Coronation of Edward II and Isabella

On 25th February 1308 King Edward II of England [aged 23] was crowned II King of England at Westminster Abbey [Map] by Henry Woodlock, Bishop of Winchester. Isabella of France Queen Consort England [aged 13] was crowned Queen Consort England.

Piers Gaveston 1st Earl Cornwall [aged 24] carried the Royal Crown.

William Marshal 1st Baron Marshal [aged 30] carried the Gilt Spurs.

Humphrey Bohun 4th Earl Hereford 3rd Earl Essex [aged 32] carried the Royal Sceptre.

Edmund Fitzalan 2nd or 9th Earl of Arundel [aged 22] was Chief Butler, a heriditary office.

Henry Plantagenet 3rd Earl of Leicester 3rd Earl Lancaster [aged 27] carried the Royal Rod.

Thomas Plantagenet 2nd Earl of Leicester, 2nd Earl Lancaster, Earl of Salisbury and Lincoln [aged 30] carried the sword Curtana.

Roger Mortimer 1st Earl March [aged 20] carried the table bearing the Royal Robes.

Thomas Grey [aged 28] and Robert Fitzwalter 1st Baron Fitzwalter [aged 61] attended.

Annales Paulini. At about the same time, the king hastened to have his coronation celebrated at Westminster on Quinquagesima Sunday, the feast of St Matthias, in a leap year, on the twenty-fifth day of February [1308]. Because Robert, Archbishop of Canterbury, was absent and suspended from office, the pope proposed to send a cardinal to crown the king in England. The king was unwilling to allow this, but sent messengers requesting that he should be consecrated king by the Archbishop of York and the Bishops of Durham and London. A commission and authority were therefore granted to them solemnly to crown the king. During those same days, however, the Archbishop of Canterbury found favour with the pope, who restored him to his former position and confirmed many privileges of Christ Church, Canterbury, together with many other things which the archbishop had asked him to confirm or grant. The lord Archbishop of Canterbury then firmly asserted before the pope that the coronation of the kings of England belonged to the metropolitan Archbishop of Canterbury for the time being, and to no other. After examining the papal privileges relating to this matter, the pope revoked the commission previously granted to the three bishops. The lord Archbishop of Canterbury himself, however, being detained by bodily illness and unable to come on that day because the time was short, entrusted his commission in this matter to three other bishops, namely Henry, Bishop of Winchester, Simon, Bishop of Salisbury, and John, Bishop of Chichester. The day of the royal coronation therefore arrived. Present from overseas were Charles and Louis, counts and uncles of the Queen, John, Duke of Brabant, and Margaret, Duchess of Brabant, sister of the King of England, A., Count of Savoy, and many other men distinguished by birth, together with all the prelates and magnates of this realm.

On that day, the earls and barons, joined by the aforesaid great men of France, discussed the condition of the realm before the coronation and earnestly demanded of the king that Piers Gaveston be removed from the kingdom. The king refused to consent. The earls therefore proposed immediately to prevent the coronation. When the king learned of this, he promised them in good faith that at the next parliament he would grant whatever they asked, provided only that the coronation was not delayed. Thus, relying upon this empty promise, the earls arrayed themselves in costly garments of silk. Meanwhile, on that day the king caused the royal regalia of St Edward to be sent outside the monks' church. Certain of the magnates claimed the right to carry them before the king from the palace by virtue of ancient services for which some of them held particular lands. They ought not, however, to touch those objects, because they are relics. Rather, they ought by right to carry the king's own coronation regalia, with which he was to return to the palace after Mass and sit down to dine. Only the chalice of St Edward with its paten might properly be carried in procession before the king by the Chancellor and Treasurer of the realm, if they were priests. Even this, however, is known to be dangerous because of the press of the crowd, for what we have seen, we testify to. The king therefore voluntarily entrusted portions of St Edward's regalia to various earls and barons, namely the cross, sceptre, rod, spurs and swords. But the crown of St Edward he entrusted to Piers to carry in his polluted hands. At this, not without reason, both people and clergy were indignant. The king entered the church through a rear entrance of the palace, tents having been erected, so as to escape the crush of the people. Nevertheless, the press and crowding there was even greater, so much so that a certain wall, though strongly built of earth, beside the high altar and the royal platform collapsed to the ground. A certain knight, John de Bakwelle, an adversary of that church, died there without receiving the last rites. Nor did the violence of the crowd spare either the king who was being crowned or the bishops who were crowning him. For this reason the solemnity was completed with excessive haste and almost without due reverence. And what shall we say of the service at the banquet? We know that the quantity of food prepared was more than sufficient for many thousands, but no one approved of the manner in which it was served. The customary orderly arrangement of a royal feast was entirely lacking, concerning which it is written, 'Nor was there anyone to compel those who were unwilling.' On that day the Mass in the church was not finished until long after the ninth hour, and the dinner in the palace ended, even more disagreeably, at night. All the earls and barons strove to honour the king with fitting magnificence. Piers, however, seeking not the king's glory but his own, and as though despising the English, rode among the guests wearing purple embroidered with precious pearls, while the others went about in garments of cloth of gold, as though he were more splendid than the king himself. At this one of the earls became so indignant that he wished openly to kill him. Another, more prudent, replied, 'Not on a feast day, lest there be a disturbance among the people and disgrace at the banquet. To wait will be to conquer.' Charles and Louis, the Queen's uncles, seeing that the king frequented Piers' table more than the Queen's, sailed back to France in indignation. Thus the report spread throughout the whole land that the king loved a sorcerer and evil-doer more than his most elegant bride, a lady of surpassing beauty.

