Читать книгу Coronation: From the 8th to the 21st Century - Roy Strong - Страница 16

What is extraordinary about the Fourth Recension is that no one seems able exactly to pinpoint the date of its compilation.¹³ In that respect it shares an attribute of its predecessors over whose dating and first use generations of scholars have argued and still argue. What everyone does accept is that it was used in 1308 for Edward II and that, although it was certainly modified for the event, the ordo was already in existence. So it pre-dates 1308, but by how much? The discovery of a mid-thirteenth-century fragmentary rubric for a Coronation related to the Fourth Recension texts in a manuscript by one William de Hasele (d. 1283) is a strong pointer that the fourth ordo may go back quite a way.¹⁴ What the rubric spells out is not a particular Coronation but one in abstract, describing but not naming the various officers present and their role at some future event. This memorandum is likely to have been inserted into this manuscript shortly after 1266, which should mean that some version of the Fourth Recension was in existence by that date.

It is difficult surely to accept that Henry III could have rebuilt Westminster Abbey without having something in his mind concerning the Coronation, particularly when one is aware of his keen interest in the activities of the French monarchy, and that so much of the fourth ordo echoes what was done at the French Coronation. The king was now to be anointed in five places like his French counterpart, and two anthems and three benedictions of the sword and ring were inserted, these last lifted virtually verbatim from the French Coronation ordo. In both we see the ruler cast as hero undergoing a rite of passage in which there is a careful balance struck between the actions of the monarch and those of the clergy, of royal as against ecclesiastical power.¹⁵ There is moreover in the English ordo a carefully observed balance between the parts played by the monarch and the magnates as embodiments of royal power and of its limitations. In that there is a parting of the ways, for the focus of the French Coronation was always to be on the sacre, the basis of absolutist rule and one which was to end in disaster in 1789. In sharp contrast, in England, where checks and limitations on the power of the crown were emerging fast during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the focus was on the oath which spelt out the boundaries of royal power. In this way the Coronation was already by the mid-fourteenth century flexible enough to be accommodated within the terms of a constitutional monarchy. In the Fourth Recension there is this enhancement of the monarchy in terms of its splendour and magnificence simultaneously with the ruler swearing an oath in which his power is limited. That curtailment is also vividly reflected in the pre-Coronation meeting of the king-to-be with the magnates in order to discuss the Coronation, and also in the reintroduction of the formal acclamation of the ruler from the earlier ordines.

Although the age of the theocratic priest-kings had long gone, unction was still seen to bestow the quasi-magical power on the king of being able to touch for the King’s Evil, the healing of scrofula.¹⁶ That Henry I was the first king of England to exercise this power is hardly surprising, locked as he was into a battle with the Church. He based his powers to heal on the cure of a scrofulous woman recorded in ancient lives of St Edward. The Plantagenets enjoyed huge prestige for their healing powers. Edward I, for example, touched 1,736 individuals during the eighteenth year of his reign. A chaplain of Edward III and a future Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Bradwardine, writes of the ‘miracles’ performed by the king which could be testified to ‘by sick persons who had been cured, by those present when the cures took place, or who had seen the results of them, by the people of many nations, and by their universal renown’.¹⁷ In its very early days, when the Gregorian reform was at its height, the royal claim to heal was denounced as a falsehood, but thereafter a silence fell upon ecclesiastical writers, who were content not to refer to something of which they disapproved but not to openly attack it. But this did not erode in any way its popular appeal.

Whoever compiled the Fourth Recension (one scholar suggests Walter of Wenlock, Abbot of Westminster) must have been acutely aware of all these irreconcilabilities. Only when the monarch was enthroned aloft on a raised stage, kissed by the officiating clergy and rendered fealty to by the supporting magnates was he seen as having sovereignty over both. The peers stretched forth their hands to touch the crown, offering it both loyalty and support. In that dramatic moment both lay and ecclesiastical representatives came together in what was a rebuttal of Pope Boniface VIII’s bull, Unam Sanctam (1302), which relegated the secular power of princes to a lower order subject to the universal pontiff.

In what way does the Fourth Recension differ from its predecessors? In the first place, items which had been part of the First and Second Recensions but which had been dropped in the Third reappear. Fifteen texts in all have been added, hugely increasing its length. The longest addition was the special order of the Mass, for which were provided the introit, two collects, the epistle, gradual, tract, gospel, gospel offertory verse, two special orations, two secrets, a preface, a special benediction and two post-communion prayers. This is the first time, also, when an ordo has substantial rubrics with precise directions. These can vary quite considerably from one manuscript to another. Indeed, an indication as to just how complicated the ceremony had become is reflected in a description of the action at the Coronation of Edward III in 1327, the Corounement du Nouel Rei, which only includes the incipits for the prayers. This account enabled an onlooker to follow the action at which they were present.¹⁸

There are a considerable number of manuscript copies of this ordo and, as in the case of its predecessors, they vary. Some, in addition, provide notation for the chants, enabling us for the first time to recreate the music. The manuscripts fall into three groups. One pre-dates 1308, of which one, written in a large clear script, may have been used at the Coronation of Edward II, possibly carried by the king’s monk. A second group, it has been suggested, pre-dates Edward Ill’s Coronation and yet a third, and by far the largest group, has a text which may precede or follow the Coronation of Richard II in 1377.

