Iron Crown of Lombardy - Legend

Legend

According to tradition, the nail was first given to Emperor Constantine by his mother St. Helena, who had discovered the True Cross. Helena supposedly cast one nail into the sea to calm a storm, while another was incorporated into Constantine's helmet, another fitted to the head of a statue of the Emperor, and a fourth melted down and molded into a bit for Constantine's horse. Since almost thirty European countries lay claim to fragments of the holy nails, Blom (2002) holds that "Constantine also understood the value of these objects in diplomacy"; Several were sent off to various dignitaries, one of whom was Princess Theodelinda. "She used her nail as part of her crown, the famous Iron Crown of Lombardy

When the nail was incorporated into a crown and how it fell into the hands of the Lombard kings is unclear, though legends involve Theodelinda, the queen of Lombards who resided at Monza in the late 6th century, for her part in converting the Lombards to Christianity. Theodelinda supposedly donated the crown to the Italian church at Monza in 628, where it was preserved.

In some accounts, the crown was used in Charlemagne's coronation as King of the Lombards. Contemporary or nearly contemporary accounts of the initiations of the earlier kings of the Lombards stress the importance of the king's taking in hand of a holy lance.