Читать книгу Coronation: From the 8th to the 21st Century - Roy Strong - Страница 10

The Anglo-Saxons were made up of a mixture of tribes who came from an area of the Continent stretching from between the mouths of the rivers Rhine and Elbe. They began first to attack England from the third century on and then, by the middle of the fifth, decided to settle. By the close of the following century they had carved the country up into a series of petty kingdoms, each with its own royal family. The Anglo-Saxons were pagan, but during the seventh century were Christianised in the aftermath of Pope Gregory the Great’s mission of 597 to Kent. A golden age of Christian civilisation followed, which was only disrupted by a fresh wave of invasions in the form of the Vikings. It was those which precipitated the rise to dominance of the royal house of Wessex, first under Alfred and then under his descendants throughout the tenth century. They were the first kings of a united England and it is with Alfred’s descendants that we arrive for the first time on firmer ground that they inaugurated their reigns with the rite of unction.

In common with the other Germanic tribes, kingship was central to the Anglo-Saxons. A ruler was elected from among the members of a royal race or dynasty, the stirps regia, who were descendants of the god, Woden. The making of a new king involved some kind of enthronement, investiture with weapons or regalia, the mounting of an ancestral burial mound, even a symbolic marriage with the earth-goddess. Such installation rites would certainly have included a feast and conceivably also, after the election but before any form of enthronement, some kind of ancestor of the Coronation oath. Insignia included a pagan spear or long staff (baculus), a helmet (galea) and a standard or banner, all three items connected with leadership in battle. To these customs the Vikings were to add, in the ninth century, an early form of throne, a stone or high seat, to which the king was conducted to the acclamation of the people.”¹³

None of these presented any problems when the ceremony was Christianised, the only victim being the standard or banner. Otherwise everything was taken over into the Christian rite, even the helmet which only gave way to a crown in the tenth century. The earliest representation of a King of England wearing a crown is on the charter of the New Minster at Winchester, dated 966, which depicts Edgar wearing one adorned with fleurons. In 1052 Edward the Confessor was to order an imperial crown and he is depicted, as indeed is Harold, the last Saxon King, wearing one with fleurons in the Bayeux Tapestry. The spear or long staff was easily accommodated within the Christian scheme of things by references to the Rod of Aaron and that of Moses, descendants of the wooden staffs borne by kings and judges in ancient civilisations.¹⁴

All of these items from the pagan past were redeployed in what was a Christian liturgy. What little we know about early Coronation ceremonies stems in the main from the surviving liturgical texts known as ordines or recensions. There are four major ones in the history of the English Coronation. The first two pre-date the Norman Conquest in 1066 and together form perhaps the most complicated documents in the entire history of the ceremony. Amongst both medievalists and liturgical scholars they have been and still remain subjects of lively debate, often of a highly complex and technical nature. In what follows I have attempted to superimpose some degree of clarity and, inevitably, simplification upon what is a highly contentious field of study, bearing in mind, too, that most people’s knowledge of liturgy in the twenty-first century tends to be minimal. An ordo comprises a liturgical sequence of prayers and blessings by which various actions are given sacramental significance, in particular by invoking divine sanction, blessings and the descent of the gifts of the Holy Spirit upon the person chosen as king. The fact that such rituals could only be performed by clergy, bishops in fact, means that the ordines for them came to appear in the service books of cathedrals, especially in what are called pontificals, that is a body of texts for ceremonies which can only be performed by a bishop. In many ways what these texts provide the reader with is something akin to the words of a Shakespeare play minus any stage directions or, to use ecclesiastical parlance, rubrics. If the latter existed at all – and it is likely that they did – they would have been in a separate book which would have told those involved what they should do. As a consequence of their absence we know nothing of the arrangement of the setting, the form taken by symbolic gestures like prostration and genuflection, the details of the dress worn or the music sung.

None of the surviving texts of these first two recensions can be dated as having been written before the year 900. What is certain is that, although they were written down much later, they record the format of rituals as they were performed at much earlier dates. Much scholarly attention has been focused upon the interconnexion of these texts and, although everyone agrees that they go back to earlier lost texts, there is little agreement as to exactly how much earlier. The issue is further clouded by the fact that what does survive can only be a fragment of what once existed, items which have defied the hand of time and wanton destruction. Nonetheless as documents they tell us a great deal about the nature of kingship in pre-Conquest England and about the relationship of Church and State.¹⁵

