"The Archbishop of Canterbury proclaimed how God had given them a man
for their lord and sovereign, and then asked the people if they were
consenting to his being consecrated and crowned king. They unanimously
shouted out Ay.
"After this the Duke descended from the throne, and advanced to the
altar to be consecrated. He was anointed in six places, and while this
was doing the clergy chanted a litany that is performed at the hallowing
of a font.
"The king was now dressed in churchman’s clothes, and they put on him
crimson shoes. Then they added spurs; the sword of justice was drawn,
blest, and delivered to the king, who put it into the scabbard. The
crown of St. Edward, which is arched over like a cross, was then brought
and blessed, and put on the king’s head by the Archbishop.
"When mass was over, the king left the Abbey and returned to the Palace,
and went first to his apartment, then returned to the Hall to dinner.
"At the first table sat the king; at the second, five great peers of
England; at the third, the principal citizens of London; at the fourth,
the new created knights; at the fifth, all knights and squires of
honour. And the king was served by the Prince of Wales, who carried the
sword of mercy.
"When dinner was half over, a knight of the name of Dymock entered the
Hall completely armed, mounted on a handsome steed. The knight was
armed for wager of battle, and was preceded by another knight bearing
his lance; he himself had his drawn sword in one hand and a naked dagger
at his side. The knight presented the king with a written paper, the
contents of which were, that if any knight or gentleman would dare
maintain that King Henry was not the lawful sovereign, he was ready to
offer him combat in the presence of the king, when and where he would.
"After King Henry had dined and partaken of wines and spices, he retired
to his private apartments, and all the company went. Thus passed the
Coronation Day of King Henry, who remained that and the ensuing day at
the Palace of Westminster."
But though Henry was thus firmly set on the throne by the will of
Parliament, he knew full well that he was not the lawful heir while the
Earl of March, the descendant of John of Gaunt’s elder brother, was
alive, and this fact put him very much at the mercy of his Parliament
throughout his reign. He was there by the will of Parliament, and
therefore, according to their will he must act. His was a troubled,
anxious rule; for rebellions broke out in many different parts of the
country, and Henry never felt really secure.
With Westminster he had little to do, save at the beginning and end of
his reign, and he has left no memorial of himself in the building. Yet
he is the one king who died within the Abbey walls.
To ease his conscience, he had resolved to make a pilgrimage to the
sepulchre of the Lord at Jerusalem, and this in spite of the fact that
he was suffering from a grave disease.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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