Coronation Anecdotes. A bridged from a little work entitled "Chapters on Coronations."

Te Aroha News, 21 June 1887, Page 16

Coronation Anecdotes. A bridged from a little work entitled " Chapters on Coronations."

IN the ago of the Plantagenets and Tudors, and under the Stuarts, until the coronation of James 11., it was customary for the kings to reside in the Tower of London for somo timo previous to the coronation. On the Saturday before the coronation the sovereign went from Westminster to the Tower of London, attended by great numbers of the nobility and civic dignitaries, and by those squires that were to be knighted, and who watched their arms that night. EaGh squire had a chamber allotted him, and a bath in which he bathed. The ensuing day after mass the sovereign created them knights. After their investiture they were permitted to sit down in the king's presence, but during the whole time of dinner they were not allowed to partake of any part of the entertainment. The queens in their own right, Mary and Elizabeth, though they girded the swords on the knights with their own hands, did not give the accolad-e or blow, which is the determinate action that impresses the character of knighthood. At both coronations, Henry earl of Arundel performed this office. A copy of his appointment i 3 to be found in Rymer.

WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. After taking the coronation oath, to protect the church, prohibit oppression, and exccuto judgment in mercy, Aldred put the question, " Will ye have this prince to be your king-?" The peoplo answered with loud shouts, and the noise gave so much alarm to the Norman garrison in the city, that the soldiers, believing the English to have revolted, without waiting to make any investigation, immediately set the next houses on lire, which spreading and giving a general alarm, most of the congregation rushed out of the church, tho English hastening to stop the fire, and the Normans to plunder. The bishops, clergy, and monks, who remained within the church, were in such confusion, that they were scarce able to go through the oflico of crowning the king ; William himself, who Baw the tumult, and could not conjecture its cause, sate trembling at the foot of the altar, and, though no great mischief was done by the fire, it laid tho foundation of a long and inveterate enmity between the English and the Normans. The coronations of the succeeding kings to Henry 111. present no features of special interest.

HENRY 111. After the death of John, London being in possession of the French prince Louis, an assembly of the principal authorities was convened at Winchester, under the presidency of Gualo, the papal legate. They unanimously resolved that the young king^ should be crowned on the 28th of October, a.v. 1216. The ceremony was performed in the cathedral of Winchester. The papal legate compelled Henry to do homage to the holy Roman Church and Pope Innocent for his kingdom of England and Ireland ; he also made him swear that he would pay an annual tribute of ono thousand marks to the papal see. The ceremony of coronation was repeated by Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury. Early in the year 123G Henry married the lady Eleanor, daughter to the Eavl of Provence, whose beauty is celebrated by all tho chroniclers. The crcmony of her coronation was performed with extraordinary pomp on the 22nd of January. Holinshed's account of it will no doubt gratify our readei'3 :— "At the solenmitie of this feast and coronation of the quenc, all the high pecres of the realm both spmtuall and tempornU were present, there to exercise their offices as to them appertemed. The cjti/ens of London were there in gieat arraie, boaring afore hir in solemn w ise three hundred and tlnee score cups of gold andsiher, in token that they ought to wait uion hir cup. Archbishop of Canterbury (according to his dutic) crowned hir, the bishop of jjondon assisting him as bus deacon. The citizens of London sor\ ed out wine to eveno one in great plcntie. Tho feast was plentitull, so that nothing wanted that could be wished. Moreover in Tothill-fields roiall ]iistc3 were holdcn by the space of eight daies together." The next interesting coronation was that of

RICHARD 11. The coronation of Urn king was more munificent than nny of the piecedintf. The procession of the king from the Tower to Westminster on the day preceding the coronation, is thus described by Holinshed :— " The citie was adorned in all sorts most richlie. 'Ihe water-conduits end of <*~V*™£ S tf% castell made with foure towers; out of the which cas toll on two sides of it ran forth wine abundantly. In the towers were placed fonre beautiful virgins, of stature and ago like to the king, apparelled in white vestures, in every tower one, the which blew in the king's face, at his approaching neere to them, leaves of gold; and as he approached also, they threw on him and his horsso counterfeit florens of gold. When ho was come before the castell they tooko cups of gold, and, filling them with wine at the spouts of the castell, presented the same to the king and to his nobles. On the tor o ! tl he castell, betwixt the foure towers, stood a golden imgell, n° l(im g» orowne in his hands, which was so contrived, that when the king came he bowed downe, and offered to him the crowne. An tne midst of the king's pallace was a marble pillar, raised hollow upon steps, on the top whereof was a great gilt eagle Placed, under whose feet in the chapiter of the Pillar divers kinds of ™ge came gushing forth at foure several places all the daie long, neither was ■ aine forbidden to receive the same, were he never so poor or ablest.

