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rat, consurrexit de rotundo globo aureo, quem tenebat in manu chirothecata, et habebat in summitate signum crucis, et accepit virgam prædictam cum verbis his : 'Accipe virtutis.' Post hæc benedictus est rex ab archiepiscopo ita dicente: Benedicat te.' His itaque peractis, osculatus est rex episcopos omnes et abbates, a quibus statim ductus est postea ad regale solium, episcopis inchoantibus hymnum, Te Deum laudamus.' Finito hymno, archiepiscopus ita eum allocutus est: 'Sta et retine.' His itaque peractis, inchoata est missa congruens coronationi regiæ.-Lecto evangelio, rex de regali solio ductus est ad offerendum. Primo igitur obtulit archiepiscopo gladium suum, quem susceperat, et postea aurum quantum placuit, sed non minus marca propter consuetudinem: nam plus potest offerre Deo et sancto Petro si placuerit. Post oblationem pecuniæ obtulit archiepiscopo panem et vinum ad modum monachorum, unde postea, tam metropolitanus, quam ipse rex, communicati fuerunt. Quo facto, comes, ad cujus officium pertinebat portare gladium coram rege, gladium quem obtulerat dato pretio redemit, et assumens eum, portabat coram illo. Percelebrata missa usque ad communionem, reductus est rex ad altare, et genuflexo coram archiepiscopo, dixit, Confiteor.' Quo absoluto, communicatus est, et iterum reductus est ad sedem suam.-Illico post decessum militis, [Joannis Dymok] præequitantibus regem dominis supradictis super dextrarios suos, necnon præcedente magno numero diversi generis histrionum, portatus est in humeris

8 The champion, it seems, came, at an improper time, to the abbey: and was desired to go away, and appear at the banquet. "Henricus Percy venit ad dictum mili

VOL. III.

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militum usque ad regale palatium, ductus quoque in cameram, paulisper quievit: debilis enim fuerat præ labore parum comedens."9

Of succeeding coronations there are few particulars which would illustrate further the Service which I have printed: three very curious and valuable manuscripts, in English, are extant, and preserved in the British Museum, from which I have made, as the reader will observe, many extracts in the notes, to elucidate the text. These manuscripts are entitled, 1st. "The maner and forme of the kyngis and quenes coronacion in Englonde; "10 which it is not improbable was prepared for some particular occasion, but it does not appear what that was. 2nd. An account of the coronation of Henry VI." And, 3rd, the “Devyse” for the coronation of K. Henry VIII. This last is especially valuable; having been carefully examined and approved by the king himself, who has made many corrections with his own hand in the oath which he was to take.12

of the Dymocks, and before them, of the Kilpecs, see the Archæologia, vol. 20, p. 207, note b. and, for the oath which champions were to take in case of a duel, ibid. p. 170, note b. It has been supposed, from the error related above by Walsingham, that either the representative of the family of Dymock for the first time discharged the office at that coronation; or, that the ceremony had been omitted during some preceding reigns. It is a curious circumstance, that the widow of this Sir

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There are some remarkable circumstances relating to the coronation of K. Edward VI., and I do not see any reason to doubt the assertion of bishop Burnet, that the Form was shortened; although it is not correct, unless mere omissions made it so, that “a new form was ordered to be drawn.13 The chief document, of authority, which describes at length the order in which the coronation was to be observed, is "the Order" printed by Burnet in his records, Book 1. No. 4: from the council book. It cannot be denied that there were in the ancient service some few and short passages, which, after the dissolution of the abbeys, would necessarily call for some alteration; but the reason which the council gave for shortening the ceremony, was not true, viz.: that he was too young to bear the fatigue of so long a ceremony: for he was older than his predecessors, Henry III. and Henry VI., and about one year younger than Richard II. Whatever the true cause may have been, the fact, that the service was mutilated and curtailed, does not seem to admit of dispute and to a very considerable extent, if we place any reliance on the order of the council. For among other things omitted, it does not appear that Edward received investiture with the royal robe, or ring; or that he was even offered or presented with the sceptres of the realm of England. If one would object that this record from the council books is not to be interpreted so strictly, because it is not credible that so solemn a part of the ceremonies, as that regarding the sceptres, would have been struck out, I do not

has been given by Sir Henry Ellis, in the 1st volume of the second series of his "Original Let

ters:" a work of very great value and interest.

