Read an Excerpt

Crown, Orb & Sceptre

The True Stories of English Coronations

The History Press

Coronations Before the Conquest

The Hermit-Wizard From Glastonbury and a Runaway Horse

We owe the English coronation service to one of the most colourful characters of the early Middle Ages – the great tenthcentury archbishop and adviser to Saxon kings, Saint Dunstan. He was born in AD 909, just ten years after the death of King Alfred. It is likely that Dunstan himself was a minor member of the Saxon royal family, growing up in the court of Alfred's grandson, King Athelstan, at Glastonbury. This was at a time well before London was considered to be the capital of the country, and more than a century before Westminster Abbey was even begun.

As a teenager, young Dunstan was given a good education by the monks at Glastonbury, and he seems to have had an enquiring mind and many artistic talents; in fact he gained the reputation of being something of an eccentric among his contemporaries. He loved painting, embroidery, music, and he enjoyed reading whatever books he could find on poetry, legends and all sorts of out-of-the-way subjects. Added to this, he had strange dreams and visions that he enjoyed describing in great detail.

Eventually, his rather oddball lifestyle seems to have irritated his more normal hunting-and-fighting companions so much that they conspired to get rid of him, and they complained to Athelstan that Dunstan was a wizard! His enemies became so insistent that eventually Athelstan gave way to them and banished young Dunstan from his court on the charge of practising witchcraft and unlawful arts. The story goes that as he left he was pursued by the mob, who rolled him in mud, kicked him and beat him up.

For a while, Dunstan became a hermit, quietly practising his music, reading, and specialising in metal-working. He built himself a tiny cell, only 5 ft long and 2½ ft wide, where he would pray and enjoy his heavenly visions. A famous incident is said to have happened one day, as he was working at his forge he was visited by the devil, who tried to tempt him by making lewd conversations about sexual pleasures with women. Dunstan was so horrified that he heated his pincers until they were red hot and then suddenly grabbed the devil's nose with them so that the 'evil one' ran off screaming with pain. In Christian art, Dunstan is often depicted holding those pincers, and he is still regarded as the patron saint of goldsmiths, jewellers and locksmiths.

When Athelstan died, Dunstan was brought back to court by the new king, Edmund, but soon the old rumours about witchcraft began to circulate again, so that Dunstan was banned for a second time. He was so upset by this that he decided to go abroad and live in Germany. He was just preparing to leave the country, when an incident occurred at Cheddar Gorge, in Somerset, that was to change his luck dramatically – and, more importantly, the repercussions of this incident would change the course of English history.

One day, King Edmund was hunting at the top of the cliffs at Cheddar Gorge. As anyone knows who has been there, Cheddar is famous not only for its cheese but also for its deep, dangerous, rocky chasm, with steep vertical precipices on each side of a craggy valley. Today it is a popular tourist attraction, with its stalagmite caves and picturesque rockfaces. Edmund was chasing a deer when his horse began to gallop headlong and uncontrollably towards the brink of this chasm, and horse and rider seemed certain to plunge into the gorge beneath. Desperately, the king began to pray, vowing that he would redress the wrongs done to Dunstan if only his life were to be spared, and that he would for ever after hold Dunstan in great honour. Miraculously, the horse managed to save itself and Edmund survived; and thanks to this dramatic episode Dunstan was immediately appointed to be Abbot of Glastonbury – the first rung on a ladder of success which later enabled him to become, in succession, Bishop of Worcester, Bishop of London and Archbishop of Canterbury.

Edmund reigned for only seven years before being stabbed to death by an outlawed thief. His brother, King Edred, who succeeded him, reigned for only nine years, fighting off the Danish armies of Eric Bloodaxe before his own premature death at about thirty-two. Edred was followed on the throne by a silly and incompetent fifteen-year-old, King Edwy, who was to last only about four years before he too was murdered.

It was at Edwy's crowning ceremony, which took place at Kingston upon Thames in AD 955, that Dunstan – still Abbot of Glastonbury – was involved in one of the most notoriously embarrassing incidents ever to take place at an English coronation. Young Edwy, nephew of his predecessor King Edred, obviously felt that as king he could do just as he liked, and at his coronation feast he abruptly left the royal banquet to have sex in a nearby room with a lady friend and her daughter. When the nobles and Archbishop Odo of Canterbury realised just what was happening, they were suitably scandalised, and deputed Dunstan and the Bishop of Lichfield to go and fetch the newly-crowned king back to table. A medieval chronicler describes with ill-concealed glee how, when Dunstan and the bishop entered, they found Edwy 'repeatedly wallowing between the two of them in evil fashion, as if in a vile sty.' Apparently, the royal crown, 'bound with wondrous metal, gold and silver and gems', had been carelessly thrown down on to the floor. Dunstan is said to have thrust this crown back on the lustful teenager's head and to have literally dragged him back to the coronation banquet, giving him a sound telling off as he did so. Naturally enough, King Edwy was not exactly pleased by this, and Dunstan found it necessary to retire abroad to Flanders for the rest of Edwy's reign. However, this exile in Ghent was to prove immensely important for the future history of Christianity in England, for it was here that Dunstan encountered at first hand the Benedictine monastic way of life. It seized his imagination, and he was determined to introduce it to monasteries in England if ever he were to return.

