Richard followed behind the two stalwarts of his regime, bareheaded as four knights carried a canopy of red and green baldachin, a richly embroidered silk threaded with gold that would have given the impression of shimmering in the sun. Four silver-gilt bells rang out on each of its corners, announcing the arrival of the king. Under his riding gown of purple velvet – the gift from his wife, Anne – heavily furred with over 3,000 ermine tails, Richard wore a doublet and stomacher of blue cloth of gold decorated with nets and ‘pineapples’. On his heels were a pair of gilt spurs, while round his neck was a richly jewelled collar; on his left leg was a garter of the Order. Richard rode on a horse dressed in a trapper of purple cloth of gold, bordered with ermine sewn from 4,000 powderings. The saddle Richard sat upon was furnished with crimson cloth of gold wrought with nets, while his horse paced the route in a trapper of purple cloth of gold, bordered with ermine sewn with nearly 4,000 powderings. It must have been a dazzling sight, as the procession made its long and slow journey from the Tower to Westminster, stopping en route at recognised stages, including at Cheapside, St Paul’s Churchyard, Ludgate, Fleet Street, Temple Bar, the Cross in the Strand and Charing Cross. At each of these stopping points, various ‘sights’ had been arranged for the king. With troops placed at ‘suitable points’ along the coronation route, Richard and the royal procession ‘passing through the midst of the city attended by the entire nobility and a display of royal honours, with bared head he greeted all onlookers, who stood along the streets, and himself received their acclamations’.12
Behind the king and his footmen rode the king’s henchmen, who included heirs to the most important noble families, including Lords Berkeley and Dacre, with the young Lord Morley being the highest in rank. Each wore crimson satin doublets under gowns of white cloth of gold; they were accompanied by their master, the Master of the King’s Horse, Sir James Tyrell, who led the king’s horse of estate, a riderless horse dressed exactly the same as the horse the king was riding, except that it carried the royal arms. Following on in the procession were another sixty knights and a hundred squires, the royal household riding while lesser ranks were on foot. Next came the queen’s train, in a similar fashion to the king’s household, except that their doublets were fashioned from crimson damask. Behind her chamberlain, the queen appeared, sitting among cushions in an open litter that was carried on poles between two palfreys trapped in white damask. Anne wore her hair loose over her shoulders, crowned with a circlet of gold, decorated with pearls and precious stones. Robed in white and gold, over her litter twelve knights carried a canopy decorated with bells; in the summer sun, robed in white and gold, with her train furred with ermine, Anne must have been one of the most striking features of the entire procession, ‘a lady of gracious fame’, one London chronicler who may have been present on the occasion declared.13
Anne was followed by three ‘chares’, four-wheeled carriages dressed in crimson and trimmed with gold, each bearing the royal arms, in which twelve noblewomen, the queen’s ladies-in-waiting, sat in their gowns of blue velvet. A roll call of the wives of the supporters of the new regime, they included the new duchess of Norfolk and the countesses of Surrey and Berkeley, Viscountess Lovell, the two Ladies Fitzhugh, and Lady Scrope of Masham and Upsall, though curiously space was found for the wife of Thomas, Lord Stanley, Margaret Beaufort, the countess of Richmond, and mother of the exiled Lancastrian Henry Tudor, her son from her brief first marriage to Henry VI’s half-brother, Edmund Tudor, perhaps as a demonstration that, with Richard’s accession, the civil wars of the previous thirty years were considered but a memory.
The procession wound its way slowly through the streets of the capital, so that every man and woman might catch a glimpse of their new king and queen, interrupted by pauses as the new monarchs dutifully listened to the speeches, acts and singing that had been arranged for them at every prearranged station. At one station, the recorder of the city presented the king and queen with purses containing 1,000 marks and 500 marks, the city’s contribution towards the cost of the coronation. Finally, arriving at Westminster Hall, Richard and Anne refreshed themselves with wine and spices, before returning to their chambers to change their clothes, then attending supper in the great chamber of the palace, with yet another banquet of fish, served in two courses of ten and thirteen covers. Finally, that evening, returning to his chamber, Richard took a ceremonial bath, lined with champagne-coloured cloth, to cleanse himself before his anointing.14
As the palace and the abbey worked through the night to finish the last-minute preparations for the following day, a small candlelit procession made its way from the Jewelhouse of the palace to the altar of Westminster Abbey. Carried in the hands of a bishop was a small golden vessel in the shape of an eagle, ‘garnished with pearls of precious stones’, that contained the precious holy oil of St Thomas Becket that would be used to anoint the king the following day. Placed upon the altar, the stage was now ready for its great performance.