The First Recension exists in three manuscripts, of which the earliest is the Leofric Missal, written about the year 900 at the Abbey of St Vaast near Arras and brought to England about 1042 by Bishop Leofric of Exeter. Views at to what this text is range from it never having actually been used at all to being the normal rite used for the inauguration of the Kings of West Sussex from before 856, perhaps for the Coronation of Egbert in 839 or even earlier, at the close of the eighth century. In the academic argument over that, much hangs upon whether the ordo drawn up by Hincmar, Archbishop of Reims, in 856 for the marriage of the West Frankish princess, Judith, to the Anglo-Saxon King Æthelwulf was a wholly West Frankish compilation of his own or whether Hincmar was merely adapting his rite from what was an ancient Anglo-Saxon norm. If the latter is the case then the First Recension is a very old rite indeed.¹⁶

The two other manuscripts of the First Recension contain rubrics pointing to a date not earlier than the tenth century. The texts they contain are identical to the one in the Leofric Missal, except for the addition of two prayers from the ordo for Judith. The two manuscripts are the Pontifical of Egbert, Archbishop of York, datable to around 1000, and the ‘Lanalet’ Pontifical, which has been variously dated from the late tenth century to the 1030s.

Putting all of these together we emerge with a Coronation service which was in use a long time before 900, but, as I indicated, just how long before and for whom it was used is open to debate. The texts are headed ‘Blessings on a newly elected king’ and ‘The Mass for kings on the day of their hallowing’. In the case of the various recensions I propose to present them in list form with the intention of giving the reader a clear idea of each ceremony’s exact structure and sequence:

1 The service opens with an anthem: ‘Righteous art thou, O Lord, and true is thy judgement’ (Psalm 119: 137) and a psalm: ‘Blessed are those that are undefiled in the way’ (Psalm 119:1).

2 A prayer that the King ‘may with wisdom foster his power and might …’

3 An Old Testament reading from Leviticus (26: 6–9) with God’s promise of peace, the defeat of enemies and the multiplication of people.

4 The gradual from Psalm 86: 2: ‘Save thy servant’ and the versicle ‘Ponder my words, O Lord’ (Psalm 5:1). The Alleluia. ‘The King shall rejoice in thy strength, O Lord)’ (Psalm 21: 1) or ‘Thou has set a crown of pure gold’ (Psalm 21: 3).

5 Gospel reading from Matthew (22: 15–22) with the passage in which Christ calls for them to show him the tribute money and says: ‘Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.’

6 Three prayers invoking the attributes God should bestow on the King: the grace of truth, goodness, the spirit of wisdom and government and, finally: ‘In his days let justice and equity arise … that … he may show to the whole people a pattern of life well-pleasing to thee … And so joining prudence with counsel, may he find with peace and wisdom means to rule his people …’

7 ‘Here shall the bishop pour oil from the horn over the King’s head with this anthem: ‘Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet …’ (I Kings 1: 45) and the psalm ‘The King shall rejoice in thy strength, O Lord’ (Psalm 21:1). Unction is accompanied by a collect recalling ‘thy servant Aaron a priest, by the anointing of oil and afterwards by the effusion of oil, didst make the Kings and prophets to govern thy people Israel …’

8 The investiture: ‘Here all the bishops, with the nobles give the sceptre into his hand’, an action followed by a long series of short prayers calling down blessings and regal attributes. Then, ‘Here shall the staff [baculus] be given into his hand’, followed by a further prayer invoking the descent of blessings. Finally, ‘Here all the bishops shall take the helmet and put it on the King’s head’ with a last invocation of blessings. After this ‘All the people shall say three times with the bishops and priests, May King N. live for ever. Amen. Amen. Amen. Then shall the whole people come to kiss the prince and be strengthened with a blessing.’

9 The Mass.

10 At the conclusion comes the promissio regis in the form of the tria praecepta: ‘that the Church of God and all Christian people preserve the peace at all times’, ‘that he forbid rapacity and all iniquities to all degrees’ and, lastly, ‘that in all judgements he enjoin equity and mercy …’

We have no idea when and for whom this ordo was used. The earliest reference to unction being administered is recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle quite suddenly under the year 787 when it states that Ecgferth, the son of Offa, King of Mercia, was ‘consecrated king’.¹⁷ Presumably this was a means to ensure his succession to the throne. Then follows a complete silence until 4 September 925 when Athelstan was anointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Athelstan, along with Edward the Elder and Edgar, was one of the three great tenth-century Anglo-Saxon kings. In 937, he would rout an alliance of the Danes and rebel subject princes at the battle of Brunanburh. The location for his Coronation was Kingston upon Thames and it was followed by a great feast:

With festive treat the court abounds; Foams the brisk wine, the hall resounds: The pages run, the servants haste, And food and verse regale the taste. The minstrels sing, the guests commend, While in praise to Christ contend. ¹⁸

