I

CHAPTER II.

SHALL now extract some accounts of the early coronations of our kings: if two or three of these seem to be long, the reader will be repaid by the light which they throw upon the Service itself, which will follow; and by the force of the evidence which they furnish to the constant observance of the more important parts of the solemnity. I shall not give notices of every reign, but those only which will be sufficient to bring down the facts, in one unbroken line, from the eighth to the sixteenth century.

1

The coronation and anointing of Egferth have been already spoken of: in the year 795, the Saxon chronicle relates that Eardwulph, king of Northumberland, was consecrated and raised to his throne by Eanbalde, archbishop, and other bishops." In the next century, we have a very important account, by a contemporary, of the coronation of Edmund, king of the East Angles: "Anno dominicæ incarnationis 856, Nunberchus antistes unxit oleo, consecravitque in regem Eadmundum gloriosissimum." In the succeeding century, Wallingford in his chronicles relates the celebrated story of Dunstan and K. Edwin; which he thus prefaces : "Verum in ipsis primordiis regni, videlicet ipso die unctionis ejus, qualis futurus rex foret, demonstravit.

1" And Eandpulf feng to Nondan-hymbɲan cinedome. he pær sýððan geblersod. & to his cine-stole ahofen." p. 81. edit. Ingram:

"cinesetl" is more properly a

throne.

2 Asser, de Elfredi rebus gestis. edit. Camden. p. 4.

Cui enim post coronationem et missarum solemnia, ut tantæ solemnitati congruit, etc."3 Once more; the coronation of king Ethelred, the Ordo of which will be so frequently referred to below, is thus spoken of: Cui frater ejus Ethelredus, in regnum successit, et a sancto Dunestano aliisque Anglorum episcopis, inungitur et consecratur.

Reminding the reader that accounts of the intermediate inaugurations and consecrations are to be found in the various chronicles, some giving one detail, some another, I shall pass on to the coronation of K. Richard I. of which we have full descriptions in both Matthew Paris, and Hoveden. The following is from the latter author, a contemporary.

"In primis venerunt episcopi, et abbates, et clerici multi, induti capis sericis, præcedentibus eos cruce, ceroferariis, thuribulis cum aqua benedicta, usque ad ostium thalami regis interioris, et ibi receperunt prædictum Richardum ducem, qui coronandus erat, et duxerunt eum in ecclesiam Westmonasterii, usque ad altare majus cum ordinata processione, et cantu glorioso; et omnis via, qua gradiebantur ab ostio thalami regis, usque ad altare cooperta erat pannis laneis. Ordo autem processionis talis erat. In prima fronte præcedebant clerici induti, portantes aquam benedictam, et crucem, et cereos, et thuribulos. Deinde veniebant priores. Deinde abbates. Deinde episcopi, et in medio illorum ibant quatuor barones portantes quatuor candelabra aurea." -Deinde venit Richardus dux Normanniæ; et Hugo Dunelmensis episcopus ibat a dextris illius, et Reginaldus Bathoniensis episcopus a sinistris illius ibat: et quatuor barones portaverunt supra eos umbraculum sericum, super quatuor lanceas, et omnis turba comitum, et baronum, et militum, et aliorum, tam clericorum quam laicorum, sequebatur usque in atrium ecclesiæ, et induti introierunt cum duce usque in chorum. Cum autem dux ad altare veniret, coram archiepiscopis, episcopis, et clero, et populo, flexis genibus ante altare coram positis sacrosanctis evangeliis, et plurimorum sanctorum reliquiis, juravit quod ipse omnibus diebus vitæ suæ, pacem et honorem atque reverentiam Deo, et sanctæ ecclesiæ, et ejus ordinatis, portaret. Deinde denudaverunt eum totum, exceptis camisia et braccis; camisia dissuta erat in scapulis. Deinde calciaverunt eum sandaliis, auro contextis. Deinde Bal

• I have omitted the details of the regalia, and the names of those who carried them.

dewinus Cantuarensis archiepiscopus infundens oleum sanctum super caput ejus, unxit eum in regem, in tribus locis, videlicet in capite, in pectore, et in brachiis; quod significat gloriam, et fortitudinem, et scientiam, cum orationibus ad hoc constitutis. Deinde posuit idem archiepiscopus supra caput ejus consecratum pannum lineum, et pileum desuper. Deinde induerunt eum cum vestimentis regalibus. Deinde tradidit ei idem archiepiscopus gladium regnim. Deinde duo comites calciaverunt ei calcaria. Deinde indutus est mantea. Deinde ductus est ad altare, et ibi prædictus archiepiscopus prohibuit ei, ex parte omnipotentis Dei, ne hunc honorem sibi assumeret, nisi in mente haberet, supradicta sacramenta et vota quæ fecerat inviolabiliter servare; et ipse respondit, se per auxilium Dei omnia supradicta servaturum sine fraude. Deinde ipse cepit coronam de altari, et tradidit eam archiepiscopo, et archiepiscopus posuit eam super caput illius, quam duo comites sustinebant propter ponderositatem ipsius. Deinde tradidit ei archiepiscopus sceptrum regale, in manu dextra, et virgam regalem, in manu sinistra; et rex sic coronatus ductus est ad sedem suam, a prædictis Dunelmensi et Bathoniensi episcopis, præcedentibus eos ceroferariis et prædictis tribus gladiis. Deinde inchoata est missa dominicalis, et cum perveniretur ad offertorium, prædicti episcopi duxerunt eum ad altare, et ipse obtulit unam marcam auri purissimi. Talis enim oblatio decet regem in singulis coronationibus suis. Et præfati episcopi reduxerunt eum ad sedem suam. Celebrata autem missa, et omnibus rite peractis, prædicti duo episcopi, unus a dextris, et alter a sinistris, reduxerunt eum coronatum, et portantem sceptrum in dextra, et virgam regalem in sinistra, ab ecclesia usque in thalamum suum, præcedente ordi

nata processione, ut superius. Deinde reversa est processio in chorum, et dominus rex deposuit coronam regalem et vestes regales; et leviores, coronam et vestes cepit, et sic coronatus venit prandere; et archiepiscopi et episcopi sederunt cum eo in mensa, unusquisque secundum ordinem et dignitatem suam. Comites autem et barones serviebant in domo regis, prout dignitates eorum exigebant. Cives vero London. servierunt de pincernaria, et cives Winton. de coquina.'

The ceremonies which took place at the coronation of Richard II. are so fully described by Walsingham, that he seems but to have made an abridgment of the "Liber Regalis." The following is the substance of his account of the solemnity: and I can assure the student, who wishes to understand the office itself, which I have edited, that he will do well to read it carefully, and compare the two. Walsingham mentions some particulars which the Ordo does not and giving us a statement of what actually took place, he supplies also an admirable commentary and testimony to the Form which was appointed to be observed.

"Die Jovis, id est, 16 die Julii, vigilia sancti Kenelmi regis, convenientibus archiepiscopo et episcopis, regnique proceribus ad Westm. summo mane, ordinata processione monachorum in capis, episcopi cum monachis ad ostium regii thalami pervenerunt, et paratum regem reperientes ibidem per manus qui ejus lateribus

Edit. Savile. p. 374. The Cotton MS. Claudius. E. viij. contains a transcript of this, of the fourteenth century: headed, " de modo coronationis regis, et de coronatione regis Ricardi." Compare Matt. Paris, p. 128, and,

John Bromton, Chron. in Script. X. tom. 1. p. 1158. The Chronicle of Gervase relates the second coronation of Richard, after his return from captivity, at Winchester; and has an incidental notice of K. Stephen's. Ibid. p. 1587.