Following the coronation procession route of Pope Innocent III at the very end of the 12th century, the Vatican would have been the beginning. Papal coronations were used to represent their authority and power over secular rule, and there is no better place to start a procession, especially a Papal coronation, than at the Vatican. The Vatican cemented its importance in many ways, but for this procession it was important for the Vatican kept the most precious relics, the greatest apostles, and beautiful icons, in St. Peter’s Basilica. There was no holier a place in Rome than St. Peter’s, and there was no seat of higher power than the Vatican around it. The Vatican was the location of the Pope’s coronation by three cardinal bishops, and after his consecration, the procession would begin leaving the Vatican to move through the city, from one side to the other. Dressed in formal wear, the Pope would join the procession wearing both the episcopal miter and the royal crown, a combination of the religious and political power that he had been bestowed. The procession was divided into seventeen parts, with lower level clergy, horses, and flag bearers in the front. There would have been a parade of animals, brightly red banners with cherubim, and the sub deacons carrying the crosses. Behind them would be officials, like scribes, lawyers, judges, singers, all the way to the back where high-ranking priests, cardinals, and bishops would follow. The seventeenth layer of the procession was the newly crowned Pope.