Circa idem tempus rex festinavit coronationem suam apud Westmonasterium celebrari Dominica Quinquageminster, simæ in festo Sancti Mathiæ, anno bissextili, Februarii vicesimo quinto die; et quia Robertus Cantuariensis archiepiscopus absens erat et suspensus ab officio, proposuit papa misisse unum cardinalem qui regem in Anglia coronaret. Rex noluit ista pati, sed, missis nuntiis, postulavit ut ab Eboracensi archiepiscopo et Dunolmensi et Londoniensi consecraretur in regem. Et data est illis commissio et potestas regem solempniter coronare. Sub illis utique diebus invenit Canbishop Wintuariensis archiepiscopus gratiam coram papa, et restituit eum in gradum pristinum, et ratificavit multa of archprivilegia ecclesiæ Christi Cantuariæ, et alia multa quæ ab eo confirmari postulaverat aut concedi. Tunc dominus Cantuariensis asseruit constanter coram papa, regum Angliæ coronationem metropolitano Cantuariensi qui pro tempore fuerit, et non alii, pertinere. commissions Inspectis igitur papa super hiis bullatis privilegiis, revocavit commissionem tribus episcopis præconcessam. Ipse autem dominus Cantuariensis, qui invalitudine corporis detinebatur, nec potuit ad diem illum venire, quia brevis, tradidit commissionem suam tribus aliis episcopis super hac re, [Henrico] videlicet Wyntoniensi, Simoni Saresburiensi, et Johanni Cicestrensi. Venit ergo dies coronationis regiæ. Et aderant de partibus transmarinis Karolus et Lodowicus comites patrui reginæ, Johannes dux et Margareta ducissa Brabantiæ soror regis Angliæ; A. comes Sabaudiæ, multique alii viri spectabiles genere cum cunctis prælatis et magnatibus hujus regni.

Illo die tractaverunt comites et barones de statu regni associatis sibi præcoronation, nominatis Franciæ majoribus, petieruntque a rege summopere amotionem Petri de Gavastone a regno. Rex noluit consentire. Iccirco comites proposuerunt coronationem illico impedire. Quod intelligens rex promisit bona fide se illis facturum in proximo parliamento quicquid peterent, tantum ne coronatio differatur. Itaque in hoc vaniloquio se comites ornaverunt pretiosis et sericis indumentis. Interim rex misit illo die post regale Sancti Edwardi extra ecclesiam monachorum. Erant enim ex proceribus qui vendicabant illud deferre de palatio ante regem, ex antiquo servitio per quod tenebant aliqui certas terras. Porro non deberent tangere illud, quia reliquiæ sunt; sed regale proprium regis coronandi, in quo post missam est in palatium reversurus et ad prandium est sessurus, hoc de jure portare debebunt; tantum calicem Sancti Edwardi cum patena, cancellarius atque thesaurarius regni, si presbiteri fuerint, ante regem processive poterunt bajulare. Periculosum tamen dinoscitur propter turbam comprimentem, quia quod vidimus hoc testamur. Tradidit itaque rex voluntarie portiunculas regalis Sancti Edwardi diversis comitibus et baronibus, ut puta crucem, sceptrum, virgam, calcaria et gladios; sed coronam Sancti Edwardi tradidit Petro ad portandum manibus inquinatis. Ex quo non immerito indignati sunt populus atque clerus. Rex per posticium palatii, fixis tentoriis, ecclesiam est ingressus, ut evaderet populi compressionem. Nichillominus amplius premebatur maxima ibi pressura seu compressio gentium, adeo quod quidam murus, etsi luteus fortis, secus magnum altare et pulpitium regium solotenus corruit, et quidam miles Johannes de Bakwelle, adversarius illius ecclesiæ existens, sine viatico inibi crushed to expiravit. Sed aut regi coronando aut episcopis ipsum coronaturis violentia populi non parcebat. Et ideo cum festinatione nimia, et quasi irreverenter, fuit illa solempnizatio consummata. Et quid dicemus de ministerio convivii? Scimus apparatum ciborum multis milibus superhabundasse, sed ministrationem neminem approbasse. Defecerat enim ibi specularis dispositio convivii regibus assueta; ubi legitur, "Nec erat qui cogeret non volentes." Illo die missa in ecclesia diu post nonam, et prandium in palatio de nocte, displicibilius sunt finita. Omnes comites et barones satagebant regem condigna honorificentia magnificare. Petrus vero, non regis sed gloriam propriam quærens, et quasi Anglos contempnens, ubi ceteri in deauratis vestibus incedebant, ipse in purpura, margaritis intexta preciosis, inter convivas, quasi rege pretiosior equitabat. Quapropter indignatus comes unus voluit interimere eum palam. Cui alius sanior respondebat; "Non in die festo, ne forte fiat tumultus in populo et dedecus Indignation in convivio. Sed expectare vincere nobis erit." Karolus et Lodowicus patrui reginæ, cernentes quod rex plus exerceret Petri triclinium quam reginæ, cum indignatione ad Franciam remigarunt. In omnem igitur terram exiit rumor iste, quod rex plus amaret hominem magum et maleficum quam sponsam suam elegantissimam dominam et pulcherrimam mulierem.