HENRY IV. Henry IV. was crowned by Archbishop Fitzalan on the 13th of October, 1399, and on this occasion the ampulla was first employea. After Henry had gone to the Tower he created forty-six knights or the Bath, among whom were three of his own sons. The procession from the Tower to Westminster was unusually splendid, no less than six thousand horses being employed on the occasion. Froissart gives the following account of Henry IV. s procession . "The duke of Lancaster left the Tower this Sunday after dinner, on his return to Westminster ; he was bare headed, and had round his head the order of the king of Franco. The prince of Wales, six duke 3, six earls, eighteen barons, accompanied him, ana tncre were of knights and other nobility from eight to nine hundred horses in the procession. He passed through the streets or .Lonaon which were all handsomely decorated with tapestries and other rich hangings; there were nine fountains in Cheapside and other streets he passed through, that ran perpytuallv with whito ana red wines. The whole cavalcade amounted to six thousand horso that escorted the duke from the Tower to Westminster.

HENRY Y. Henry Y. was crowned on the 9th of April, 1413. Katherine of Trance, the queen of Henry V., was crowned on the 24th of X ebruary, 1420. The account which Holinshed gives of the magnificence displayed upon this occasion is far too characteristic of tno age to be omitted :—

44 After the great solemnization of the aforesaid coronation in the church of St. Potcr'3, at Westminster, was ended, the queeno was conveied into the great Hall at Westminster, and there set to dinner. Upon whose right hand sat, at the end of the table, the archbishop of Canterbury, and Henrie surnamed the Rich, cardinall of Winchester. Upon the left hand of the queene sat the king of Scots in his estate, who was served with covered messe, as were the foresaid bishops, but yet after them. Upon the left hand, next lo the cupboard, sat the maior and his brethren, the aldermen of London. The bishops began the table, against the barons of the Cinque ports ; and the ladies against the maior. These, with others, ordered the service ; and, for tho first course, brawn ill mustard, eeles in humour, pike in herbago, fuiment with balion, lampr'e powdered, trout, codling, plaico fried, martino fried, crabs, leech lumbavd, nourished tavtes, and a deviso called pelican, bitting on hir nest with hir birds, and an image of St. Katherine holding a booko, and disputing with doctors. " The second course was, gellie coloured with columbine flewers, white potage or creamo of almonds, breame of tho sea. conger, cheuen, barbill and roch, fresh salmon, halibut, gurnard, rochet broiled, smelts fried, crevis or lobster, leech-damaske, with tho king's poesie nourished thereon. ' r The third course was, dates in compost, creame motle, carpo deore, turbut, tench, pearch with goion, fresh sturgion with welkd, porporous rosted with lamprie, a leech, called tho white leech, nourished with hawthorn leaves and red hawea ; a marchpano garnished with diverse flg\ireaof angels."

HENRY VI. Henry VI. was crowned at Westminster, Nov. 6th, 1429, being then only in the ninth year of his age. The coronation feast was celebrated at Westminster with groat splendour. In the first course, Febian tells us, there were, among other royal viands, " Bore hedes in castellys of gold and enarmed," " Custard royall, with a lyopard of goldc syttyng therein, aad holding a flourc. de lvce." The pageant for this course was, " A sotyltie of Seynt Sdwarde and Seynt Lowys armed, and upon eyther his coto armoure, holdyng atweno flicm a figure lyke unto Kyngo Henry, standynge also in his coto armoure, and a scripture passynge from them both, sajingc,— 'Beholdoll porfyght kynges under ono coto armoure.' "

EDWARD IV. The monarch had his title confirmed by the forms of a popular election. Immediately after his victory over Henry VI. ho came to London, and returned thanks to God at St. Paul's Church. Ho was then conducted in solemn procession to Westminster, and placed on the King's Bench, in the Hall, which was filled with people. It was then demanded of the commons whether they would accept this princo to be their sovereign ; to which all as-

sented. Ho was crowned by archbishop Bouchier, Juno 29th 1461.

