were both crowned with it.