 Portrait of Edward VI | |
| Date | 20 February 1547 |
|---|---|
| Location | Westminster Abbey, London, England |
| Participants | |
The coronation of Edward VI as King of England and Ireland took place at Westminster Abbey, London, on 20 February 1547. Edward ascended the throne following the death of King Henry VIII. [1]
Henry VIII died on 28 January 1547. Edward was nine years old. He was brought from Hertford Castle to Enfield, where he joined his half-sister Elizabeth. [2] He was proclaimed king on 30 January. [3] [4] Edward later wrote that the cause of his father's death was dropsy. Henry was buried at Windsor next to Jane Seymour, Edward's mother, on 16 February. [5]
The Privy Council deliberated on the late King's will concerning the succession. Using the Liber Regalis , they made some changes to the traditional order of coronation ceremonies, [6] avoiding making any doctrinal comments on the proceedings, and explained:
for the tedious length of the same which should weary and be hurtsome peradventure to the King's Majesty being yet of tender age fully to endure and bide out; and also for that many points of the same were such as by the laws of the realm at this present were not allowable. [7]
The day chosen for the coronation was Shrove Sunday. An order of service was drawn up under the authority of the Lord Protector, Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, and the executors of Henry VIII. [8] After Edward was crowned with St Edward's Crown, the Protector would be first to hold up his hand to pay homage. [9]
The king's older half-sisters Mary and Elizabeth and attendant ladies and gentlewomen seem not to have been invited or present at the coronation events, possibly due to considerations of relative precedence and expense. [10]
Contemporary descriptions of the ceremonies of his royal entry on 19 February and the coronation on 20 February are held by the College of Arms and the Society of Antiquaries. [11] [12] [13]
Three crowns would be used, including a new "imperial" crown made by the goldsmith Everart or Everard Everdyes from gold, precious stones, and pearls. The word "imperial" signifies the style of a crown, with raised arches. [14] Everdyes used scrap gold from the Secret Jewel House including a set of nine letters "I" or "J", perhaps originally made for Edward's mother Jane Seymour. The new crown was set with pearls from Henry VIII's collars and caps, and may have included the large balas ruby of the Black Prince, a stone sourced in Myanmar. [15] Everdyes' crown was detailed in Edward's inventory:
Item a Crowne of golde Imperiall made for the kinges majestie our Soveraigne Lorde Edwarde the vjth the nether Border sett with ix pointed diamountes and ix Settes of peerles and v peerles in every sett being uppon the same border certeyne Borders of Antiques of golde sett with viij rocke Rubies and xx peerles with foure borders which make the Crown Imperiall sett with iiij Emeraldes iiij rubies and iiij diamountes with lxxj peerles and with a Lardge Ballace in the toppe percede, sett with a litell crosse of golde in the toppe of the Ballace enameled. [16]
Everdyes also made a coronet for the Duke of Somerset, embellished with Henry VIII's diamonds. After the coronation, he returned unused pearls taken from the jewels of Henry VIII to the Jewel House. [17] His workshop was located at Westminster Palace. [18] In 1604 the large ruby in Everdyes' crown was described again as "a verye greate ballace perced". [19]
Edward and his entourage travelled in a royal entry procession from the Tower of London to Westminster through the city of London on 19 February. [21] Two gentleman ushers, John Norris and William Raynesford, dressed in vintage costume as the Dukes of Normandy (or Gascony) and Guyenne, represented Edward's claim to these territories. [22] Edward was dressed in a "rich gown of cloth of silver all over embroidered with damask gold". During the procession, he sometimes walked a little ahead of the ceremonial canopy held above him, so "the people might better see his grace". [23]
Citizens of London were taxed to pay for the shows and pageants. [24] Edward was greeted at Cheapside by actors playing Valentine and Urson (Orson). [25] These were twin brothers, warriors who had been lost as children. Urson was brought up by a bear and became a wild man or wodewose, while Valentine was found in a forest by Pepin the Hunchback and raised as a courtier. In the London pageant, they undertook to defend King Edward. [26] Urson's verses included:
For I wild Urson doth here signify
an emperor's son of excellent majesty
notwithstanding in a forest nourished by a bear,
where many knights I there did conquer;
thus I am come, being nothing afraid
of all the rebels to defend King Edward;
whensover they come, early or late,
I shall them thrash here at the gate. [27]
The pageants at Cheapside were based on a performance staged in 1432 for the return of Henry VI of England from France. The script involved material from Robert Fabyan's edition of the works of John Lydgate. [28] [29]