RICHARD 111. Richard 111. and his queen, Anne, daughter to the Earl of Warwick, were crowned on tho sth July, 1483, "with the self same provision," say s Graf ton, " that was appointed for tho coronation of hie nephew." The king and queen received the sacrament from the hands of the cardinal archbishop of Canterbury, and one boat, or conservative wafer, was divided ootween them.

HENRY VII. Henry VII. was crowned October 30th, 1485, and his queen, Elizabeth, October 30th, 1487. The latter was remarkable for the pi ocession by water from the palace of Greenwich to the Tower, instead ol from Westminster, as was usual The queen was escorted by the Lord Mayor, Sheriffs, and the heads of the different companies in their state barges, richly ornamented with silken pennons and streamers, and also with the banners of the different trades on which their arms wore embroidered in gold. One of these barges, called the Bachelor's Barge, contained an extra" ordinary pageant, an enormous red dragon which spouted streams of flre into the Thames. When the queen rode through the city on the following day, choirs of children dressed as angels wero stationed in different places, who sang hymns and songs as she passed, by. HENRY VIII.

Henry VIII. was extremely fond of pageantry, and ho "was particularly anxious about the ceremonials of his coronation. The Londoners seconded his desires, and when after having created twenty-four knights of the Bath, he rode through London from the Tower, Juno 22, 1509, the streets were hung with tapestry and cloth of arras, and a great part of the south side of Cheap and part of Cornhill were hnng with cloth of gold. The several companies and civic dignitaries linod the streets; and Hall tells us, "The goldsmiths' stalls unto the end of the Old Change "being replenished with virgins in white, with branches of white wax ; tho priestes and clearkes in rich copes, with crosses and censers of silver, censing his grace and the queene also as they passed. The queene Katherino was sitting in hir litter, borne by two whito palfries, tho litter covered and richlie apparelled, and the palfriea trapped in with whito cloth of gold; hir person apparelled in white satin embroidered, her haire hanging downe to her backe, beautifull and goodlie to behold, and on her head a coronall set with manic rich orient stones." ...... , Tho coronation waß celebrated with brilliant "justs and

turneies," which the king and queen witnessed from "a faire bouse covered with tapestrie."

EDWARD VX. Edward VL was crowned February 20th, 1546. "He rode through London into Westminster," says Holinshed, "with as great roialtie as might be, the streets being hung, and pageants in divers places erected, to testifle tho good willes of the citizens. . As ho passed on the south part of Paules churchyard, an Argosine came from tho battlements of Paule's church, upon a cable, boing mado fast to an anchor by tho deane s gate, lieing on his breast, aiding himselfe neither with hand nor foot, and after ascended to the middest of the cable, where ho tumbled and plaied many prittie toies, whorat the king and the nobles had good pastime." At this coronation, when the three swords, for the three kingdoms, were brought to be carried before him the king observed that there was yet one wanting, and called for the Bible. ' That, said he, " is the sword of the spirit, and ought m all right to govern us, who \ise these for tho people's safety, by God's appointment. Without that sword wo are nothing ; wo can do nothing. From \.iat we are what we are this day . . . we receive whatsoever it is that we at this present do assume. Under that we ought to live, to tight, to govern the people, and to perform all our affairs. From that alone we obtain all power, virtue, grace, salvation, and whatsoever we have of divine strength."