Edwy's sheer incompetence led to his downfall and probable murder in AD 959, and his more successful brother Edgar was elected to take over the kingdom. It was a turning point in English history; King Edgar brought stability and prosperity to the country – he was known as Edgar the Peaceful.

One of Edgar's first acts was to bring back Dunstan and make him Archbishop of Canterbury. At fifty Dunstan was a relatively old man, but now at last he was able to wield genuine power and his real career was just about to begin. He became Edgar's chief adviser in both religious and secular matters, and both men were deeply committed to strengthening the church. Together they founded over forty religious houses, encouraging learning and culture and supporting the monastic system throughout the land. Dunstan's experience in Flanders led him to introduce Benedictine discipline wherever possible. Edgar had a gift for appointing outstanding advisers, and in this great period of expansion he was also helped by Oswald, whom he made Archbishop of York, and Aethelwold, whom he appointed to be Bishop of Winchester.

These devout churchmen had a profound effect upon the time in which they lived; indeed, their work led to what has been called the 'tenth century reformation' – mostly thanks to the influence of Dunstan, the ex-hermit of Glastonbury. For us, however, the crucial importance of Dunstan in the history of English coronations is paramount. Dunstan crowned Edgar the Peaceful fourteen years after the king came to the throne.

Dunstan Crowns and Anoints King Edgar in 973

Reigned 957–75, crowned May 973

A Thousand-Year-Old Tradition is Begun

Edgar stands out as one of the great Saxon kings: wise, innovative, devout, serenely sure of himself, and so much a king among kings that the famous occasion at which he was rowed in state on the River Dee by seven Welsh and Scottish kings has been depicted again and again by artists over the centuries. Therefore, it comes as something of a surprise to realise that he was aged only about fifteen when the Northumbrians and Mercians made him their king in 957 even while his elder brother, the wretched Edwy, was still on the throne. Two years later, in 959, Edwy's death ensured that Edgar became King of all England, still aged only seventeen.

Edgar's immediate recall of Dunstan from exile, making him Bishop of Worcester in 957, Bishop of London in 959 and then Archbishop of Canterbury in 960, showed that he knew exactly who he intended to rely on for advice. For the rest of his reign the two men must have been frenetically energetic in planning and founding dozens of abbeys and religious foundations throughout the kingdom. There were, of course, the other usual kingly jobs to attend to – fighting the Welsh; strengthening the navy; ridding the country of wolves; reorganising the circulation of currency by doubling the number of mints to sixty; marrying twice and begetting the necessary heirs. However, it is probably true to say that from the age of fifteen to thirty his main preoccupation was the peaceful settlement of the country with an ever-increasing number of monasteries.

However, during the first fourteen years of his reign, he still remained uncrowned. It was not until May 973 that King Edgar, by now aged thirty and with an exceptionally successful reign behind him, allowed himself to be crowned in a supremely magnificent ceremony at Bath. Naturally enough, the order of service of 973 was specially drawn up by Archbishop Dunstan – a very special service, worthy of such a pious and noble monarch. But at the time neither of them could know that this order of service would become the basis and foundation for all subsequent English coronation services for centuries to come – even to include the coronation of Elizabeth II, nearly a thousand years later, in 1953.

Why, then, did Edgar delay so long? What was it that was to make this coronation service so special? And what, in essence, did Dunstan devise, that could last so long?

Dunstan knew that on the continent, in the Frankish monarchy, a ceremony had emerged, sanctioned by the pope, which involved the sacred practice of anointing a new king. Up until then, kings in England had never as yet received this special distinction. Crowned they may have been, but for Dunstan, as he planned the coronation of his close friend, King Edgar, this was not enough. The addition of holy oil poured over a royal head and body would make the sovereign much more than a secular ruler. Anointed, a new king would become a priest as well. The implications of this were intriguing. Clearly, the prestige of kingship was being enhanced and at the same time a strong link between church and secular state was being forged, which arguably also enhanced the position of the church. Whatever else the ceremony signified, it made the king divine, unique, and such an anointing brought to mind biblical traditions which could be traced back to when King Solomon was annointed by Zadok the priest and the prophet Nathan.

