6 Froude, History of England from the Fall of Wolsey to the Defeat of the Spanish Armada, 11: Reign of Elizabeth Part V:203–4.
7 "Calendar of State Papers and Manuscripts, Venice, Vol. 4 (1527-1533)," n. 824.
8 Sergeant, The Life of Anne Boleyn, 129.
9 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 6 - 1533," n. 585.
10 Ives, The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn, 30.
11 "Calendar of State Papers, Spain, Volume 4: Part 2," n. 1077, 1081.
12 Weir, The Six Wives of Henry VIII, 151.
13 Ascoli, La Grande-Bretagne Devant L'opinion Française Depuis La Guerre de Cent Ans Jusqu'à La Fin Du XVIe Siècle, 234, line 61.
14 "Calendar of State Papers, Spain, Volume 5 Part 2: 1536-1538," 127.
15 Ridgway, "Anne Boleyn Myths Coming Soon."
16 "Anne Boleyn, Six Wives Info."
17 Weir, The Six Wives of Henry VIII, 151.
18 Cavendish, The Life of Cardinal Wolsey, Volume 2, 2:188.
19 "Calendar of State Papers and Manuscripts, Venice, Volume 4: 1527-33," n. 824.
20 Bell, Notices of the Historic Persons Buried in the Chapel of St Peter Ad Vincula in the Tower of London, 19–21,26.
9. 29 May 1533 – Anne Boleyn's Coronation River Pageant
The coronation of Anne Boleyn in 1533 was a huge, four-day affair and was more like the coronation of a monarch, rather than that of a queen consort. It was a PR exercise; a statement by Henry VIII that Anne Boleyn was his rightful wife and queen, whatever people thought of her or of the annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. The Milanese ambassador estimated that Anne's coronation cost the City of London was £46,000, or 200,000 ducats, and that Henry VIII spent half that sum again.1 We don't know how accurate that figure is, but there's no denying that the coronation was a sumptuous and a lavish occasion.
The coronation celebrations began on 29th May 1533, the day after Archbishop Cranmer had proclaimed valid Anne's marriage to Henry VIII. They culminated in the coronation ceremony on Whitsun (1st June). Hall's Chronicle2 and The Noble Tryumphaunt Coronacyon of Quene Anne, the latter printed by Wynkyn de Worde, give us all the details of what happened on 29th May.3 The pageantry began at 1pm, when the London livery companies' fifty barges set off from Billingsgate. These sixty- to seventy-foot long barges,4 escorted by small boats, were decorated with streamers, bunting, cloth of gold, and banners displaying the arms of the companies. Minstrels entertained the fleet with music and in front of the Mayor's barge was a "foyst", or wherry, bearing a great dragon which was was "continually moving and casting wildfire".5 This dragon was surrounded by "terrible monsters" and "wild men" also casting fire and making "hideous noises". It sounds like quite a spectacle.
Then came the Mayor's barge and the bachelors' barge, the latter being full of musicians playing trumpets and other instruments. The bachelors' barge was hung with cloth of gold and silk, and bore two huge banners displaying the arms of the King and Queen, along with streamers and bells. It also bore the arms of the company of "Haberdashers" and "Merchant Adventurers." On its starboard gunwale were thirty-six "scochyons", or metal shields, showing the King and Queen's arms impaled (the King's colours on the right and the Queen's colours on the left). These shields were fastened to hangings of cloth of gold and silver. Another feature of this river procession was a wherry carrying a representation of Anne's falcon badge. This crowned, white falcon stood on a gold tree stump surrounded by white and red roses, and "virgins singing and playing sweetly".
The procession arrived at Greenwich Palace at 3pm to pick up the pregnant Queen and escort her to the Tower of London. Anne appeared, dressed in cloth of gold, and boarded her barge. Her ladies boarded a second barge, then the King's guard boarded the King's barge – the King was not part of the procession. These three barges were joined by the barges of bishops and of courtiers. Noblemen in attendance that day included the Duke of Suffolk, the Marquess of Dorset, the Earls of Arundel, Derby, Rutland, Worcester, Huntingdon, Sussex and Oxford, as well as Anne's father, Thomas Boleyn, Earl of Wiltshire. By this time there were "some 120 large craft and 200 small ones"6 on the Thames.