The next morning, 6 July, Richard rose early, to be dressed by his Great Chamberlain, the duke of Buckingham, in his anointing garments, which included two sarcenet shirts, breeches and crimson hose that were attached to a crimson satin coat which went over the shirts. Anne was dressed by her ladies in a smock and kirtle, beneath a mantle of crimson velvet with a train. Once again she kept her hair loose, held ‘conveniently in order’ by a jewelled circlet of gold. At seven o’clock in the morning, Richard and Anne made their journey from Whitehall to Westminster Hall, to the king’s bench, before the royal couple then walked barefooted to St Edward’s shrine, in Westminster Abbey, accompanied by the nobility and the blaring of trumpets, clarions and the heralds of arms dressed in the king’s coat of arms. First came the bishops wearing their mitres, the bishop of Rochester bearing the staved cross. Next were the coronation regalia, the earl of Northumberland carrying the blunted sword known as the curtana, unsheathed in his hand; Thomas, Lord Stanley, officiating as Constable, bore the mace; while the earl of Kent, standing to the king’s right-hand side, carried the second sword, and Lord Lovell the third sword, to the left of the king. Then came the duke of Suffolk, bearing the sceptre, while the earl of Lincoln carried ‘the cross with the ball’, the earl of Surrey the fourth sword of estate, still in its scabbard, before the duke of Norfolk, who carried the royal crown in both hands. Richard followed, wearing ‘robes of purple velvet’, while the barons of the Cinque Ports carried a cloth of estate, a canopy of red and green baldachin fringed with Lucchese gold, over his head. The bishop of Bath and Wells, Robert Stillington, and William Dudley, the bishop of Durham, then followed on their side of the king, with the duke of Buckingham carrying the king’s train, while holding aloft the white staff of his office as High Steward of England.
Next came Queen Anne, with the earl of Huntingdon bearing her sceptre, Viscount Lisle carrying an ivory rod, and the earl of Wiltshire holding the queen’s crown. Walking between two bishops, Anne wore similar robes to her husband’s, while her cloth of estate was carried over her by the barons of the Cinque Ports. The queen’s train was carried by Margaret, countess of Richmond, followed by the duchesses of Suffolk and Norfolk, and the ladies of the queen, wearing the gowns of crimson velvet lined with white cloth of gold that had been gifts from the king.
The procession reached the west door of the abbey, before the royal couple proceeded down the aisle towards a specially created stage covered in red worsted at the abbey’s centre, the centrepiece of which was the king’s throne, St Edward’s Chair. Choristers of the chapel royal chanted psalm 20, ‘Domine in virtute’, while the royal couple walked towards their thrones. Anne sat on the queen’s throne, to the left of the king’s and somewhat lower, while Richard stood by his. Facing in turn each of the four sides of the stage, towards the assembled audience, the archbishop presented Richard to the people, asking their assent to the coronation of ‘Richard, rightful and undoubted inheritor by the laws of God and man to the crown and royal dignity of England’, to which
the audience dutifully replied with the traditional response, ‘King Richard, King Richard, King Richard, yea, yea, yea’. Further anthems and psalms followed, of ‘latin and prick song’. Richard was then led to the altar by the archbishop, where he made an offering of a pound of gold, before prostrating himself on cushions and returning to a chair facing the altar, while a brief sermon was given by an unnamed bishop. After the sermon had ended, the archbishop rose to put to Richard his coronation oath, for the first time in English.15