Kingston first appears in 835 or 836 as a meeting place for Egbert and Coelnorth, Archbishop of Canterbury. Edward the Elder, son of Alfred, and likewise a warrior who laid low the Danes, was crowned there in 901. Athelstan’s brother, Edmund, was also crowned at Kingston in 940 and his brother, Eadred, in 946 and Edmund’s son, Eadwig, in 955 or 956.¹⁹ Once again we get an unexpected glimpse of what could be the reality of such an occasion. Eadwig is recorded as getting up during the Coronation feast and going to his chamber. Dunstan, the future Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Bishop of Lichfield were sent to fetch him back. What they saw was the unedifying sight of the new King with two women, Athelgifu and her daughter, Elfgifu, to whom the King was uncanonically married, and the crown, ‘which shone with the various glitter of gold, silver and precious stones’, tossed on to the floor. Unsavoury though the episode was it provides the earliest evidence that we have that the Kings now wore crowns.²⁰

With the mention of Dunstan we can move on to a consideration of that other vexed document, the Second Recension. Everyone agrees that it was used under Dunstan’s aegis for the great Coronation of Edgar in 973 and also that it was still in use in 1101. As it refers to a king crowned ‘of the Angles and the Saxons’ and to the person concerned as a successor to a glorious father, that could only mean Edward the Elder crowned on 8 June 901 or Athelstan, his son, crowned on 4 September 925. That at least provides some options for possible dating. What is also certain is that this ordo represents a revision of the First Recension, bringing it into line with developments on the Continent.²¹

There are at least five versions of this text, of which the most important is that known as the Claudius Pontifical, which evidence indicates was written for and at Christ Church, Canterbury. The ordo is a fusion of insular with continental elements drawing on the Leofric and Egbert versions of the First Recension and marrying into them items drawn from Hincmar of Reims’ ordo of Metz (869), the West Frankish ordo of c.900 (the Erdmann ordo) and what was called the ordo of Stavelot (the ordo of the Seven Forms). The resulting recension surpasses all of those upon which it was based in terms of clarity, structure and power of expression and language.

Although there are variations between the surviving manuscripts, once again I present the recension as a list, pointing up what had changed. The Second Recension, thanks to the inclusion of rubrics, paints a far fuller picture of the action than the first:

1 The ordo opens with the King discovered amidst his seniores, the ealdormen who have elected him.

2 Two bishops lead the King to the church while the choir chants the anthem, Firmetur manus tua: ‘Let thy hand be strengthened, and thy right hand be exulted …’, invoking the regal qualities of strength, justice, mercy and truth.

3 ‘When the King is come to the church, he shall lie prostrate before the altar: and then shall the hymn Te Deum laudamus be sung to the end.’

4 ‘After which he shall arise from the ground: and the King chosen by the bishops and people shall promise to observe these three things.’ Then follow the tria praecepta as in the First Recension.

5 Prayers follow, including a long one invoking in plenitude biblical precedents, Abraham, Moses, Joshua, David and Solomon, as exemplars of truth, mildness, courage, humility and wisdom. It petitions that the King may serve God, walk in the way of justice, and cherish the Church and his people, protecting both from their enemies. It calls for him to triumph over his enemies protected by the helmet of God’s protection and His invincible shield. It asks that the King reign with honour and be anointed with the grace of the Holy Spirit.

6 The anointing, during which is sung in some versions Unxerunt Salomonem (‘Zadok the Priest’) as the anthem and in others a special anthem with the text: ‘O people of England, thou hast not been forgotten in the sight of the Lord: for in thee may the King that rules the English people of God be exulted, may he be anointed with the oil of gladness and confirmed by God’s strength.’

7 Investiture by the bishops with a multiplication of regalia: the ring, the sword, the crown, the sceptre and the rod. Each item is presented with prayers outlining their symbolic significance as I have already described at Edgar’s Coronation. Some versions add to these a red regal mantle, ‘the garment of chiefest honour, the mantle of royal dignity’.

8 A series of blessings calls upon God, the Virgin Mary, the saints and angels to guard and watch over the King.

9 He is then enthroned with the prayer Sta et retine: ‘Stand and hold fast from henceforth that place whereof hitherto thou hast been heir, by the succession of thy forefathers, being now delivered unto thee by the authority of Almighty God, and by the hand of us, and all the bishops and servants of God …’

10 A series of further blessings.

11 The Queen is then consecrated and anointed and ‘she must be adorned with the ring for the integrity of her faith, and with a crown for the glory of eternity’.