Chronicle of Walter of Guisborough. He brought her back with him to England, and was crowned¹ with her in London a month later, on the sixth day before the Kalends of March [25th February 1308], which was also a Sunday² and the feast of Saint Matthias the Apostle. The people of both realms rejoiced and celebrated. When the solemnities were completed, the king summoned his nobles to meet at Westminster, to deliberate and make arrangements on three matters: the state of the Church, which had in recent times declined; the state of the crown, which he had newly received, and how it ought to be governed according to God and justice; and the peace of the realm, and how it should be maintained among the people.

Reduxitque eam in Angliam, et coronatus est cum ea Londoniis post mensem, sexto scilicet kalendas Martii, quæ erat Dominica, et festum Sancti Mathiæ apostoli, lætantibus et exulfantibus populis utriusque terræ. Factaque solemnitate, misit rex magnatibus suis ut convenirent apud Westmonasterium, tractaturi et ordinaturi in tribus articulis, de statu scilicet ecclesia, quæ retroactis temporibus iverat in declivum; de statu coronæ quam de novo sumpserat, quomodo secundum Deum et justitiam deberet gubernari; et de pace terræ, quomodo deberet in populo observari.

Note 1. The coronation roll of this King is printed in Rymer, Fœdera, 2.33 et seq, together with the Coronation Oath.

Note 2. The sixth day before the Kalends of March is the 24th of February. However, 1308 was a leap-year. At the time, rather than add an extra day to February, the calendar inserted a second 24th of February, which was known as the "bisextus" or "twice sixth". In a leap year the Church held that St Matthias's Feast Day, usually the 24th of February, was held on the "twice sixth" i.e. the 25th of February in the modern calendar.

Walsingham Chronica Majora. In the same year, on the sixth day before the Kalends of March¹ [25th February 1308], that is, on the Feast of Saint Matthias the Apostle, the King and Queen were, with the greatest solemnity, magnificently crowned at Westminster by the Bishop of Winchester, acting under the commission of the Archbishop of Canterbury, who was in exile. On the day the King was to be crowned, in the presence of Charles and Louis, counts and uncles of the Queen, of John, Duke of Brabant, and Margaret, Duchess, the Count of Savoy, and many other nobles, the earls and barons of the realm of England discussed the state of the kingdom, and requested of the King the removal of Piers Gaveston from the realm. But the King was unwilling to consent. Therefore, the earls proposed to prevent the royal coronation. When the King became aware of this, he promised in good faith that he would do for them in the next Parliament whatever they might ask, only that the coronation should not be delayed. Meanwhile, the King sent for the regalia of Saint Edward from the monks' church there, intending that after Mass he would return to the palace and sit down to the banquet. By right, the Chancellor of the realm and the Treasurer, if they were priests, ought to carry before the King the chalice of Saint Edward with the paten. But the King, instead of giving them to those to whom they belonged, voluntarily distributed portions of the regalia of Saint Edward, namely the cross, the sceptre, the rod, the spurs, and the swords. But the crown of Saint Edward he entrusted to Piers to carry in his defiled hands, for which reason, and not without cause, both people and clergy were indignant. The crowd was so tightly packed that a certain knight, John de Blakewell, who had long been an enemy of that church, died without the sacrament. Nor did the violence of the people spare either the King to be crowned or the bishops who were to crown him. And so, with great haste and almost without reverence, this solemnity was completed. On that day, the Mass in the church was finished after the ninth hour (mid-afternoon), and the banquet in the palace at night.