13 Hist. Reform. vol. 3. p. 26.

then see how he would prove that Edward VI. was not, as he ought to have been, completely crowned after the ancient manner and custom of his fathers. I leave the matter to the consideration of the reader.14

Queen Mary was crowned according to the old and full form of the Liber Regalis: Holinshed gives a very long description of the pageants, as she went to the Abbey; but of the service itself he merely states, that "the coronation and other ceremonies and solemnities were according to the old custome." 15 Archbishop Parker corroborates this, and says; “regina Maria missationibus sacrisque pontificiis, uncta reginitiata est.”1 Queen Elizabeth was also crowned noque according to the old rites, and with the celebration of the mass, omitting only the elevation of the host."

Holinshed, in a general way, asserts that "his coronation was solemnized in due forme and order, with all the roialtie and honour which therevnto apperteined." vol. 3. p. 979.

I am indebted to a friend for a transcript also of a contemporary account of this coronation, (Harleian MS. 3504.) possibly drawn up by an eye-witness, in which it is asserted that the sceptres were delivered to the king, by two noblemen and also, that he was anointed on the soles of his feet. I hesitate to place much reliance on this document, where it differs from the council-minute; and the writer, without intending it, might have both mistaken and misrepresented facts.

15 Vol. 3. p. 1091.

16 De antiquitate Brit. Ecc p. 509.

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17 Burnet, vol. 3. p. 762. seems certain however that there was only one bishop present, Oglethorpe, of Carlisle and Collier, speaking loosely, says that the solemnity" was performed according to ancient custom, and directed by the Roman pontifical." vol. 2. p. 412. The ancient custom was very different from the Roman order. But some modifiIcation of the old rubrics of the Liber Regalis must have unavoidably taken place, in consequence of the refusal of the bishops to attend. It has been said that the queen never forgot or forgave their resolution in this matter: see Ellis, Original Letters, 3rd Series, vol. 2. p. 324.

The new Form, new, that is, in its language more than in its order and details, was first used upon the occasion of the coronation of King James in 1603; and this, with some alterations, has been "the Coronation Service," up to the present day.

By a careful examination of the notes below, the reader will be able, I trust, to trace sufficiently for himself, the principal changes which have been made, from time to time, during the last two centuries: and for more exact enquiry, (these modern services being rather incidentally than truly within the proper limits of my subject) I must refer him to the Forms themselves, all of which are, I believe, still extant in our great libraries."

18 Besides the Bodleian and the British Museum, several Forms, not to be found elsewhere, are in the libraries of Lambeth, and of the dean and chapter of Westminster.

The

I do not enter into any account or history of the regalia: much information may be obtained from common books respecting them, such as Sandford, or Taylor, in the "Glory of regality." regalia now used are not the ancient ones: those having been destroyed, and melted down, by order of the Long Parliament: among them, it is said, the genuine crown of K. Alfred. The modern crowns, sceptres, &c., were made for Charles II.

There is however one monument of antiquity remaining, the Coronation Chair. The legend

is, that it is the stone on which the patriarch Jacob laid his head in the plain of Luz; that it was brought from Egypt to Spain; from thence to Ireland A. c. 700; carried to Scotland A. c. 300; and at last offered at the shrine of Edward the Confessor at Westminster by K. Edward I. Whatever amount of truth there may be in this, the remark is just, that "this is the antientest respected monument in the world, for though some others may be more antient as to duration, yet thus superstitiously regarded they are not." Toland, Hist. of the Druids. p. 104. The stone was reckoned among the Jewels of Scotland: thus, in the Wardrobe account of Edward the first, we find; "Jocalia remanentia in fine anni xxvij mi. de jocalibus quæ fuerunt quon

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