Two of the key manuscripts are fortunately virtually identical and both are in the muniment room of Westminster Abbey. One is the Lytlington or Westminster Missal, compiled by Abbot Lytlington (1362–86), which can be dated to 1383–4, and the other is the Liber Regalis, which recent art historical research dates to the 1390s. As the Liber Regalis was to be the text which those putting together the Coronation of James I in 1603 turned to, I give a synopsis of the action as it appears in that manuscript.¹⁹

1 A stage is to be erected at the crossing in Westminster Abbey with a flight of steps from the west side for the king to ascend and a further flight on the eastern side for him to descend and approach the high altar.

2 On the stage a ‘lofty throne’ is to be sited so that the king may ‘be clearly seen by all the people’.

3 If the Archbishop of Canterbury be incapacitated he shall choose one of his suffragans to perform the ceremony.

4 On the day before his coronation the king is to ride bare-headed to the Palace of Westminster ‘to be seen by the people’.

5 The Coronation is to be on a Sunday or a holy day.

6 The king is to spend the night before in prayer and contemplation, seeking the virtues needful for a ruler.

7 The Abbot of Westminster is to instruct the king about the Coronation. If he for some reason is unavailable, the prior and convent shall choose another.

8 On the day of the Coronation the prelates and nobles of the realm should assemble at the palace ‘to consider about the consecration and election of the new king, and also about confirming and surely establishing the laws and customs of the realm’.

9 The king is bathed ‘as is the custom’ and attired in ‘spotless apparel’, not wearing shoes but socks only. The effect must be that his body ‘glistens by the actual washing and the beauty of the vestments’. In the great hall he is lifted ‘with all gentleness and reverence’ on to a throne covered with cloth of gold.

10 From the Abbey a clerical procession consisting of members of the episcopacy and of the convent shall make its way to the great hall. They return in procession with the king to the Abbey chanting and singing anthems.

11 The royal almoner supervises a path laid with ray (striped) cloth from the palace to the Abbey. After the event the cloth within the Abbey is the perquisite of the sacrist and that outside is distributed by the almoner to the poor.

12 The stage and steps within the Abbey are to be covered with carpets by the royal ushers and cloth of gold is to be hung around the top of the stage.

13 Royal chamberlains must see that the throne is adorned ‘with silken and most precious coverings’.

14 There then follow details of the procession. The king is to be preceded by the prelates and monks and himself led by the hand by the bishops of Durham and Bath ‘in accordance with ancient custom’. Immediately before the king the chancellor, if he be a bishop, with the chalice of St Edward. Before him also the treasurer, again if he be a bishop or abbot, bearing the paten. Both are to be in pontificalibus. After the chalice and paten follow dukes or earls, ‘especially who by kinship are nearly related to the king’, who bear the sceptre with the cross and the golden rod with the dove. All of these items of regalia should be delivered from the Abbey to the palace by the abbot. After the regalia come three earls bearing swords, Curtana carried by the Earl of Chester and the two others by the earls of Huntingdon and Warwick. Then follows a noble appointed by the king carrying the spurs. The king and the queen (if there be one) are each under canopies of purple silk carried on four silver lances topped with silver-gilt bells. Each canopy is carried by sixteen Barons of the Cinque Ports, four to a lance supporting it in rota. The fabric afterwards is a perquisite of the barons, the lances and bells of the Abbey, as, in addition, are all the carpets, silken cloths and cushions placed in the church. This was ‘in accordance with ancient custom’.

15 When the king is seated on the stage the Archbishop of Canterbury, who is to consecrate him, addresses the assembled people at each of the four sides, ‘inquiring their will and consent’. As he does this the king stands and turns to face each side in turn. The people give their assent shouting ‘So be it’ and ‘Long live the king’ and ‘uttering with great joy’ his name.

16 The choir sings the anthem Firmetur manus tua.

17 The archbishop who is to celebrate Mass revests himself at the altar ‘on account of the crowd that is come together, lest he should be hindered by it’.

18 The bishops of Durham and Bath shall support the king on either side and together with the other bishops shall lead him down the steps to the high altar. The abbot is always to be in attendance acting as a prompt to the king ‘so that everything may be done right’.

19 The king makes an offering of a pound of gold and then prostrates himself upon the carpets and cushions which have been laid by the ushers. The archbishop says a prayer over him.

20 One of the bishops makes a short sermon to the people while the archbishop sits in a chair before the altar, the king sitting opposite him.

21 Then the archbishop administers the Coronation oath followed by an admonition on behalf of the bishops, to which the king also responds. He then confirms all that he has agreed to by swearing at the altar.

