By 1014, the palace chapel at Aachen welcomed the completion of Henry II’s Ambo, the earliest known example in the Western Church. Though much has been written on the subject, scholars have yet to consider fully why this symbol of authority and sanctity was commissioned, or what liturgical function it was intended to serve. This paper endeavours to shed light on the ambo’s purpose through a careful examination of two 10th-century works: Widukind of Corvey’s Res gestae Saxonicae and Constantine VII’s De ceremoniis aulae Byzantinae (On the Governance of the Empire).
