The Coronation of Elizabeth Woodville Queen Consort of Edward IV - Sunday May
26th 1465
Review of the Contemporary Account, by George Smith, 1935. Cris Reay Connor
The book is a very small and slim volume, and the history of its contents as described
inside the dust jacket, informs the reader that ‘The Coronation…was the triumph of
the first native born Queen of England since the Conquest…’ It states that ‘it is a
remarkably full account, both of the coronation and of the banquet which followed…’
Biographical annotations attempt to identify all who are listed as having attended.
However, with only 88 pages [ 19 of which are Index of Names, 30 pages of
biographical detail and 13 pages of introduction] contained in a book measuring
5”x7”, I felt it was overplaying its hand somewhat. The manuscript, which was
discovered in the possession of a private library does contain, however, interesting
insight into the realities of the new Yorkist Court, and the ceremony it stage-managed
for the court, the aristocracy, the nation and of course, for Elizabeth the new Queen. It
was contained on six pages, and the watermark was similar to that found on paper
used by the Pastons in their letters. [A Crown with Centrepiece]
1
To assist anyone reading this who knows little about the period in question, George
Smith, editing in 1935, included the above noted additions which would indeed have
been useful to those who had little if any, knowledge of the period and the list of
attendees. It is hard, in 2013, not to just jump from the front notes, to the end
biographies, and into the transcription of the document, as pre-knowledge of these
people made me, at least, a little impatient. However, there are very interesting pieces
of information lurking within all three sections. Once I began to read through the
book again, it became apparent that not all was well in the House of York in
Westminster.
On April 14th, 1465, King Edward sent a letter from Shene (sic) informing the Mayor
of London that the Coronation of his Queen would be on the Sunday before
Whitsunday, of the same year. On Saturday, May 24th, Elizabeth was taken in great
ceremony, to Shooters Hill, through Southwark and Gracechurch Street to the Tower
of London. On May 25th, seated in a horse litter, preceded by the newly make Knights
of the Bath, through Cheapside(and other streets) and then to Westminster Palace.
This would seem to be a traditional route, and I’m sure it could still be traced today. I
have not looked at any traditional routes taken by monarchs to their coronations, and
of course in 1953, the route was from Buckingham Palace. On May 25th , the
coronation took place, on the 26th the Banquet and on the 27th a great Tournament.
Interestingly, Lord Stanley was awarded the honours at the Tournament, and received
as prize, a ring set with rubies. This makes me think of Stanley slightly differently
from the man twenty years onward from this event. Athletic, bold, a jousting hero at
the Coronation Tournament of Elizabeth, to what we consider he became by 1485.
We were all young once, but somehow, it still does not ‘fit’ well with my own picture
of Stanley. Interestingly, the Sacrist’s Rolls at Westminster Abbey show that it
allowed the public to watch from the Belfry and they made a profit of £4. From the
sale of sawn timbers used during the ceremony.
However, Smith states that the list of officers present at the Coronation show that it
was still possible to assemble those needed, even after a sustained period of Civil
War. However, he then goes on to show almost the opposite. Although the Dukes of
Norfolk and Oxford were present and carried out their hereditary offices of Marshal
and Chamberlain, the young Dukes of Clarence and Buckingham (the latter had to be
carried on the shoulders of henchmen to carry out his duties.) Buckingham should
have been Constable, but at nine years old it was considered inappropriate and the
Earl of Arundel doubled up on his duties as Butler with those of Constable. Precedent
also had to be departed from, by the vacancy of the Bishopric of Bath. Durham and
Bath should have walked on either side of the Queen, and Salisbury was elected to do
that instead of Bath. Durham had been suspended for a time because of support to
Henry VI, and perhaps Edward wished to bring him into the official, and very
noticeable position at the Coronation. Rather like Oxford, who was to rebel later, he
had been pardoned and ‘resumed’ his role in the hierarchy on processional duties.
The great omissions are of course, Duchess Cecily of York, her eldest daughter Anne
of Exeter and her youngest son, Richard of Gloucester. There can be no certainty as to
why she was absent, other than that which we think we are aware of; that Cecily had
disapproved strongly of the union between Edward and Elizabeth and that Richard at
age 12 (13 in October) was still under her control. Anne was Duchess of Exeter, so I
have no real basis to suppose that she did not wish to carry the train of her sister-inlaw, and Warwick was also absent. However, the rest of the family were out in some
sort of force, with Edward’s other two sisters, Elizabeth and Margaret, and three of
his aunts. Isabella his father’s sister, and two of Cecily’s sisters, Anne Duchess of
Buckingham and Catherine Duchess of Norfolk. Throughout this, Elizabeth’s mother
is named as Duchess of Bedford, and we should not forget that contemporaries would
know that at one time Jacquetta was the first lady of the court in her younger days
when married to Henry V’s brother John. It is now commonplace to disparage
Elizabeth’s family, following the vitriol heaped upon her by Warwick and then by
later generations who sought to denigrate the Yorkist Court; but her uncle was
Jacques, Duc of Luxembourg. Her family was not as common as is always suggested.
As the book continues the most interesting part begins on page 14 and ends on page
25 The tableau presented in the pages is incredible; you get a true flavour of the high
ceremonial which was held at Westminster for the coronation. So for instance,
Clarence as Steward of England, rode first, on a richly ‘trapped’ horse which was
encased completely, from head to the ground, such trappings were richly embroidered
with garnets and spangles of gold. The Earl of Arundel as dual Constable and Butler
rode on his horse, trapped from head to the ground in cloth of gold. Not to be outdone,
the Duke of Norfolk as Marshal, rode in the same fashion. Can you imagine the
clamour, the noise, perhaps the trumpets which heralded such entrances? The great
procession of office holders, then the Queen under a canopy. Clarence was again
afforded a very important role by leading the Queen back into (the Monastery) of
Westminster on foot, with Arundel and then the young Buckingham on a henchman’s
shoulders, followed.
