The Am pulla. Queen Joan, Feb. 26. 1403. Corona tion of Henry V., expressly mentioned; and, yet more suspiciously, a vase of holy oil, corresponding to the ampulla of Reims, first makes its appearance. The Virgin Mary had given (so the report ran) a golden eagle filled with holy oil to St. Thomas of Canterbury, during his exile, with the promise that any Kings of England anointed with it would be merciful rulers and champions of the Church. It was revealed by a hermit, through the first Duke of Lancaster, to the Black Prince, by him laid up in the Tower for his son's coronation, unaccountably overlooked by Richard II., but discovered by him in the last year of his reign, and taken to Ireland, with the request to Courtenay, Archbishop of Canterbury, to anoint him with it. The Archbishop refused, on the ground that the regal unction, being of the nature of a sacrament, could not be repeated. The King accordingly, on his return from Ireland, delivered the ampulla to the Archbishop at Chester, with the melancholy presage that it was meant for some more fortunate King. A less questionable relic, the Lancaster' sword, was now first introduced, being that which Henry had worn at Ravenspur. The pall over his head was carried by the four Dukes of York, Surrey, Aumale, and Gloucester, more or less willingly, according to their politics. Both Archbishops joined in the coronation of this orthodox Jacob.'5 His wife Joan was crowned alone, three months after her marriage.' 2 15. The coronation of Henry V. is the only one represented in the structure of the Abbey itself. The ceremony is sculptured on each side of his Chantry; and assuredly, if ever there was a coronation which carried with it a transforming virtue, it was his. The chief incident, however, connected with it at the time was the terrible thunderstorm, which was supposed 1 Maskell, iii. p. xvii. Arch. xx. 206. • Arch. xx. 207. 3 Pauli, iii. 3. to predict the conflagration of Norwich, Gloucester, and other cities during the ensuing summer, the heavy snow1 and rain during the ensuing winter, and the wars2 and tumults of the rest of his reign. His Queen, Catherine, was Queen crowned when they returned from France.3 Catherine, Feb. 24, 1420. Corona tion of Henry VI., Nov. 6, 1429. 16. The coronation of Henry VI. was the first of a mere child. He was but nine years old, and sate on the platform in the Abbey, beholding all the people about sadly and 'wisely." It was on the 6th of November, corresponding, as was fancifully thought, to the 6th of December, his birthday, and to the perfection of the number 6 in the Sixth Henry. Perhaps, in consideration of his tender years, was omitted, at the request of the Pope, the prayer that the King Dec. 17, should have Peter's keys and Paul's doctrine." Then succeeded his coronation at Paris. Years afterwards his French Queen, Margaret, was crowned in the Abbey. 86 1431. Queen Coronation of Ed ward IV., June 23, 1466. 17. Of the coronation of Edward IV. there is nothing to record except the difficulty about the day. It was to have been early in March 1461. It was then, in consequence of the siege of Carlisle, put off till the 28th of June, the Sunday 'after Midsummer,'-the day of one other and happier coronation, hereafter to be noticed. But it was again deferred till the 29th," in consequence of the singular superstition which June 29, regarded the 28th of any month to be a repetition of Childermas Day, always considered as unlucky.10 18. All was prepared for the coronation of Edward V. wildfowl for the banquet, and dresses for the guests." But he, alone of our English sovereigns, passed to his grave 1461. Edward V. 1483. June 22, Coronation of Richard ' uncrowned, without sceptre or ball." His connexion with the Abbey is through his birth and burial.3 19. As Henry IV. compensated for the defect of his title by the superior sanctity of his coronation, so the like defect III. July 6, in that of Richard III. was supplied by its superior magni 1483. Coronation of Henry VII. Oct. 30, 1485. 94 ficence. Never,' it was said, 'had such an one been seen.' On the 26th of June he rode in state from Baynard's Castle, accompanied by 6,000 gentlemen from the North, to Westminster Hall; and 'there sate in the seat royal, and called before 'him the judges to execute the laws, with many good exhorta'tions, of which he followed not one.' He then went to make his offerings at the shrine of the Confessor. The Abbot met him at the door with St. Edward's sceptre. The monks sang Te Deum with a faint courage.' He then returned to the Palace, whence, on the 6th of July, he went with the usual procession to the Abbey. The lofty platform, high above the altar; the strange appearance of King and Queen, as they sate, stripped from the waist upwards, to be anointed—the dukes around the King, the bishops and ladies around the Queen the train of the Queen borne by Margaret of Richmond-were incidents long remembered. 