We have seen that there was a ceremonial in pre-Christian times on the accession of an Emperor. The Church very naturally transformed this inauguration ceremony into a Christian rite in much the same way as the civil marriage ceremony was made religious by the addition to it of the benediction of the Church. The accession of an Emperor was by the will of God. The Church gave him her solemn benediction at the outset of his career. It is the idea of a benediction rather than a consecration that the earliest Eastern rites, and even the earlier Western rites, seem to contemplate. At the same time the Church by her benediction proclaimed the new Emperor as the chosen of God, thereby affording a certain stability to his throne and in some degree offering some assurance of peace to Empire and Church. The idea of a consecration gradually evolved itself, and rapidly developed when the use of an unction was introduced. We have seen that there is some uncertainty as to the date of this introduction. St Gregory the Great not only speaks of the anointing of rulers as a well-known fact, but certainly regards it as being in some sort sacramental, just as St Augustine had long before asserted that the Jewish unction conferred grace on its recipients[172]. Photius evidently regarded the Emperor as being in some way set apart and solemnly consecrated by the inauguration rite. But there still remained the practical idea of obtaining general recognition as Emperor by the performance of the ceremony, for the Emperors were crowned immediately on their accession. This idea is just as manifest in the West as in the East. There we see that Pippin in his anxiety to obtain a definite recognition and acceptance of his dynasty when the Merovingian _fainéants_ were set aside, was anointed or consecrated on two different occasions, by St Boniface, and secondly by the Pope himself, who came across the Alps for the purpose. In the same way we find Richard I of England being crowned a second time on his return from his captivity, this second coronation being apparently regarded as necessary in view of the fact that his brother John had acted at least as king _de facto_. Henry II was crowned no less than three times. Henry III was crowned twice. All these cases of repeated coronations were intended to procure the firm establishment of the king upon his throne rather than for any other reason. Or again a king might be held to have forfeited his throne by some grievous crime, as in the case of Lothair II of Lotharingia, but on amendment might be confirmed upon his throne by a reconsecration, as was Lothair by Archbishop Hincmar.