There is a great deal of detail, which seems repetitive, but it does have a ring of
authenticity about it, that the writer was actually present, watching the endless stream
of noble ladies and Marshal and Constable and other dignitaries going to and fro.
Some under canopies, some wearing scarlet, and at the end when the Queen went
back into her chamber, she emerged wearing a new surcote of purple. There is also
charming reference to Elizabeth taking off her crown and then putting in back on, all
of which adds to the writer actually being at the ceremony, and then at the Banquet.
There is an exact list of who sat at what table, extreme precedent of top table, The
Queen’s mother and the other ladies, the clergy, the newly made Knights of the Bath,
the Judges, the Mayor of London, Aldermen and other citizens. Although there is no
list of actual dishes served at the Banquet, it would appear that there must have been
tables ranged along each wall of Westminster Hall, and the main tables on a raised
dais at the very top end of the Hall, it does seem as though the richly caparisoned
horses, previously described, also made a ceremonial appearance in-between each
course. There seems to have been rehearsed procession on horse and on foot, and the
clamour, the uproar, and, I feel, the dirt, must have been an incredible spectacle. In
these days of health and safety, of food hygiene and possible issues of food poisoning,
I am picturing an incredible spectacle. The often quoted story that Jacquetta was made
to kneel in front of her daughter the new queen cannot be true, another case of a
scornful story about a haughty Elizabeth. Jacquetta would possibly have been
trampled underfoot by one of the many richly caparisoned horses!
Besides all of the incredible ceremony and the exact way to fold the Table Cloth in a
reverend way, and the clear picture of it all, is the undeniable importance of George,
Duke of Clarence. He appears in every part of the Ceremony and the Banquet, in the
most honoured of places, carrying out very important ceremonial duties. He is the heir
of his brother, Edward IV who, even though he had married Elizabeth in 1464, had
not produced a child to supplant the young Duke. Not until November 1470 was a
male heir born to Edward and Elizabeth, and with hindsight we may be able to grasp
the dual use of this small chronicle. It illustrates, I believe, the incredible importance
in which George was held, both by himself and by others. It was not make-believe
either, as this document clearly shows, he was a very important constitutional member
of the House of York. By the time George was serving as Steward of England at the
Banquet, he had been the next in line to the throne since March 1461, and he had
fleetingly been awarded the Palatine of Chester, which was of course, the traditional
landholding of the heir to the throne. However, he rebelled against all of that before
Edward Prince of Wales (York) was born, allied himself with Warwick and was
married to Isabel Neville. You have to ask, WHY? I suspect that a clue to this is also
in the short manuscript. All the nobility, young or old, were married, especially the
Woodvilles, even the young John Woodville to the much older Duchess of Norfolk. It
is highly possible that George, with Warwick as a mentor of sorts, was easily drawn
away from his brother in frustration. Here he was, a pre-eminent noble, of the royal
house, heir to the throne, and he was being prevented from beginning his own
dynasty.
In time, Elizabeth of York would remain unmarried so that she could be a perfect
political pawn and Mary the second of the York girls was kept as first reserve. Upon
her death, Cecily Plantagenet took over that role. Although Mary was aged 14 when
she died in 1482 so there had been no imperative to marry the slightly younger
Cecily. The unmarried royal Plantagenets were stacking up. Even the King’s sister,
2
Margaret, was kept dangling in unmarried stasis until a Burgundian alliance was
cemented in 1469. What was the tipping point for Clarence? Searching for
information, I have found that the Burgundian alliance was first mooted in 1466, with
Margaret’s proposed marriage to Charles and George of Clarence would marry
Charles’ daughter Mary. These did not go ahead, and eventually, Charles did marry
Margaret, but Clarence would not get his great foreign prize. The great rift between
Warwick and Edward IV took place in 1467, with Warwick openly hostile, and
indeed Warwick had to issue a denial to Edward IV that he was in alliance with the
Lancastrian faction. Clarence was also denied the opportunity to marry Isabel,
Warwick’s elder daughter in 1467. The reality that all of Elizabeth’s siblings, her two
older [Grey] sons and most of the nobility, were already married, perhaps
compounded George’s sense of importance and his isolation from real power. Even
the young Duke of Buckingham, who had to be carried on the shoulders of a
henchman was married.
As the table linen was being folded and returned to storage, and the wood was being
sawn into saleable pieces, George must have believed himself to be rising as high as
his brother. He never grasped, perhaps, that he could only ever be as high as his
brother allowed.
So, in conclusion, I have loved this little book, which initially looked as though it
would be just a few pages of transcription, with bits and pieces about the background
to the Civil War of the 1450s and then ( oh yawn…) biographies of people I
recognise. How wrong I was. In fact, I shall read through it again before I send it back
to the library.
Cris Reay Connor
1 …’On the last page is written the name “Edward Lloyd Vohen”…possibly the earliest possessor of
the record, and an ancestor of the family in whose Library it remained … until it was acquired’ (by
George Smith) I have been unable to find any reference to this Edward or his family, or in fact verify
the transcription.
2 Cecily was married to Ralph Scrope of Upsal during the reign of Richard III, the marriage was
annulled in York upon Henry VII’s accession and she was married to Lord Welles, Henry’s step-uncle.