At Fleet Street, Edward was addressed by "Ancient Truth", who had been restored by Henry VIII and looked forward to Edward's reign as a "young King Solomon". [30] At St Paul's, an acrobat, "a man from the nation of Aragon", [31] slid down a cable or tightrope from the steeple battlements "so swiftly as he had been a bird", [32] or "an arrow out of a bow". [33] Edward watched him perform more tricks on the rope, and "laughed right hartely". [34] This was the only place where the procession paused for any length of time; the king at times bypassing pageants and ignoring speeches made to him. [35]
The ceremony in the Abbey involved the Coronation Chair, which survives today. The chair, described as the "great white chair" was draped with rich white fabrics, [37] supplied by William Green. [38] On the back of the "white chair" were two carved lions on the corner posts and a fleur-de-lis on a turret topping the centre. The chair was placed on steps on a stage called a "mounting scaffold" watched and guarded by the ushers, John Norris, William Raynesford, Richard Greenway, and Richard Blount of Iver and Mapledurham. [39]
Edward showed himself at the four corners of the scaffold and Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury said the words of "recognition", inviting the congregation to assent to the coronation by their "duties of allegiance". [40] As Edward was required to move to various positions in the abbey during the service, the ushers carried him in a portable chair. [41]
The coronation oath had been amended to reflect the Reformation; mention of the privileges of the clergy were omitted and a veiled reference to the Parliament of England was introduced, that new laws would be made "by the consent of your people". [42] In his sermon, Cranmer set out a Protestant agenda by likening Edward to the Biblical Josiah, who had destroyed the pagan idols in Jerusalem, and said the new king would see "the tyranny of the Bishops of Rome banished from your subjects and images removed". [43] Edward was crowned by the Archbishop of Canterbury. [44] Somerset assisted in the crowning, and with the Archbishop, brought the three crowns, a newly made crown, the Imperial State Crown and St Edward's Crown, to the altar and "set them one after another on his head". [45]
A general pardon for prisoners was issued, excepting the Duke of Norfolk, Edward, Lord Courtenay, son of the Marquess of Exeter, Master Fortescue or Foskew, Cardinal Pole, and Doctor Pates. [46] Some sources add Nicholas Throckmorton to the exceptions from the pardon. [47]
Edward came into Westminster Hall from the abbey in procession. He wore the new crown made by Everart Everdyes. [49] The Marquess of Dorset was Constable of England, and the Earl of Arundel was Earl Marshal. They rode into Westminster Hall at the service of the first course. The Marquess of Northampton was carver and he assayed, or tested, the food. The Earl of Rutland held the king's towel in the place of Alan Apsley. [50]
At the conclusion of the service of dinner, the King's Champion, Dymoke of Scrivelsby, rode into the hall in armour. He cast down his gauntlet as a challenge to any who questioned the king's right. Edward gave him his gold cup, and he was rewarded with the value of his arms and armour. [51] At the end of the meal the spiced wine hippocras was served, followed by a course or "void" of spices and sugar confections. [52]
On Monday 21 February there was jousting, and a tournament on 22 February. [53] The competitors included Thomas Seymour, Anthony Kingston, Peter Carew, Francis Knollys, and Edward Shelley. Shelley was killed in Scotland later in the year at the battle of Pinkie. [54]
After the tournament, or on the next evening, there was an interlude or "farce" which included the theatrical presentation of Orpheus on a mount (refurbished by Niccolo da Modena), [55] and a masque including players dressed as friars and cardinals. [56] Edward may have performed in this entertainment in costume. [57]
English soldiers at Boulogne held a tournament to celebrate the coronation. Instead of tilting, they held courses of running at the ring. One team of six were dressed "like Turks". Spectators were impressed by the performance of Henry Dudley. [58]
The coronation of Edward VI is the backdrop of Mark Twain's 1881 novel The Prince and the Pauper . [59] [60] In the novel Edward is lost and helped by Miles Hendon to reach the abbey before the lookalike Tom Canty is crowned. The novel has been adapted as a stage play and filmed many times, including, The Prince and the Pauper (1977 film) in which Hendon was played by Oliver Reed. [61]
Twain may have read of the pageant of Valentine and Orson in his researches. [62] Chronicle accounts of the reign of Mary I mention an imposter, William Featherstone, the son of a miller and a servant of Peter Meutas, who claimed to be Edward VI in 1555. He was shown to the people in Westminster Hall, and imprisoned. Featherstone was hanged in March 1555. [63] [64]
Anne of Cleves was Queen of England from 6 January to 12 July 1540 as the fourth wife of Henry VIII. Little is known about Anne before 1527, when she became betrothed to Francis, Duke of Bar, son and heir of Antoine, Duke of Lorraine, although their marriage did not proceed.
Henry Fitzalan, 12th Earl of ArundelKG was an English nobleman, who over his long life assumed a prominent place at the court of all the later Tudor sovereigns, probably the only person to do so.