12 The Mass.

In what way does this ordo differ from its predecessor? In the first place it is the first one with clear sections: election, oath, consecration, unction, investiture and blessing. In the second, the role of the laity is reduced, the delivery of the regalia no longer being at the hands of both principes and pontifices but of the pontifices only. In short, anything which suggests that power might have been conferred from below has been eliminated. There is no act of allegiance or indeed of acclamation. This is an ordo whose fundamental driving force is theological, represented in the opening act of prostration by the candidate on entering the church. Prostration in early liturgies was an expression beyond that of mere humility, contrition and supplication. What it signalled was an annihilation of the initiate’s former self in preparation for a ‘rebirth’ into a new status. That rebirth was, however, to be conditional upon the promissio regis, now significantly moved to the front from its place in the First Recension at the very end. This new siting had huge constitutional repercussions. In it were spelt out the obligations of late Anglo-Saxon kingship: ‘The duty of a hallowed king is that he judge no man unrighteously, and that he defend and protect widows and orphans and strangers, that he forbid thefts … feed the needy with alms, and have old and wise men for counsellors, and set righteous men for stewards …’²²

The Second Recension recast the nature, context and function of kingship. Much of that is caught in the new items of regalia. The ring, which makes its first appearance in the ordination of bishops, is given as a symbol of faith. The sword, for which there is also no pagan precedent, is girded upon the king for the defence of both the Church and his own people.²³ The recension also integrates the Queen into the Coronation ritual, casting her in the role of a virtuous helpmate. She, too, was anointed with chrism, an index of high status and that her role was seen as important and not subsidiary to that of the king.²⁴

Apart from the unusually full account of the Second Recension in action for Edgar in 973 little if anything is known about the Coronations of later kings. Indeed, it is not known whether Canute, the Danish king who succeeded to England by conquest, was even crowned at all. Chaos followed his demise in 1035 until, seven years later in 1042, Canute’s stepson, Edward the Confessor, succeeded. By that date the place of crowning was still not fixed, for Edward’s took place at Winchester in 1043. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle provides us with a crumb about that event, one which shows that the importance of the promissio regis was fully understood, for we are told that Eadsige, Archbishop of Canterbury, ‘gave him [Edward] good instruction before all the people, and admonished him well for his own sake and for the sake of all the people’.²⁵ If the Second Recension was a perfect mirror of ideal Anglo-Saxon kingship, what replaced it after the Norman Conquest was to reflect a far more assertive and controversial vision of the monarchy in what was to be an age of conflict between Church and State. There is a striking representation of the last Saxon Coronation in the Bayeux Tapestry. On 6 January 1066 Harold was crowned King in Edward the Confessor’s new Abbey Church of Westminster, which had been consecrated only nine days before. His claim to the throne was tenuous, his mother being a Norse princess and his sister, the Confessor’s Queen. The Coronation took place the day after the Confessor’s death, so that any preparations must have been minimal. The tapestry is accepted as having been made in England in about 1075 and its English origins mean that the scene is as it would have been envisaged by those within the native tradition. But the storyline is that of the Norman conquerors, for what is depicted is what, in their eyes, was a usurpation and, although no doubt both the archbishops of Canterbury and York took part following the Second Recension ordo, York is omitted in favour of including the tainted Stigand of Canterbury, already under a cloud and deposed from the see in 1070.

Such an image is, of course, not reportage but symbolic. Nonetheless it evokes more vividly than the dead texts of the ordines something of the atmosphere of such an event as well as giving an indication of the visual spectacle. It suggests that the royal throne had advanced from the primitive bench on which Edward the Confessor sits in the tapestry to being something more akin to an elevated seat or chair with an approach by way of steps. Harold wears the familiar late Anglo-Saxon crown with fleurons on his head and also sports a royal mantle, suggesting, perhaps, as some versions of the ordines say, that this may have been part of the regalia by 1066. To his right there are two principes, one of whom lifts high what may be the sword with which the king was girded during the ceremony. In his right hand he supports a long foliated rod, a baculus, and, in his left, something new, an orb surmounted by a cross. The orb is an imperial attribute, first certainly adopted by the Holy Roman Emperors very early in the eleventh century and appropriated shortly after by the Dane Canute (1016–35). An orb and sceptre appear on Edward the Confessor’s seal, lifted unchanged from the Ottonian rulers of Germany. Perhaps an orb also, by the year of the Conquest, had become part of the coronation regalia. In this tableau we have brought together for the first time a coronation and what was to become its immemorial setting, Westminster Abbey, along with the potent memory of its founder, the man who was to further sanctify the royal family, this time as heirs and descendants of a saint.²⁶