Coronation of Edward III

On 1st February 1327 King Edward III of England (age 14) was crowned III King of England at Westminster Abbey [Map] by Archbishop Walter Reynolds.

Froissart Book 1: 1307-1340. [25th December 1326] 21. As it had been agreed by the highest barons and the councils of the good towns, so it was done. The young King Edward was crowned with the royal crown in the palace at Westminster, near London — he who would later be so fortunate and glorious in arms. This took place in the year of grace 1326, on Christmas Day. He was then about sixteen years old, and he turned sixteen at the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul (25th January). There, the noble knight Sir John of Hainault was greatly honored and served by all the princes, nobles, and commoners of the realm. He and all the companions who had remained with him were given great and very rich gifts. Afterward, he and his companions stayed on, enjoying great feasts and festivities held by the lords and ladies present, until the day of the Epiphany (Feast of the Three Kings), when he heard that the King of Bohemia, the Count of Hainault (his brother), and a great number of French lords were preparing to gather at Condé-sur-l'Escaut for a tournament that had been announced there.

21. Ensi que acordé fu par les plus haus barons et par les consaulz des bonnes villes, fu il fait. Et fu adonc couronnés de couronne royal, ens ou palais de Wesmoustier, dalés Londres, li jones rois Edowars, qui tant fu de puis ewireus et fortunés en armes. Ce fu l'an de grasce Nostre Signeur mil trois cens vingt et sis, le jour dou Noel. Et pooit avoir adonc environ seize ans; il les eut à le Conversion saint Pol. Et là fu très grandement servis et honnourés li gentilz chevaliers messires Jehans de Haynau de tous les princes et de tous les nobles et non nobles dou pays. Et là [lui] [] furent donnet grans joiaus et très rices, et à tous les compagnons qui demoret estoient dalés lui. Et demora de puis il et si compagnon, en grandes festes et en grans solas des signeurs et des dames qui là estoient, jusques au jour des Trois Rois que il oy dire que li rois de Behagne, li contes de Haynau, ses frères, et grant plenté de signeurs de France se ordonnoient, pour estre à Condet sour Escaut, à un tournoi qui là estoit criés.

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Chronicle of Geoffrey le Baker of Swinbroke [-1360]. After the glorious King Edward had, as previously stated, resigned the crown of the realm to his firstborn son, Lord Edward of Windsor, and once certain reports of this had spread, the nobles and prelates of the realm gathered in Parliament at London and most eagerly acknowledged this same Edward, son of Edward, then a youth of about fifteen years,¹ as successor to the throne, a young man gracious in the sight of God and of all the world. On the first day of February at Westminster, he was crowned by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Walter Reynolds. Many attended this great solemnity, both foreigners and natives, and especially the hired soldiers of Queen Isabella, his mother, whom, as has been said, she had summoned from Hainault and Germany. Thus the new king was adorned with the royal crown, the same which the most blessed confessor Saint Edward, his predecessor, had been accustomed to wear. Though the crown was of great weight and size, he bore it with such manly strength that all who knew the tenderness of his youth, the crown's great size, and its heaviness, were filled with wonder. On the same day, three sons of Roger de Mortimer, along with many others, were honoured with the belt of knighthood.

Postquam gloriosus rex Edwardus regni diadema, ut prescriptum est, suo primogenito, domino Edwardo de Wyndesore, resignaverat, habitis de hoc certis rumouribus, in parliamento Londoniis regni proceres ct prelati ipsum Edwardum Edwardi primogenitum, quindecim circiter annorum adolescentem, Deo et toti mundo graciosum, in patris successorem promtissime admiserunt, atque prima die Februarii, apud Westmonasterium, per archiepiscopum Cantuariensem, Walterum Renald, coronari fecerunt. Tante solemnitati interfuerunt multi tam alienigene quam indigene et precipue stipendiarii Isabelle regine matris sue, quos, ut dictum est, de Hanonia et Germania ipsa invitavit. Novus itaque rex regia corona insignitus, quam beatissimus confessor sanctus Edwardus suus predecessor gestare solebat, quantumcumque gravis ponderis et amplam, tamen ita viriliter ipsam gessit, ut inde mirarentur qui pueri teneritudinem et amplitudinem corone atque ponderositatem experti noverunt. Eodem die IIJ filii Rogeri de Mortuo mari atque multi alii milicie cingulo fuerunt decorati.

Note 1. Edward was just over fourteen years and two months old. The memorandum in the Rymer's Fœdera 2.683, relating to the coronation states that there were present the bishops of Ely, Hereford, Winchester, Chichester, Worcester, Durham, Lincoln, Llandaff, and Norwich; the earls of Norfolk, Kent, Surrey, and Hereford; Roger Mortimer, Henry Beaumont, and others.

Chronicle of Walter of Guisborough. Edward, therefore, the third after the Conquest, already aged fourteen years on the feast of Saint Brice before his coronation¹, was solemnly crowned on the vigil of the Purification of the Blessed Mary [1st February 1327²] at Westminster.

Edwardus igitur post Conquæstum tertius, annos quatuordecim in festo. Sancti Bricii ante coronationem suam jam habens, in vigilia Purificationis beatæ Mariæ apud Westmonasterium solemniter coronatur.

Note 1. Edward III was born at Windsor Castle on Monday, November 13, 1312.

Note 2. Adopted from MS. Harl. 655. The date in the text is supported by the Wardrobe Accounts of the expenses of the coronation in the Augmentation Office, cited in Brayley's History of the Houses of Parliament, p. 141: "Among the Rolls preserved in the Augmentation Office, is one intituled 'Counter-roll of John de Feryby, counter-roller to Thomas de Useflete, clerk of the King's Great Wardrobe, appointed by the King and Council, of various items purchased and expenses incurred for the coronation of the said lord King Edward the Third since the Conquest, in the Church of Blessed Peter at Westminster and in the palace of the same, namely on the first day of February, in the first year of his reign; as appears below.'" Avesbury.

Chronicle of Robert Fabyan [-1512]. Edwarde, the. iii. of that name, and sone of Edwarde y^e seconde and of Isabell the allonly doughter & chylde of Phylyppe le Beawe, or Phylyp the fayre, father to Charlys laste kyng of France, began to reygne as kynge of Englande, his father yet lyuynge, the xxvi. daye of lanuarii, in the ende of the yere of grace. M.CCC. and. xxvi. and the. iiii. yere of Charlys the. v. laste kyng of France, & was crownyd at Westmynster upon the day of the Puryfycacion of our Lady [2nd February 1327] nexte ensuynge.

Eulogium Historiam. In the same year [1327], Edward III, since the Conquest, on the third day of February, was crowned king in London by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York. All these aforesaid events were carried out under the number immediately above.

Eodem vero anno Edwardus III a Conquæstu tertio die Februarii in regem coronatur Londoniis ab archiepiscopis Cantuariæ et Eboraci. Omnia ista prænotata peracta sunt sub numero proximo prænotato.