Letters and Papers7 describes how gun salutes heralded the Queen as she made her way along the Thames and that "when she came over against Wapping mills the Tower 'lousyd their ordinaunce' most triumphantly, shooting four guns at once." Anne landed at Tower Wharf and was greeted by dignitaries lined up across the King's bridge to the Tower's private royal entrance, the Court Gate of the Byward Tower. Among the dignitaries were Sir Edward Walsingham, Lieutenant of the Tower, and Sir William Kingston, Constable of the Tower. When Anne entered the Tower, she was received by her husband, the King, "who laid his hands on both her sides, kissing her with great reverence and a joyful countenance", before leading her to her chamber. The King and Queen then supped together.
Notes and Sources
1 Ives, The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn, 181.
2 Hall, Hall's Chronicle, 798–800.
3 The Maner of the Tryumphe of Caleys and Bulleyn and The Noble Tryumphaunt Coronacyon of Quene Anne, Wyfe Unto the Most Noble Kynge Henry VIII.
4 Ives, The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn, 173.
5 Hall, Hall's Chronicle, 799.
6 Ives, The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn, 173.
7 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 6 - 1533," n. 563.
10. 30 May 1533 – The Knights of the Bath
Figure 13 - Engraving showing the Ceremony of The Knights of The Bath
Figure 14 - Engraving showing the Ceremony of The Knights of The Bath
Part of coronation celebrations in medieval and Tudor times was the Order of the Bath ceremony, where favoured courtiers were created Knights of the Bath. In 1533, during Anne Boleyn's coronation celebrations, this event took place in the Tower of London on the night of 30th/31st May. Eighteen Knights of the Bath were created:1
• Henry Grey, Marquess of Dorset
• Edward Stanley, Earl of Derby
• Henry Clifford, Lord Clifford
• Henry Ratcliffe, Lord Fitzwalter
• Francis Hastings, Lord Hastings
• William Stanley, Lord Monteagle
• Thomas Vaux, Lord Vaux
• Henry Parker, son of Henry, Lord Morley
• William Windsor, son of Lord Windsor
• John Mordaunt, son of Lord Mordaunt
• Francis Weston
• Thomas Arundell
• John Hudletson
• Thomas Poynings
• Henry Savile
• George Fitzwilliam
• John Tyndall
• John (or Henry?) Germayne (Edward Hall says Thomas Germayne2)
A record in Letters and Papers adds further names: "Mr. Corbet, Mr. Wyndham, John Barkely… Ric. Verney of Penley… Rob. Whitneye of Gloucestershire".3
In his book on the Tower, George Younghusband describes this traditional coronation ceremony in relation to the coronation of Henry IV.4 He writes that forty-six baths were arranged in one of the halls of the White Tower. Each bath had a canopy over it and was filled with warm water and draped with clean sheets. The forty-six knights bathed and then a procession, led by the King, entered the hall. The King the approached each Knight, still in his bath, and dipped his finger into the bath water and made the sign of the cross on the Knight's bare back. While he did this, the King said:
"You shall honor God above all things; you shall be steadfast in the faith of Christ; you shall love the King your Sovereign Lord, and him and his right defend to your power; you shall defend maidens, widows, and orphans in their rights, and shall suffer no extortion, as far as you may prevent it; and of as great honor be this Order unto you, as ever it was to any of your progenitors or others."
When he had done this to all forty-six knights, King Henry IV processed out of the hall. The knights then dried themselves off and were put to bed in "beds with rich hangings", which had been placed behind their baths.
After they had rested for a while, they were summoned to rise by the curfew bell of the Bell Tower. Their esquires helped them dress as monks in long brown woollen cassocks, with cowls, then they processed into St John's Chapel as music played. Their new helmets, armour, swords and spurs had been arranged around the high altar, "and before these each Knight knelt in devotion, and watched his armour all night".
That is what happened at Henry IV's coronation in 1399 and it gives us a good idea of what might have taken place on the night of 30th May 1533. Of course, because he was monarch King Henry VIII, not Anne, would have dubbed the Knights.
Notes and Sources
1 Shaw, The Knights of England: A Complete Record from the Earliest Time to the Present Day of the Knights of All the Orders of Chivalry in England, Scotland, and Ireland, 1:149–50.
2 Hall, Hall's Chronicle, 800.
3 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 6 - 1533," n. 562.