22 The king prostrates himself again before the altar while the archbishop kneels and intones the Veni creator Spiritus. A prayer follows and then two bishops or singers intone the litany. While this is sung the archbishop and all the other bishops prostrate themselves alongside the king and privately recite the seven penitential psalms.

23 More prayers and responses follow, after which the king sits again in his chair and then goes to the altar and divests himself of his robes, except his tunic and shirt ‘which are open at the breast, and between the shoulders, and on the shoulders, and also at the elbow …’ The silver loops sealing the openings are undone by the archbishop, the king kneeling beneath a canopy. The archbishop anoints the king with holy oil on his hands, breast, between the shoulders, on the shoulders, on both elbows and on the head in the form of a cross. Then his head is anointed a second time with chrism. The holy oil is to be in a silver phial and the chrism in one of gilt. After this the silver loops are fastened. During this action the anthem Unxerunt Salomonem is sung.

24 The first phase of vesting then follows, opening with a linen coif for the head, then the colobium sindonis cut like a dalmatic. The coif the king is to wear for seven days and on the eighth a bishop is to say a Mass of the Trinity in the Chapel Royal, after which he is to wash the king’s hair in hot water, dry it and ‘reverently arrange’ it and put on it a golden circlet which the king shall wear the whole day.

25 The archbishop blesses the royal ornaments and the king is vested in them by the abbot; first a long tunic reaching to his feet ‘wrought with golden figures before and behind’, then buskins, sandals and spurs. The sword is blessed and delivered by the bishops. The king is girded with it and then vested with the armils which ‘shall hang like a stole round his neck, from both shoulders to the elbows, and shall be bound to the elbows by silken knots…’ Then comes the mantle, ‘which is square and worked all over with golden eagles’. The crown is blessed and placed on the king’s head, after which follows a blessing and the delivery of the ring. The king takes off the sword and offers it at the altar, from which it is redeemed by the earl ‘who is the greatest of those present’. Gloves are put on the king’s hands and then the sceptre with the cross put into his right hand and the gold rod with the dove in his left. All of these actions are accompanied by prayers. The regalia, it stipulates, must be laid ready on the altar by the sacrist from the outset, ‘that everything may be done without hindrance from the very great concourse of people’.

26 The king then kisses the bishops and, together with ‘the nobles of the realm’, he is led back up the steps to the throne on the stage while the Te Deum is sung. When ended, the archbishop says the prayer Sta et retine and the king is enthroned, and ‘the peers of the realm shall stand around the king and stretch forth their hands as a sign of fealty, and offer themselves to support the king and the crown’.

27 The Mass then follows. The gospel is carried to the king to kiss and he then descends to present to the archbishop the bread and wine and also an offering of a mark of gold. When the archbishop has given the kiss of peace to the bishop who took the gospel to the king, the same bishop takes the pax to him. When the peace has been given the king descends and receives communion in both kinds.

28 The Mass ended, the king descends to the high altar and a procession of clergy and nobles forms to the shrine of St Edward. The Great Chamberlain divests the king of his regalia and vestments, which are laid on the altar by the abbot. The Great Chamberlain then revests the king in robes of state and the archbishop puts on him another crown but returns to him the regalia sceptres. Then follows a procession back through the church ‘with great glory’.

29 The Abbey of Westminster is to receive on the day a hundred bushels of corn and a ‘modius’ of wine and of fish.

30 The sceptres are to be returned to the Abbey immediately after the feast to join the rest of the regalia there, ‘the repository of the royal ensigns for ever, by papal bulls, kings’ charters, and old custom always observed’. A list then follows of the principal officers at the feast.

The text also contains provision for the Coronation of a queen either with a king or on her own. It stipulates that she is to be attired in crimson devoid of embroidery and that her hair should be worn loose and held by a jewelled circlet. When she is crowned on her own she is anointed only on the head and given a sceptre in addition to a ring and a crown. When she is crowned with her husband she is anointed also on the breast and receives in addition a rod. All these indicate that the crowning on her own of a queen is an earlier rite elaborated in the joint Coronation ordo, which elevates queenship on to a level comparable to that of the king.²⁰

Even the full text, of which I have given only a synopsis, does not provide for every contingency as any attempt to restage even in the mind’s eye a Coronation quickly reveals. Full though the rubrics are, they are still not full enough and the ordo remains a play text awaiting its director and designer. Anyone who has been involved with elaborate royal ceremonial knows (I speak from experience) that much can be improvised for a particular event and not even written down, so that the gap between the text of the Fourth Recension and what actually happened on the day could well have been substantial. Between 1216 and 1327 there are only six Coronations: Henry III (1216 and 1220), Eleanor of Provence (1236), Edward I (1274), Edward II (1308) and Edward III (1327).²¹ Our knowledge of these is fuller for some than for others, but it is a fragmentary story rather like a jigsaw puzzle from which some of the most important pieces are missing and, moreover, are likely to remain so. Collectively, however, they take the story forward. In particular, they mirror the power struggles at the heart of this century and a half of Plantagenet rule.