ELIZABETH. Speed's account of the procession of Queen Elizabeth contains some particulars 100 remarkable to be omitted. "All things in readinesse, upon the 14th oC January, with great trhimphes and sumptuou3 showes, sheo passed thorow London, towards West minster, to receive her iniperiall crowno ; but before shee entered her chariot in the Tower, acknovi lodging that the seat was God a into which shee was to enter, and sheo his vicegerent to wield the English sceptre ; in that royal assembly, with eyes and hands elevated to heaven, upon her knees, she prayed for his assistance, as Solomon did for wisedome when he tooke tin like charge ; with a thankful remembrance unto God for his continued preservation, who had brought her thorow great dangers unto that present She was crowned the 25th of January, 1553, by Oglethorp«, Bishop of Carlisle, the see of Canterbury being vacant by the death, of Cardinal Pole.

JAMES I. The ceremonial for the coronation of James I. was prepared under the superintendence of that monarch, and displays many marks of the pedantry and extravagant notions of the royal prerogath c, which form so Jarge a portion of his character.

CHARLES I. Tho coronation of Charle3 I. was delayed until the sth of February, 1626, in consequence of tho plague which then reigned in London. The principal novelty was the introduction of the following clause in one of tho prayers: " Let him obtain favour for thy people, like Aaron in the tabernacle, Elisha in the waters, Zachanas in the temple. Givo him Peter's key of discipline B,nd Paul's doctrine."

CHARLES 11. Charles 11., having been invited to Scotland by the Pre3brtenans, was crowned at Scone, January 1, 1651. On this occasion a most extraordinary sermon was preached by " M aster Robert Dowglas, minister at Edinburgh, moderator of the General As senibly, from 2 Kings xi. vemi? 12—17 ' The preacher delivered a fierce philippic against the young king's father and mother, the latter of whom ho compared to the wicked Athahah,

JAMES 11. James's coronation, April 23, IGSo, was celebrated with so much splendour, that it rendered bin for a considerable time popular in London. Iho most remarkable anecdote connected with tht> solemnity is, that, on the king"? return fiom the Abbey, the ciown totteicd upon his head, and ■would have fallen oil', had not the Honourable Henry bidney supported it, saying, "This is not the first time our family have supported the crow n."

WILLIAM AND MARY. For the first time in England both the king and the queen weru crowned as sovereigns. The ceremonial was very stately and cold ; it took place on Hi© 11th o ? April, 11189, the Bishop of London officiating instead of the Archbishop ot Canterbury (Bancroft), who scrupled to placo the crown upon the head of so\ ereigns who claimed it by parliamentary title, and not by hereditary descent, and what ho called divino right.

ANNE. Anne was crowned April 23, 1702 ; her husband, Prince George of Denmark, was present, but took no prominent part in the ceremony.

GEORGE I. George I. was crowned at "Westminster, October 20, 1711, with the usual solemnities. The king did not understand English, and few of those around him could speak German, so that the ceremonies had to be explained to his majesty in such Latin as those near him could command ; this gave rise to the popular jest that much bad lanpuape passed between the king and his ministers on the day of the coronation.

GEORGE 11. George 11. and Queen Caroline were crowned October 11, 172T V with the usual solemnities, but nothing occurred to give any variety or interest to the scene.

GEORGE 111. George 111. and Queen Charlotte were crowned the 22nd of September, 1761. In the Gentleman's Magazine for 1764, p. 28, is an extract from a letter addressed to the Duke of Devonshire, which contains the following singular anecdote :— " The young Pretender himself waa in Westminster Hall during the coronation, and in town two or three days before and after it, under the name of Mr Brown. A gentleman told me so, who saw him there, and who whispered in his ear, * Your royal highness is the last of all mortals whom I should expect to sco hero.'—' It was curiosity that led me,' said tbo other : ' but I assuro you," added he, ' that the person who is the cause of all this pomp and magniflcenco is tho man I envy the least 1"'

GEORGE IV. Tho coronation of George IV., which took place on July 19, 1821, was tho most splendid ever celebrated in England.

iWILLIAM IV. The arrangements for the coronation of William IV. and Queen Adelaide were a compromise between economy and parade. The procession from the Hall to the Abbey, and the coronation feast in the Hall were omitted. The popular enthusiasm was greater, however, than on any former occasion. The new entrance to St. James's park was opened for the first time, and in the evening the metropolis was \miversally illuminated. The very lanes and alleys tenanted by the poor classes were lighted, to testify tho loyal affection of even the humblest for " tho sailor king."