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Rh balsam, is only used for the most sacred purposes, and the oil of the catechumens was that used for the unction of kings. In France, however, a legend gained credence that, as a special sign of divine favour, the Holy Dove had miraculously descended from heaven, bearing a vessel (afterwards called the Sainte Ampoule), containing holy oil, and had placed it on the altar for the coronation of Clovis. A drop of oil from the Sainte Ampoule mixed with chrism was afterwards used for anointing the kings of France. Similarly the chrism was introduced into English coronations, for the first time probably at the coronation of Edward II. To rival the French story another miracle was related that the Virgin Mary had appeared to Thomas Becket, and had given him a vessel with holy oil, which at some future period was to be used for the sacring of the English king. A full account of this miracle, and the subsequent finding of the vessel, is contained in a letter written in 1318 by Pope John XXII. to Edward II. The chrism was used in addition to the holy oil. The king was first anointed with the oil, and then signed on the head with the chrism. In all other countries the oil of the catechumens was alone used. In consequence of the use of chrism the kings of England and France were thought to be able to cure scrofula by the imposition of their hands, and hence arose the practice in those countries of touching for the king’s evil, as it was called. In England the chrism disappeared at the Reformation, but touching for the evil was continued till the accession of the house of Hanover in 1714.

The oldest of all existing rituals for the coronation of a king is contained in what is known as the Pontifical of Egbert, who was archbishop of York in the middle of the 8th century. The coronation service in it is entitled Missa pro rege in die benedictionis ejus, and the coronation ceremony is interpolated in the middle of the mass. After the Gospel the officiant recites some prayers of benediction, and then pours oil from a horn on the king’s head, while the anthem “Zadok the priest,” &c., is sung. After this the assembled bishops and nobles place a sceptre in the king’s hands, while a form of intercessory benediction is recited. Then the staff (baculus) is delivered to him, and finally a helmet (galea) is set upon his head, the whole assembly repeating thrice “May King N. live for ever. Amen. Amen. Amen.” The enthronement follows, with the kisses of homage and of fealty, and the mass, with special prayers, is concluded.

Another coronation service of Anglo-Saxon date bearing, but with no good reason, the name of Æthelred II., has also been preserved, and is of importance as it spread from England to the continent, and was used for the coronations of the kings of France. It differs from the Egbert form as the coronation precedes the mass, while the use of a ring, and the definite allusion to a crown (corona not galea) occur in it. Joined to it is the form for the coronation of a queen consort. It may have been used for the crowning of Harold and of William the Conqueror.

A third English coronation form, of the 12th century, bears the name of Henry I., but also without good reason. The ceremonial is more fully developed, and the king is anointed on the head, breast, shoulders and elbows. The royal mantle appears for the first time, as does the sceptre. The queen consort is to be crowned secundum ordinem Romanum, and the whole function precedes the mass.

The fourth and most important of all English coronation services is that of the Liber Regalis, a manuscript still in the keeping of the dean of Westminster. It was introduced in 1307, and continued in use till the Reformation, and, in an English translation and with the Communion service substituted for the Latin mass, it was used for the coronation of James I. In it the English coronation ceremonies reached their fullest development. The following is a bare outline of its main features:—

The ceremonies began the day before the coronation, the king being ceremonially conducted in a procession from the Tower of London to Westminster. There he reposed for the night, and was instructed by the abbot as to the solemn obligations of the kingly office. Early next morning he went to Westminster Hall, and there, among other ceremonies, as rex regnaturus was elevated into a richly adorned seat on the king’s bench, called the Marble Chair. Then a procession with the regalia was marshalled, and led into the abbey church, the king wearing a cap of estate on his head, and supported by the bishops of Bath and Durham. A platform with thrones, &c., having been previously prepared under the crossing, the king ascended it, and all being in order, the archbishop of Canterbury called for the Recognition, after which the king, approaching the high altar, offered a pall to cover it, and a pound of gold. Then a sermon appropriate to the occasion was preached by one of the bishops, the oath was administered by the archbishop, and the Veni Creator and a litany were sung. Then the king was anointed with oil on his hands, breast, between the shoulders, on the shoulders, on the elbows, and on the head; finally he was anointed with the chrism on his head. Thus blessed and anointed, the king was vested, first with a silk dalmatic, called the colobium sindonis, then a long tunic, reaching to the ankles and woven with great golden images before and behind, was put upon him. He then received the buskins (caligae), the sandals (sandalia), and spurs (calcaria), then the sword and its girdle; after this the stole, and finally the royal mantle, four-square in shape and woven throughout with golden eagles. Thus vested, the crown of St Edward was set on his head, the ring placed on his wedding finger, the gloves drawn over his hands, and the golden sceptre, in form of an orb and cross, delivered to him. Lastly, the golden rod with the dove at the top was placed in the king’s left hand. Thus consecrated, vested and crowned, the king kissed the bishops who, assisted by the nobles, enthroned him, while the Te Deum was sung. When a queen consort was also crowned, that ceremony immediately followed, and the mass with special collect, epistle, gospel and preface was said, and during it both king and queen received the sacrament in one kind. At the conclusion the king retired to a convenient place, surrounded with curtains, where the great chamberlain took off certain of the robes, and substituted others for them, and the archbishop, still wearing his mass vestments, set other crowns on the heads of the king and queen, and with these they left the church.

This service, in English, was used at the coronation of James I., Elizabeth having been crowned with the Latin service. Little change was made till 1685, when it was considerably altered for the coronation of James II. The Communion was necessarily omitted in the case of a Roman Catholic, but other changes were introduced quite needlessly by Archbishop Sancroft, and four years later the old order was still more seriously changed, with the result that the revisions of 1685 and 1689 have grievously mutilated the service, by confusing the order of its different sections, while the meaning of the prayers has been completely changed for no apparent reason. Alterations since then have been verbal rather than essential, but at each subsequent coronation some feature has disappeared, the proper preface having been abandoned at the coronation of Edward VII.

In connexion with the English coronation a number of claims to do certain services have sprung up, and before each coronation a court of claims is constituted, which investigates and adjudicates on the claims that are made. The most striking of all these services is that of the challenge made by the king’s champion, an office which has been hereditary in the Dymoke family for many centuries. Immediately following the service in the church a banquet was held in Westminster Hall, during the first course of which the champion entered the hall on horseback, armed cap-à-pie, with red, white and blue feathers in his helmet. He was supported by the high constable on his right, and the earl marshal on his left, both of whom were also mounted. On his appearance in the hall a herald in front of him read the challenge, the words of which have not materially varied at any period, as follows: “If any person, of what degree soever, high or low, shall deny or gainsay our sovereign lord ..., king of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, defender of the faith (son and), next heir unto our sovereign lord the last king deceased, to be the right heir to the imperial crown of this realm of Great Britain and Ireland, or that he ought not to enjoy the same; here is his