John Dudley, 2nd Earl of Warwick, KB was an English nobleman and the heir of John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland, leading minister and regent under King Edward VI from 1550–1553. As his father's career progressed, John Dudley respectively assumed his father's former titles, Viscount Lisle and Earl of Warwick. Interested in the arts and sciences, he was the dedicatee of several books by eminent scholars, both during his lifetime and posthumously. His marriage to the former Protector Somerset's eldest daughter, in the presence of the King and a magnificent setting, was a gesture of reconciliation between the young couple's fathers. However, their struggle for power flared up again and ended with the Duke of Somerset's execution. In July 1553, after King Edward's death, Dudley was one of the signatories of the letters patent that attempted to set Lady Jane Grey on the throne of England, and took arms against Mary Tudor, alongside his father. The short campaign did not see any military engagements and ended as the Duke of Northumberland and his son were taken prisoners at Cambridge. John Dudley the younger was condemned to death yet reprieved. He died shortly after his release from the Tower of London.
Donnington Castle is a ruined medieval castle, situated in the small village of Donnington, just north of the town of Newbury in the English county of Berkshire. It was founded by Sir Richard Abberbury the Elder in 1386 and was bought by Thomas Chaucer before the castle was taken under royal control during the Tudor period. During the First English Civil War the castle was held by the royalist Sir John Boys and withstood an 18-month siege; after the garrison eventually surrendered, Parliament voted to demolish Donnington Castle in 1646. Only the gatehouse survives. The site is a scheduled monument under the care of English Heritage.
Henry, Duke of Cornwall was the first living child of King Henry VIII of England and his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, and though his birth was celebrated as that of the heir apparent, he died within weeks. His death and the failure of Henry VIII and Catherine to produce another surviving male heir led to succession and marriage crises that affected the relationship between the English church and Roman Catholicism, giving rise to the English Reformation.
William Sommers was the best-known court jester of Henry VIII of England.
Lady Jane Grey, also known as Lady Jane Dudley after her marriage and as the "Nine Days' Queen", was an English noblewoman who claimed the throne of England and Ireland from 10 to 19 July 1553.
Sir John Norreys or Norris was a gentleman usher daily waiter at the English court during the reign of the House of Tudor. He is thought to be the author of a treatise describing the roles of servants of the chamber.
Barnaby Fitzpatrick, 2nd Baron Upper Ossory, was educated at the court of Henry VIII of England with Edward, Prince of Wales. While he was in France, he corresponded regularly with King Edward VI. He was active in suppressing Wyatt's rebellion in 1553. He went home to Ireland, where he would have a lifelong feud with the Earl of Ormonde. His wife and daughter were abducted in 1573 by the Grace family, supposedly at Ormonde's instigation. He killed his cousin, the rebel Rory O'More in 1578.
Giovanni da Maiano II was an Italian sculptor employed by Henry VIII of England and Cardinal Wolsey to decorate their palaces. Maiano, from which village Giovanni took his name, is near Fiesole and Florence. He was the son of Benedetto da Maiano.
An inventory of the jewels of Mary I of England, known as Princess Mary or the Lady Mary in the years 1542 to 1546, was kept by her lady in waiting Mary Finch. The manuscript is now held by the British Library. It was published by Frederic Madden in 1831. Some pieces are listed twice. Two surviving drawings feature a ribbon with the inscription, "MI LADI PRINSIS". The British Library also has an inventory of the jewels she inherited on coming to the throne in 1553.
Running at the ring, riding at the ring or tilting at the ring is an equestrian tournament activity originally practiced at European royal courts and likely derived from other lance games like quintain. It gained new popularity at Natural Chimneys near Mount Solon, Virginia, possibly as early as the 1820s, and since 1962, has been the state sport of Maryland. A similar contest, the corrida de sortija, is held in Argentina where it is considered a gaucho sport derived from the Spanish tradition of medieval tournaments.
The coronation of Anne Boleyn as Queen of England took place at Westminster Abbey, London, England, on 1 June 1533. The new queen was King Henry VIII's second wife, following the annulment of his first marriage to Catherine of Aragon.
Mary I of England (1516–1558) and Philip of Spain married at Winchester Cathedral on Wednesday 25 July 1554.
Joyce Denny (1507–1560) was an English courtier.
The coronation of Mary I as Queen of England and Ireland took place at Westminster Abbey, London, on Sunday 1 October 1553. This was the first coronation of a queen regnant in England, a female ruler in her own right. The ceremony was therefore transformed. Ritual and costume were interlinked. Contemporary records insist the proceedings were performed "according to the precedents", but mostly these were provisions made previously for queens consort.
A chamberer was a female attendant of an English queen regnant, queen consort, or princess. There were similar positions in aristocratic households.
Everard or Everart Everdyes was a London-based goldsmith and precious stone cutter or lapidary who worked for Henry VIII, Edward VI, and Mary I of England. In 1546, with a merchant partner Peter Vanderwalle, he received a licence to import a variety of luxury goods. Like Vanderwalle, he may have learnt his trade and craft in Antwerp, and was allowed to settle in London with his family in 1546.
Sybil or Sibel Penn was an English courtier. Her roles at court included nurse and teacher to Edward VI of England and Lady of the Bed Chamber to his sisters, Mary I of England and Elizabeth I of England.
Jacques Granado was a Flemish soldier and a courtier in England.