20. With all her prescience, Margaret could hardly have foreseen that within three years her own son would be in the same place; nor Bourchier, Cardinal Archbishop, that he would be dragged out, in his extreme old age, a third time to consecrate the doubtful claims of a new dynasty. The coronation of Henry VII. was, however, by its mean appearance, a striking contrast to that of his predecessor.8 This may, in part, have been caused by Henry VII.'s wellknown parsimony. But it probably also arose from the fact that his real title to the throne rested elsewhere. His 1 Speed, p. 909. 2 See Chapter V. See Chapter III. 4 Speed, p. 933; Hall; Grafton. 5 Strickland, iii. 375. Hail, p. 376; Strickland, iii. 376. 7 Hook, v. 383. "Hall, p. 423. 6 'marriage,' says Lord Bacon, 'was with greater triumph than ' either his entry or his coronation." His true coronation he felt to have been when, on the field of Bosworth, the crown of Richard was brought by Sir Reginald Bray from the hawthorn-bush to Lord Stanley, who placed it on Henry's head, on the height still called, from the incident, Crown Hill.2 As such it appears in the stained glass of the chapel built for him in the Abbey, by the very same Sir Reginald. And in his will he enjoined that his image on his tomb should be represented as holding the crown, which it pleased God to 'give us with the victory of our enemy at our first field.'3 Elizabeth of York, from the same feeling, was not crowned Coronatill two years afterwards. Two ceremonies, however, were Elizabeth noticed in this truncated inauguration. Now first, in the of York, archers needed to guard the King's dubious claims, appear the Yeomen of the Guard.'5 The Bishops of Durham and of Bath and Wells, who had both been officers under the York dynasty, were superseded in their proper functions of supporters by the Bishops of Exeter and Ely." tion of Nov. 25, 1487. The 'Yeo men of the Guard.' Coronation of Henry 1509. 21. The splendour of the coronation of Henry VIII. and Catherine of Arragon was such as might have been anticipated from their position and character. Then for the last time, in June 24, Sunday, the person of Warham, the sanction of the see of Rome was lent to the ministration of the Archbishop of Canterbury." During its rejoicings Margaret of Richmond, the foundress of the Tudor dynasty, passed away to a more tranquil world.8 One other female coronation took place in this reign, Coronathat of Anne Boleyn. It must be told at length: 1 Bacon, Henry VII., p. 26. * Hutton's Bosworth, p. 132. Jesse's Richard III., p. 297. 'Leland, iv. 224; Jesse, p. 299. • Roberts' York and Lancaster, p. 472. This appears from the Device for the Coronation of Henry VII.' (p. 12), published by the Camden Society (No. XXI. 1842). ' Hall, p. 509. See Chapter III. tion of Anne Boleyn, 1553. 1533. May 31. It was resolved that such spots and blemishes as hung about the marriage should be forgotten in the splendour of the coronation. If there was scandal in the condition of the Queen, yet under another aspect that condition was matter of congratulation to a people so eager for an heir; and Henry may have thought that the sight for the first time in public of so beautiful a creature, surrounded by the most magnificent pageant which London had witnessed since the unknown day on which the first stone of it was laid, and bearing in her bosom the long-hoped-for inheritor of the English crown, might induce a chivalrous nation to forget what it was the interest of no loyal subject to remember longer, and to offer her an English welcome to the throne. In anticipation of the timely close of the proceedings at Dunstable, notice had been given in the city early in May, that preparations should be made for the coronation on the first of the following month. Queen Anne was at Greenwich, but, according to custom, the few preceding days were to be spent at the Tower; and on the 19th of May, she was conducted thither in state by the Lord Mayor and the city companies, with one of those splendid exhibitions upon the water which, in the days when the silver Thames deserved its name, and the sun could shine down upon it out of the blue summer sky, were spectacles scarcely rivalled in gorgeousness by the world-famous wedding of the Adriatic. The river was crowded with boats-the banks and the ships in the Pool swarmed with people; and fifty of the great barges formed the procession, all blazing with gold and banners. The Queen herself was in her own barge, close to that of the Lord Mayor; and, in keeping with the fantastic genius of the time, she was preceded up the water by 'a foyst or wafter full ' of ordnance, in which was a great dragon continually moving and 'casting wildfire, and round about the foyst stood terrible monsters 'and wild men, casting fire and making hideous noise.' So, with trumpets blowing, cannon pealing, the Tower guns answering the guns of the ships, in a blaze of fireworks and splendour, she was borne along to the great archway of the Tower, where the King was waiting on the stairs to receive her. On the morning of the 31st of May, the families of the London citizens were stirring early in all houses. From Temple Bar to the Tower, the streets were fresh-strewed with gravel, the footpaths were railed off along the whole distance, and occupied on one side by the guilds, their workmen and apprentices, on the other by the city constables and officials in their gaudy uniforms, with their staves in hand for to cause the people to keep good room and order.' เ |