The reason for the long delay before King Edgar's coronation can now be seen, for it was not until 973 that Edgar reached the age of thirty – the minimum age for the priesthood. It is now generally agreed that this 'coming of age' lay behind the coronation in which Archbishop Dunstan, assisted by Archbishop Oswald of York, solemnly anointed Edgar king in a service significantly containing the biblical text, 'Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anointed Solomon King,' – a text which has been recited and sung at coronations ever since. Handel's great anthem seven and a half centuries later served to remind later generations that the anointing is the crucially meaningful moment at a coronation.

Edgar entered the abbey wearing his crown, which he then laid aside as he knelt before the altar. Repeating words spoken by Dunstan, he took his three-fold oath: that the Church of God and all Christian people should enjoy true peace for ever; that he would forbid all wrong and all robbery to all degrees; and that he would command justice and mercy in all judgements. It must have been an impressive ceremony. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle bursts into poetic rapture as it describes how

    In this year, Edgar, ruler of the English,
    Was consecrated king by a great assembly,
    In the ancient city of
    Acemannesceaster,
    Also called Bath by the inhabitants
    Of this island. On that blessed day,
    Called and named Whit Sunday by the children of men,
    There was great rejoicing by all. As I have heard,
    There was a great congregation of priests, and a goodly
      company of monks,
    And wise men gathered together.

    ... Almost one thousand years had elapsed
    Since the time of the Lord of Victories when this
      happened.
    Edmund's son, the valiant in warlike deeds,
    Had spent twenty-nine years in the world when this took
      place.
    He was in his thirtieth year when consecrated king.

Bath is a city filled with memories and physical remains of Imperial Rome, lying about twenty-five miles from Cheddar Gorge and Glastonbury. The area was well known to both Dunstan and Edgar, and perhaps the choice of Bath came from a desire to remind everyone that this was a place where emperors had dwelt.

Sadly, nothing remains nowadays of the original abbey where that coronation took place. The present abbey was not begun until the eleventh century. However, there is a commemorative stained-glass window there, showing not only Edgar's coronation, but also the famous incident when he was rowed, shortly afterwards, on the River Dee by seven Scottish and Welsh kings. If that legendary event really did take place, there would have been no doubt in their minds that Edgar's sacred anointing invested him with unique authority, direct from God.

Unfortunately, Edgar lived for only another two years after his coronation, and died aged thirty-two. It had been an exceptionally important reign, and his early death was to plunge England into yet another period of chaos, made even worse by constant invasions by the Danes. However, Dunstan lived on, and having officiated at the funeral of King Edgar, burying him at Glastonbury, he survived into the reigns of Edgar's two sons, Edward and Ethelred, born of each of Edgar's two wives.

Edward (known as 'the Martyr') succeeded Edgar in 975, but he was only about twelve at the time, and was murdered at Corfe Castle in 978, almost three years later, aged fifteen. It is unclear whether this unfortunate young king was ever crowned, although a coronation may have taken place at Kingston upon Thames. It is known, however, that Dunstan, now nearly seventy, having officiated at Edward the Martyr's funeral in Shaftesbury Abbey, went on to crown Edward's half-brother, Ethelred (known as 'the Unready') at Kingston upon Thames. Unfortunately, no details about this coronation survive.

However, Ethelred obviously had no time for Dunstan, who was now forced out of any active involvement in politics and retired to live quietly in Canterbury: teaching, reading, correcting manuscripts and visiting the tombs of Saxon saints in the middle of the night. It was a happy retirement, and when he died in 988 he was immediately revered as a saint. For centuries afterwards Canterbury schoolboys would pray to St Dunstan if ever they were in danger of being whipped. It has been said that the tenth century gave shape to English history and that Dunstan gave shape to the tenth century. He lived through the reigns of seven Saxon kings and achieved great things. Certainly, the most enduring of all St Dunstan's works was his Coronation Order of Service, by which, for almost a thousand years, all English kings and queens have been crowned and anointed.

Edmund II ('Ironside') and the Danish Kings

The death of Ethelred ('the Unready') in April 1016 heralded a period of uncertainty about the monarchy until the Danes finally gained full control. Ethelred's son, Edmund II, was chosen to be king by the members of the Witan (the Anglo-Saxon forerunner of parliament) resident in London, while the Witan majority at Southampton had little choice other than having to choose Canute (Cnut).

---

Excerpted from Crown, Orb & Sceptre by David Hilliam. Copyright © 2011 David Hilliam. Excerpted by permission of The History Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

---