THOUSAND YEARS AGO.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1160, 22 June 1911, Page 10

THOUSAND YEARS AGO.

The Crowning of Two Edwards. "The many change and pass." The live days of ceremonial and sunshine and rejoicing for one generation furnish fovlli the dry-ns-ihist records for the next. That is the law of earthly existence, and because all of us—performers or merely watchers in this year's great ceremonial— shall all be duid one day, that ought not to prevent us enjoying tho great day itsell, granted always thai; the weather is propitious ami the police are equal to their work. Events of a peculiar oharaoter which signalised the various Coronaions through English history are at this nine ot uay the only moans we have oi remembering those Coronations at all, Uiiore everytlimg went smoothly this whole ceremony, the King himself as veil, perhaps, is lorgottcn. As a matter of fact, Ihe ceromonko never did go •smoothly, lhc very earliest whereof we have any record dates back to AngloSaxon times, when coronations often degenerated into a bear tight. Englishmen may claim—and not. without justifiable pride—that I heirs is the oldest monarchy in the worjd. The first English Edward to sit upon an English tliTone was King Edward the Elder, who succcedod his father, the great King Alfred, in DDI, and was crowned at Kingston on Whit-Sunday, 902, exactly 1000 years before the crowning of King Edward VII. Edward the Eider had artother and a prouder title-the "Uncoilquered King," one old chronicler calls him—and ho reigned four-an'd-twen.ty years in tho land warring with Banes, East Anglians, North Welsh, and -Northumbrians, and subjugating them all. I lie Wanes whom his father Alfred and ho himself had conquered remained outside the Em.'ish people throughout his reign. Hoiv curious it seems that tho whirligig of time should bring round another King Edward, with a lady born a Danish princess for wife, and choosing as his favourile residence that very East Anglia which was the least safe of tho dominions of Edward tho Elder. His son Athelslan was crowned at Kingston, in Surrey, as wore most succeeding kings, till the building of Edward the Confessor's Abbey at Westminster. _ The date of tho ceremony was 92G, and it hardly seems fair to detract from tho sacrodnoss of the story by adding that most of those present were under the impression that the new King's mother had been a shepherd's daughter. Certain it is that the lady had not been the lawful wife of the late King. His two brothers succeeded him in turn, and the second, Kdrcd, was crowned by Archbishop Oda at Kingston on Sunday, August IG, 918. At his Coronation he received tho submission of the Northumbrians, tho Northmen, the Welsh, and the Soots. Tumultuous Saxons. Nearly 9. r io years ago King Eadwig tho Pair, the son of King Edmund the "deeddoor,," was being crowned. The one word "Dun«lan" will bring those times up once more before Iho minds of most. The change of Sovereigns rendered tiio position of that turbulent cleric somewhat insecure. He did not appear to mind that, as readers of his life in tho "Dictionary of National Biography"'will bo able to discover for themselves. Liko lu's successor, George 11, many years later, Endwig soon had enough of his Coronation feast. He retired to enjoy the society of Aethelgii'u, a lady of tho highest rank, and of her daughter Aellgit'u, whom the designing mother proposed to marry to tho young King. The Archbishop of the day soon spied out tiio King's absence, and as liono of tho bishops or nobles showed any overpowering desire, to go and bring liiui back to tho baked meals, they vciy thoughtfully delegated the odious duty to Dunstan anil his kinsman Cynesigc, Bishop of Lichfield, "as men of dauntless spirit." Tho < message,-having, been delivered, Dim- . stan.proceeded (o reviling, "for tho uiarringo .-between Eadw.ig and Aelfgif.HdWnuhlrj, have: been uiicanonioal, and his eagerness • for moral purity caused him- to wa.t wrath when he saw them together. Ho pulled the young King from . the arms of the ladies, and led' him forcibly back to tho banqueting hall." The young Kin;; swore to bo revenged on the abbot, who, however, lived to vex at least, another Saxon king. On Whitsunday, 973, Dunstall, now Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Archbishop of York, with all tho bishops of England assisting, crowned a new King Eadger at Bath. It was tho first groat Coronation, as we have that ceremony handed down to us to-day. "It wa3 the formal declaration of the unity of tho kingdom; the days in which tho Danes choso kings for themselves wero over, and tho Archbishop of York, whoso predecessors had so often appeared almost as leaders of a separalo people, joined with the I'rimate in proclaiming tho sovereignty of Edgar, 'of Angle's One more' Saint Dunstan Coronation incident, and then no more. Edgars second son, Ethel red the Unready, succeeded his murdered brother, and was crowned by Archbishop Dunstan at Kingston on April 11, 978. Curious Coronation Sermon. That was the occasion of the most curious Coronation sermon that has ever been uttered. Here is one passage, in which the Archbishop apostrophises tho newly-anointed King. It reads like a passage out of the Old I'estament;"Because thou bast aspired to tho Crown by the death of thy brother, whom thy mother hath murdered, therefore hear the word of the Lord. Die sword shall not depart from- thnie V l ' slinll fiirinuplv 0 *!l° life killiiv 7 thv feed, until such time as Sn imll be given to a people whose customs and language .lhc, nol,on. lon? ]Ut mi liter had lived in thos-o days to bequeath to »s tho repression ou the faces of Saint Dunstan s audience. ! l ; he actual place where tho pious l',d----v-ird tho Confessor was .crow-nod is wiapJ, i mv-lrrv. I'™' hul have read of ds -oiouvli at iho Norman Court w lnlo Canute tl o Dane, and Hardicanuto had theTpper hand in. England. ; When tho hltcr died Godwine and the other Anglo«axcn earls brought Edward over from ii.o Continent ami te. rcc S?.' v 'ff tt l iml was onthronved in Unist (nmen, Canterbury, in 1012- Ho went a I from there to Winchester, where it was customary for the King to wear his crown and hold a great assembly .f' I '-', There on Easter Day, April X m3 -J' a was solemnly crowned by Eadsigc, Aichbishop of Canterbury, assisted by Aclfric. of York and-other bishops, tadsißC .ex-, hortin? him as to the things that ['W.! or his and for his peoples .good. At WinChester, txo, it is interesting to note, bitward received ambassadors trom the German King Henry, afterward? the Emperor Henry 111, his brother-in-law, who sent them to congratulate him, .to bring him presents, and to make alliance with him. ■ , , The crowning of Kins Harold, the last of the Saxons, was what might bo called an "emergency" Coronation. There was no time to spare. On the filth day of tho new year, I.OGG, so the tradition goes, lio ami his adhei'Mils forced their way mlo (lie room wherein Edward Iho (.nnfessor lay dying, and implored Iho King to name "a snccrsw. "Ye know lwll well, my lords," said Edward, "thai 1 have bequeathed my kingdom lo tho Duke of Normandy, and are there not those hero whose -oaths have been given to secure his successionF" Harold Mapped nearer ami interrupted the King, .no aAed of Edward niton whom the Crown should bo Ivslowcd. Tho King answered, '•Harold, lake it, if such be thy wish, but Ihe gift; will be lliv l'uin. Against Ihe duke and his baronage no power can avail thee." Tho slorv sounds grandly apocryphal. Wo get back'to the realm of fact in the tn.il!Vr ill' bare dat.">. On the day of Edward's dealh Harold was eliosen King by the nobles of the whole of England. Tho very next day he was duly crowned in Westminster Abbey by Ihe Archbishop of York, the Archbishop of Canterbury being at Ihe time under a cloud for riotous living. • Surely Iho shortest period of Royal mourning on record,