Eodem anno, sexto Kalendas Martii, die videlicet Sancti Matthiæ Apostoli, Rex et Regina cum solemnitate maxima apud Westmonasterium ab Episcopo Wyntoniensi, commissione Archiepiscopi Cantuariensis exulantis, magnifice coronatur. In die quo Rex debebat coronari, coram Karolo et Lodewico Comitibus, patruis Reginæ, Johanne Duce Brabantiæ, et Margareta Ducissa, Comite Sabaudiæ, et multis aliis nobilibus, tractaverunt Comites et Barones regni Angliæ de statu regni, petieruntque a Rege amotionem Petri de Gaverstone a regno; sed Rex noluit consentire. Ideirco proposuerunt Comites coronationem regiam impedire. Quod Rex intelligens, promisit bona fide se facturum illis in Parliamento proximo quicquid peterent, tantum ne coronatio differatur. Interim, Rex misit post Regale Sancti Edwardi in ecclesia monachorum ibidem, in quo post Missam est in palatium reversurus, et ad prandium est sessurus. Cancellarius regni et Thesaurarius de jure portare debent calicem Sancti Edwardi cum patena, si presbyteri fuerint, ante Regem: tradidit autem Rex non quibus debebat, sed voluntarie portiunculas Regalis Sancti Edwardi, puta crucem, sceptrum, virgam, calcaria, et gladios; sed coronam Sancti Edwardi tradidit Petro ad portandum manibus inquinatis, ex quo non immerito indignati sunt populus atque clerus. Fuit autem ibi tanta compressio populi, ut quidam miles, Johannes de Blakewelle, qui ab antiquo hostis illius ecclesiæ fuerat, sine viatico expiraret. Sed nec Regi coronando, nec Episcopis, ipsum coronaturis, pepercit violentis populi. Et ideo, cum festinatione nimia, et quasi sine reverentis, fuit ista solemnizatio consummata. Illo die, Missa in ecclesia din post nonam, et prandium in palatio de nocte, sunt finita.

Note 1. The sixth day before the Kalends of March is the 24th of February. However, 1308 was a leap-year. At the time, rather than add an extra day to February, the calendar inserted a second 24th of February, which was known as the "bisextus" or "twice sixth". In a leap year the Church held that St Matthias's Feast Day, usually the 24th of February, was held on the "twice sixth" i.e. the 25th of February in the modern calendar.

Chronicle of Geoffrey le Baker of Swinbroke. At the aforementioned coronation, there were present¹ Charles, the brother of the Queen, who would later become King of France, as well as Charles of Valois, the brother of the King of France and father of Philip, the first usurper of the Kingdom of France, along with the Duke of Brittany. Also present was Henry, Count of Luxembourg, who would later become the Emperor. However, Piers Gaveston,² surpassing all in attire and display, incurred universal envy and the most intense hatred, for it is always the fate of those who outshine true nobility to provoke resentment.

Predicte coronacioni affuerunt Karolus frater regine, futurus rex Francie, item Karolus de Valoys, frater regis Francie et pater Philippi primi intrusoris regni Francorum, et dux Britannie; item Henricus comes Luceburgie, postea imperator. Set Petrus de Gavestone, cultu et apparatu omnes transcendens, omnium invidiam et eius nefandum partum odium incurrebat, que sola excellenter nobilia lacescit.

Note 1. The chronicles vary as to the foreign guests. Murimuth names Charles le Bel, the duke of Brittany, Henry of Luxemburg, and Louis of Evreux; the Annales Paulini and Walsingham, more correctly apparently, name Charles of Valois and Louis of Evreux, the queen's uncles, the duke and duchess of Brabant, and the count of Savoy; the Contin. Trivet, mentions wrongly, among others, Charles and Louis, the queen's brothers. The French king's letter sending Charles of Valois, 9th of February, is printed in the Rymer's Fœdera 2.31. In the ceremony the latter put on the king his right boot and spur. Rymer's Fœdera 2.36.

Note 2. Gaveston carried the crown; Annales Paulini ed. Stubbs, Rolls Series, 261.

He also redeemed the 'Curtana' sword, apparently for the return procession, and fixed the spur on the king's left foot. Rymer's Fœdera 2.36.

His ostentation at the banquet is thus noticed in the .