Next followed further ceremonies and litanies, culminating in the anointing and crowning of the king, using the holy oil of St Thomas Becket. Traditionally the ceremony was conducted with the assistance of the High Steward and Earl Marshal, yet it was the duke of Buckingham, the Great Chamberlain, who had the white wand of the Steward in his hand, rather than the official holder of the office, John, duke of Norfolk. Having created the king, Buckingham was determined that he alone should be in charge of his crowning, with the Great Wardrobe account recording Buckingham as ‘having chief rule and devising of the ordinance’ for the coronation. The duke helped Richard out of his robes, leaving him clothed in only his shirt and breeches. Once the garments had been loosened, the king knelt on cushions before the archbishop for the anointing.16 Richard was then vested with the coronation regalia and royal vestments, including the great ‘St Edward’s cope’ of black samite cloth of gold, woven all over with gold eagles. Richard was then seated in his chair at the altar, where the crown of St Edward was placed on his head by the archbishop of Canterbury, accompanied by the prayer, ‘Coronet te deus’. The coronation ring, blessed by the archbishop on the altar, was then placed on the fourth finger of Richard’s right hand. The king was then girded with the sword, which he offered at the altar before receiving it back, a sign that his strength and power should come from God. Gloves were then placed on Richard’s hands in order for him to take delivery of the rest of the regalia, holding the sceptre in his right hand and the orb in his left. After a final blessing, Richard sat back in his chair and was kissed by the bishops in turn. Richard was then led to the throne of St Edward’s Chair on the stage, where the bishops and nobles made their fealty and homage to the king, as Richard sat, the bishops of Bath and Durham helping to support the weight of the crown while the dukes of Buckingham and Norfolk, on either side of the king, supported the sceptre and the orb.
Anne’s coronation as queen followed with a shorter ceremony, the anointing taking place only on her forehead in the shape of a cross and on her breast. After Anne had been girded with her own crown and coronation regalia, she was led to her throne accompanied by the duchess of Suffolk, curtseying before her husband the ‘king’s majesty’ as she approached the stage. Mass was then observed, with both king and queen taking communion. Richard then offered up the crown of St Edward and his other sacred coronation relics at the shrine of St Edward, behind the high altar. Buckingham was on hand to help disrobe the king, to be clothed in robes of estate fashioned from purple velvet. Anne also changed into fresh robes, assisted by a gentlewoman of her chamber. The king and queen returned to the altar, where they were now crowned with lighter crowns, the ‘Imperial crowns’, and the coronation procession re-formed, returning to Westminster Hall, ‘going in great triumph’.17
Richard and Anne returned to their chambers for a deserved rest, while the duke of Norfolk, as Earl Marshal, rode into Westminster Hall, clearing people out of the hall, the servants of the duke of Buckingham and the king excepted. Four large tables or ‘boards’ stretching the length of the hall were hastily erected, in preparation for the coronation banquet, which was to begin at four o’clock, with the formal entrance of the new king and queen, taking their places at the marble table of the King’s Bench. Anne sat to Richard’s left, while to his right was the bishop of Durham, who had been called to deputise for the seventy-nine-year-old archbishop of Canterbury, no longer able to stand the duration of the day’s events. Dishes were served to the sound of trumpets, as they were carried in by the newly made knights of the Bath. Richard was served on a gold plate, Anne on a gilt plate, and the bishop of Durham on silver. Members of the nobility had been given ceremonial roles during the feast, with Lord Audley acting as the king’s carver, while Lord Scrope of Upsall performed the duties of the king’s cupbearer.
