work of his hands, etc. [See below, Doc. xxiii. p. 270; cf. Deut. xxxiii. 11, 13-17, 26.]

And all the people shall say three times with the bishops and priests, May king N. live for ever. Amen. Amen. Amen. Then shall the whole people come to kiss the prince and be strengthened with a blessing.

O God of eternity, the commander of all powers, the vanquisher of all enemies, bless this thy servant who boweth his head unto thy Majesty. Give him the riches of thy grace, and in the service in which he has been tried preserve him long in health and prosperous felicity, be present with him, and protect and defend him whensoever he calleth upon thee, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Secret.

Receive, O Lord, the prayers and oblations of thy church which maketh her petition to thee for thy servant N., and perform the wonders that thy right hand wrought of old to defend thy faithful people, so that when the enemies of peace have been overcome, thy church may serve thee in all godly quietness, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Preface.

It is very meet Everlasting God, who by thy providence dost govern all things both in heaven and in earth, be merciful to our king N. and our commonwealth, that the mighty array of our enemies may be broken, by thy help, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

In the canon.

We therefore beseech thee, O Lord, with favour and mercy to receive this oblation of thy servant N. which we now offer unto thee in the ministry of our priestly office that as thou hast been pleased to bestow on him the kingly power; so, we pray thee, hear our prayers, and grant that, trusting in the defence of thy Majesty, as he grows in years, so the might of his kingdom may abound more and more.

Communion.

Shew the light of thy countenance. [Ps. cxix. 135.]

Postcommon.

O God, who didst prepare the Roman empire that the gospel of the kingdom of heaven might be preached unto the world, give unto thy servants now our princes the heavenly armour of justice, that the peace of thy church may not be broken by any times of trouble, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

1

Over the people.

Almighty and everlasting God, defend our king and the rulers of our land, that trusting in thy right hand, they may be stronger than all their enemies, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

[This is the first decree of a king to his people.]

'It is the duty of a king newly ordained and enthroned to enjoin on the Christian people subject to him these three precepts:

First, that the Church of God and all the Christian people preserve true peace at all times.

Secondly, that he forbid rapacity and all iniquities to all degrees.

Thirdly, that in all judgments he enjoin equity and mercy, that therefore the clement and merciful God may grant us his mercy.

1 This version is taken from W. Stubbs, Constitutional History of England, Oxford, 1875, vol. i. p. 147, chap. vi. § 61.

III.

A Coronation Order written written before the

Conquest

This coronation order belongs to what is known as the second recension of the service. It is often called the Coronation Order of Ethelred II., but there does not seem to be much ground for this designation. The manuscript from which the coronation service now edited is taken, belongs to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge (No. 146), and dates from the eleventh century. It seems possible that this service was used at the consecration of Harold and William the Conqueror. As early as the time of Selden (John Selden, Titles of Honor, London, 1631, p. 222) it was noticed that this recension was probably composed in England, whence it spread to the Continent. It is found in the Pontificals of many of the churches of northern France, and was the order used for the coronations of the Kings of France and Italy. The reason for considering it an English order is the presence of the terms anglorum vel saxonum in the consecratory prayer. These terms or the terms saxonum merciorum nordanymbrorum appear in the coronation book of Charles V. of France, as well as in an early Chartres Pontifical in the National Library at Paris (MS. latin 945, fo. 204), and also in a coronation order for the King of Italy (MS. latin, 977. See Martene, De antiquis ecclesiae ritibus, Antuerpiae, 1736, vol. ii. coll. 584-9). The difficulty was sometimes solved in the foreign churches by adding videlicet Francorum after the English names, as in the order printed in Ménard (Divi Gregorii... Liber Sacramentorum, Paris, 1642, pp. 278-285. Albionis totius videlicet Francorum.) In the blessing which begins Extendat omnipotens we have the mention of St. Gregory, Anglorum apostolici. The phrase is also found abroad, though in places out of all connexion with England, and corrupted into angelorum (Ménard, op. cit.), and St. Gregory is mentioned in a French Pontifical of the early fourteenth century (National Library, Paris, MS. latin 953). In the coronation of the King of Italy the name of St. Ambrose is substituted, very naturally, for that of St. Gregory.

The service for the coronation of the Queen is found in this recension. Other copies of this recension have a prayer to be said at the door of the church as the Queen enters. At Chartres (National Library, Paris, MS. lat. 945), and at St. Amand (National Library, MS. lat. 953) we find Adesto Domine supplicationibus, which is printed in Ménard (Divi Gregorii... Liber Sacramentorum, Paris, 1642, p. 284.) At Milan they said Omnipotens sempiterne Deus fons et origo (National Library, Paris, MS. lat. 977.)