4 Younghusband, The Tower from Within, 107–108.
11. 31st May 1533 – Anne Boleyn's Coronation Procession
At 5pm on 31st May 1533, Anne Boleyn left the Tower of London to begin her procession through the streets of London to Westminster Hall. Chronicler Edward Hall1 describes how the streets were gravelled. and railed off so that people would not get hurt. Cornhill and Gracehurch Street were decorated with scarlet and crimson cloth, arras, tapestries and carpets, while Cheapside was decorated with "cloth of tissue, gold, velvet and many rich hangings".
The mayor was clothed in crimson velvet and escorted by footmen dressed in white and red damask, and the Queen's part of the procession was led by the servants of Jean de Dinteville, the French ambassador. These servants were dressed in blue velvet coats with sleeves of blue and yellow velvet. Their horses were "trapped with close trappers of blue sarcenet powdered with white crosses".2 After them came "gentlemen, squires and knights", followed by the judges, and the Knights of the Bath, dressed in ermine trimmed violet gowns and hoods. Next were abbots, barons, bishops, earls, marquesses, the Lord Chancellor, the Archbishop of York, the Venetian ambassador, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the French ambassador, the Mayor of London, William Howard (acting as Deputy Earl Marshal for his brother, Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk) and Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, acting as Constable of England.
Behind her chancellor, "sergeants and officers of arms", came Queen Anne Boleyn in a litter decorated with white cloth of gold and led by two palfreys clad in white damask. Hall describes Anne as wearing a surcoat of white cloth of gold, a mantle, of the same cloth but trimmed with ermine, and a coif with a circlet of "rich stones". Her hair was loose and flowing. Above her was a canopy of cloth of gold, decorated with gilt statues and silver bells, and carried by the barons of the Cinque Ports. Following the Queen were her chamberlain, Lord Borough, and her master of the horses, William Coffin, then her ladies clothed in crimson velvet and cloth of gold and tissue. Then came chariots carrying the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk and the Marchioness of Dorset (or possibly Elizabeth Boleyn, Anne's mother), as well as other ladies of the court.
Rather than simply progressing Westminster, the procession stopped at points on the route to enjoy various pageants and displays. One pageant, on the corner of Gracechurch Street, depicted Apollo and the nine muses on Mount Parnassus. This "ryght costly" pageant had been designed by Hans Holbein the Younger. Another pageant, at Leadenhall, was of Anne's falcon badge. It had a castle with a green, and a "root", or stump, out of which white and red roses spilled. A white falcon descended from Heaven and landed on the stump, then an angel wearing armour descended and crowned the falcon. Yet another pageant consisted of St Anne, surrounded by her children, the three Marys, and their children. In this pageant, Queen Anne Boleyn was read poetry, the verses of which emphasised England's hope for her and for the child she was carrying. Other pageants included a recreation of the Judgement of Paris in which angels held out crowns to Anne whilst a lady prophesied that "Quene Anne whan you shalte beare a newe sone of y e kynges bloode there shalbe a golden worlde unto thy people."3 Other displays included a fountain running with wine, children reading poems of praise for Anne and the King, the Virtues promising to never abandon the Queen, and children singing.
Finally, Anne reached Westminster Hall, which was described by Hall as newly glazed and decorated with "cloth of arras". There, Anne enjoyed refreshments such as "spice plates" and hippocras and wine, which she shared with her ladies. She then gave thanks to the lords, ladies and Mayor, and retired for the night. Both Hall and The Noble Tryumphaunt Coronacyon of Quene Anne, Wyfe Unto the Most Noble Kynge Henry VIII record that Anne was then taken secretly to spend the night with the King at his "Manor of Westminster".
Figure 15 - The Route of the Coronation Procession
Notes and Sources
1 Hall, Hall's Chronicle, 800–802.
2 Ibid., 800.
3 The Maner of the Tryumphe of Caleys and Bulleyn and The Noble Tryumphaunt Coronacyon of Quene Anne, Wyfe Unto the Most Noble Kynge Henry VIII.