The banquet was intended to cover three courses, comprising seventy-five different dishes which were to be served to 1,200 ‘messes’ – shared tables that would feed around 3,000 people in total. The surviving accounts detail the purchases for the feast that included thirty bulls, 140 sheep, 100 calves, six boars, twelve fatted pigs, 200 suckling pigs, eight hart deer, 140 bucks, and eight roe deer and fawns. In addition, the lower ranks in the hall would be treated to 288 marrow bones, seventy-two ox feet and 144 calves’ feet. For the fish dishes, the caterer ordered 400 lampreys, 350 pikes, four porpoises, forty bream, thirty salmon cut into thin slices, 100 trout, forty carp, 480 freshwater crayfish, 200 cod and salt fish, another thirty-six other ‘sea fish’, 100 trench and 200 mullet. Poultry dishes included 1,000 geese, 800 rabbits and 800 chickens, with another 400 chickens ‘to stew’, in addition to 300 sparrows or larks, 2,400 pigeons, 1,000 capons, 800 rails (a large, fat bird), forty cygnets, sixteen dozen heron, forty-eight peacocks, eight dozen of both cranes and pheasants, six dozen bitterns, 240 quails, three dozen egrets, twelve dozen curlews and 120 ‘piper chicks’ – probably young pigeons. To spice the dishes, twenty-eight pounds of pepper, eight pounds of saffron costing forty-eight shillings, twenty-eight pounds of cinnamon costing sixty shillings, four pounds of fresh ginger and twelve pounds of powdered ginger were employed, though the most popular seasoning seems to have been the sweet variety, with 150 pounds of Madeira sugar imported from Portugal, 150 pounds of almonds and 200 pounds of raisins making up the largest of the orders for spices in the kitchen. Dessert included 300 pounds of dates, 100 pounds of prunes, 1,000 oranges and twelve gallons of strawberries, decorated with 100 leaves of ‘pure gold’.18
During the second course, the customary challenges began, following the time-honoured pattern of previous coronation banquets. Sir Robert Dymock, the King’s Champion, rode into the hall, riding on a horse trapped down to the ground with white and red silk. After making his obeisance to the king, a herald announced why he had come, ‘declaring in all the hall if there be any man that will say the contrary why King Richard should not pretend and have the crown’. ‘Anon every man held their peace for a while’, one observer later recorded, ‘all the hall cried King Richard and anon as they had so said the Champion cast down his gauntlet.’ 19 Dymock then returned to the king, once again making his homage, while one of the lords brought him a covered cup of wine, from which Dymock drank, before casting the remainder on the floor and riding out, keeping the gilt cup in his right hand as his fee. Eighteen heralds then appeared on a stage in the hall, as ‘one of them spoke certain words unto the King proclaiming his style’. After acclaiming the king’s title three times, they departed.
The evening was growing late, and darkness had begun to descend. By the time it came to the third course, it was decided to abandon serving the desserts, ‘saving only wafers and hippocras’, while shortly afterwards ‘great lights’ of wax torches were brought into the hall, marking the end of the banquet, ‘and when they were come into the hall anon the lords arose up and went to the King making their obeisance’. When this was finished, Richard and Anne rose from their table and departed for their chambers, ‘and anon all the people departed and went their ways’.20
As the coronation banquet came to an end, looking around the hall at those who had attended the celebrations, Richard could have been forgiven for thinking with some relief that he had secured complete support for his accession. Almost all of the English nobility were present, in addition to over seventy knights, a third of whom had served in his brother’s royal household. Having backed him as Protector, Richard must have considered, now they were prepared to pledge their loyalty to him as king.
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The following morning, Richard dressed in a long gown of crimson cloth of gold, lined with green damask. The gown, and its colours, were to become one of his favourite styles of dress as king: later he had another three similar gowns made for him, including a gown of crimson cloth of gold in a checked pattern and lined with green satin, and two short gowns of crimson cloth of gold, one patterned with droops and the other with nets, but both lined with green velvet.21 One of Richard’s first acts as newly anointed king was to send back the coronation regalia for safe keeping, sending his newly appointed bishop of St David’s, Thomas Langton, to deliver a precious ampulla, containing the holy oil of St Thomas with which he had been anointed, to the monks of Westminster Abbey. In an indenture made with the abbot of Westminster, the abbot was instructed to store the ampulla, described as an ‘eagle of gold garnished with pearls and precious stones in which is closed the precious relic’, until it might be required once more, when, upon the king’s commandment, the abbot was to ‘deliver again to the said king’s highness whensoever it shall please him to ask it’, though Richard ordained ‘the same precious relic to abide and remain after his decease within the foresaid monastery’.22
For the government of the realm, it was business as usual. Even before his coronation, Richard had begun to reward those who had delivered him the throne. On 28 June, Francis, Viscount Lovell, one of Richard’s close personal friends from his days in the north, was appointed chamberlain of the king’s household, an important position that would see Lovell close by Richard’s side at all times. William Catesby was confirmed as the chancellor of the earldom of March, created Chancellor of the Exchequer for life and was also granted the chamberlainship of the Exchequer, an office that had recently been held by Hastings.23 John, Lord Howard, was created duke of Norfolk and Earl Marshal.24 Two days later, on 30 June, Howard was also appointed steward to prepare for the king’s forthcoming coronation.
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