The Children's Story of Westminster Abbey

by G. E. Troutbeck

In the last year of his reign Edward I ordered a chair to be made in which the Stone was to be enclosed, and in which the Kings of England were to sit to be crowned. In this very chair every English sovereign has been crowned, from Edward II to Edward VII. It has only once been taken out of the Abbey, and that was when it was taken into Westminster Hall for the inauguration of Cromwell as Lord Protector of the Realm on December 16th, 1653.

In Edward III’s reign the Scots tried very hard to get the Stone back again, and the King, who wished to content them, very nearly allowed them to have it. But the people of London would not hear of such a thing, and, as an old writer says, “would not suffer the Stone to depart from themselves.”

We must now speak of some other Coronations. Richard II’s Coronation was very splendid, and the ceremony was so long and tiring that the King, who was still quite a boy, fainted from fatigue. Two interesting ceremonies began at this Coronation. One was the first appearance of the “Champion,” as he was called. The Champion was a knight who threw down his glove as a challenge to any one who disputed the King’s claim to the throne. The last appearance of the Champion was at the Coronation of George IV, in 1820, so this curious old custom lasted for more than four hundred years.

Again, Richard II was the first King to be accompanied at his Coronation by a body of Knights, the Knights who were afterwards called the “Knights of the Bath.” It became the custom for the King to create a number of Knights on the eve of his Coronation, and these Knights accompanied him in his procession. Part of the solemn ceremony of receiving Knighthood was the taking of a bath, as a sign of purity both of body and soul.

The Knights of the Bath once used to be installed in Henry VII’s Chapel, and the Dean of Westminster is always the Dean of the Order. However, no Knights have been installed at Westminster for a long time past. Many of the old banners of the Knights of the Bath still hang over the stalls in Henry VII’s Chapel, just as the banners of the Knights of the Garter hang in St. George’s Chapel at Windsor. On the backs of the stalls are the coats-of-arms of the Knights, emblazoned on gilded metal plates.

But to return for a moment to the Coronation of Richard II. It has an especial interest for Westminster, as the Abbey possesses a most valuable book, called the “Liber Regalis,” which was drawn up by Abbot Litlington, and which gives the whole order of the Coronation service. This has been followed, more or less, at all the Coronations since that time.

We must now pass over nearly two centuries, and pause to think of the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth, remembering that it was she who finally founded Westminster Abbey as a Collegiate Church, and who re-established the School much on the present plan. Elizabeth’s accession was a very happy event for her subjects, and there were great rejoicings everywhere. Her Coronation was the last at which the ancient Latin Coronation Mass was celebrated, and the Abbot of Westminster took his part in the service for the last time. His place is now, of course, taken by the Dean, or by the Sub-Dean, should the Dean be ill or unable to attend. At Queen Elizabeth’s Coronation the Litany was said in English, instead of in Latin, and the Epistle and Gospel were read in both Latin and English, showing that, for the future, our own English language was going to be used for our Church services.

At the Coronation of Charles I several things happened which people considered unlucky, and as a sign that misfortunes were coming upon the King. To begin with, Charles wore white instead of the usual red or purple, and this was thought to be a bad omen, as if meaning that the King was to be a victim, there having been some old prophecy of trouble for a “White King.” Then the sceptre with the dove was broken, and as the dove could not be mended without the mark being seen, a new dove had to be made. In the later part of the day a shock of earthquake was felt. All these things were regarded as signs of coming evil, and were no doubt remembered in the sad days of the Civil War, and at the time of the King’s imprisonment and death.

Westminster is a Royal foundation, and the old Royalist spirit always remained strong there, especially among the boys of Westminster School; and this in spite of the changes made at the Abbey by the Puritans during the Commonwealth.

The famous Archbishop Laud, the friend of Charles I, was one of the twelve Prebendaries of Westminster, and took the Dean’s place at Charles I’s Coronation.