12. 1st June 1533 – Anne Boleyn's Coronation
The 1st June 1533, Whitsun, was the day of Anne Boleyn's coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey. The chronicler Edward Hall1 records that the Mayor, clad in scarlet and wearing his chain of office, took a barge to Westminster at 7am. He was accompanied by the aldermen, by the sheriffs, and by the Council of the City of London. At Westminster they waited for the Queen. She arrived between 8 o'clock and 9 o'clock, and stood under the cloth of state as the royal court and peers gathered, dressed in their parliament robes. A railed blue "ray cloth" was spread all the way from the high dais of the King's bench to the high altar of the abbey, and the officers of arms helped organise those gathered into a procession.
Figure 16 - Westminster Abbey
Hall records the procession order as:
• Gentleman
• Squires
• Knights
• Alderman of the City
• Judges
• Knights of the Bath
• Barons and viscounts
• Earls, marquesses and dukes
• Lord Chancellor
• Staff of the Chapel Royal and monks
• Abbots and bishops
• Sergeants and officers of arms
• The Mayor of London
• Marquess of Dorset, bearing the sceptre of gold
• Earl of Arundel, bearing the rod of ivory topped with a dove
• Earl of Oxford, High Chamberlain of England, carrying the crown of St Edward
• Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk and High Steward of England for the day
• William Howard, carrying the rod of the Marshal of England
• The Garter Knights
Figure 17 - Westminster Hall
Following this procession came the woman of the day, the pregnant Queen Anne Boleyn. Anne was wearing a surcoat and robe of purple velvet, trimmed with ermine, and the coif and circlet she had worn for the procession the previous day. Her train was carried by the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk, and she walked barefoot under a canopy of cloth of gold carried by the barons of the Cinque Ports. Anne made her way to the "great chair", the chair of St Edward, where she rested for a while before descending to the high altar. There, Anne prostrated herself while Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, prayed over her. When she got up, he anointed her. She was then able to rest once again in St Edward's chair while orations were said. Cranmer crowned Anne with the crown of St Edward, which was usually reserved for crowning the reigning monarch. He placed the sceptre in her right hand and the rod in her left. The Te Deum was sung and Cranmer helped Anne exchange the heavy crown for a custom-made lighter version.
Mass was celebrated, and Anne took the sacrament before visiting St Edward's shrine and giving the traditional offering. She then rested for a few moments while everybody formed into a line to process back to Westminster Hall for the coronation banquet. Anne walked back, her right hand "sustained" b
y her father, the Earl of Wiltshire, and her left hand by Lord Talbot, who was acting as a deputy for his father, the Earl of Shrewsbury. Trumpets played as they processed to the hall. It was time for the celebratory banquet.
At the banquet, Anne sat on the King's marble chair, which has been set under a cloth of state. She sat next to Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, and was attended by the Dowager Countess of Oxford and by the Countess of Worcester, whose job was to "hold a fine cloth before the Queen's face when she list to spit or do otherwise at her pleasure."2 This was not so that she could vomit between courses, as one website has suggested,3 it was simply so that she could take care of personal hygiene (wiping her face, spitting etc.) in private. Anne was also attended by two gentlewomen positioned at her feet. The Earl of Oxford was high chamberlain, the Earl of Essex was the carver, the Earl of Sussex the sewer, the Earl of Derby the cupbearer, the Earl of Arundel the chief butler and Thomas Wyatt, on behalf of his father, the chief ewer. Between Anne and the Archbishop stood the Earl of Oxford with his white staff of office.
Figure 18 - Vintage Engraving of Thomas Cranmer
When everyone was seated, the Duke of Suffolk and William Howard entered the hall on horseback to announce the first course, which was being carried by the Knights of the Bath. Suffolk is described by Hall as wearing a jacket and doublet "set with orient perle" and a gown of embroidered crimson velvet. He was sitting on a horse draped with crimson velvet which reached the ground and was embroidered with real gold letters. "Trumpets and hautbois sounded at each course, and heralds cried "largesse."" Henry VIII did not join the banquet but watched proceedings, accompanied by the ambassadors of France and Venice, from a special "little closet" which Hall described as situated "out of the cloyster of S. Stephens".
The banquet was followed by wafers and hippocras, then the Queen washed and enjoyed "a voyde of spice and comfettes", after over eighty dishes! After that, the Mayor passed her a gold cup, from which she drank, before giving it back to him. Anne then retired to her chambers where she had to go through the formalities of thanking everyone before she could rest. At 6pm it was finally over. It had been a long and exhausting day for her.
The Anne Boleyn Collection II: Anne Boleyn & the Boleyn Family Page 9
