Electorum fortitudo were retained, and the latter two were said after the sermon as the consecratory prayers before unction, and it is difficult to find an adequate reason why the other two prayers should have been thus transplanted from their natural position. In 1689, Te invocamus, one of the oldest prayers in the service, seeing that it goes back to the first recension, disappears, and Veni creator looks more like a prelude to the consecration of the oil than to the consecration of the King.

In 1689 the only thing that remains the same is Vent creator. Te invocamus disappears, and Electorum fortitudo is transformed into something which it was not before. In words, before this time, it was a prayer blessing the King, and asking for strength for him. It is, in 1689, changed into a prayer consecrating the oil in the ampulla. In the middle ages it was unnecessary to have any special blessing of the oil, as the oils were annually consecrated on Maundy Thursday. When the oils were no longer used after the Reformation, the service on Maundy Thursday was discontinued, and the oil used at the coronation was blessed on the morning of the ceremony by a bishop. There was thus no real necessity to consecrate the oil during the service. After 1689, however, the consecration was put into the service and the prayer Electorum fortitudo altered for this purpose. Thus in 1689 all trace of the prayers consecrating the King before unction disappears, with the single exception of Deus qui populis, which is retained at the end of the Litany.

§ 25. We have now reached the most important point of the whole service. Nothing that goes before, and nothing which follows, can approach the anointing in significance. Without it the King cannot receive the royal ornaments, without it, in a word, he is not King. This will be specially obvious to any one, if it be remembered that the King is vested and adorned with the regalia because he is anointed, and that he is not anointed in order that he may receive the regalia. The object of the unction is the reception of the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Ghost which are sacramentally conferred by the anointing. Grosseteste says as much in his letter to Henry III., and it finds support in the new text of Electorum fortitudo which was introduced in 1689. It is curious that in 1689 this mediæval idea should have been so forcibly expressed.

The matter with which the King is anointed is, of course, oil. But there are two kinds of oil used in Christian ceremonies, simple and compound. The former is simple olive oil, the latter, in the west, is a

1

mixture of balsam and olive oil, and is called chrisma, or "cream." The compound oil was only used on very special occasions, such as the consecration of a bishop, and was very holy, as unction with it conferred

sacramental grace. Becket was the injury they inflicted on the crown of his head, which had received unction with the chrism.' In the first three recensions the King is not anointed with chrism. He is only anointed with oleum sanctificatum, or the oil of the catechumens, as distinguished from the oil of the sick, which is a third oil blessed on Maundy Thursday. In the fourth recension, however, the rubric directs that after unction with oleum sanctum, or oil of catechumens, he shall be anointed with chrism on the head in form of a cross. When this custom arose, it is difficult to say. There is no mention of it in the description of the coronation of Richard I., nor does Grosseteste refer definitely to it in his letter to Henry III. The early rubrics of the fourth recension direct it, and therefore it must have been used at the coronation of Edward II. Consequently it cannot be the discovery of the holy chrism of St. Thomas during the reign of Edward II. which gave rise to the custom. We cannot tell definitely at present: it may have been begun by some King like Henry II. in rivalry of the King of France, who enjoyed this privilege. He was the only other King in western Europe who was anointed with chrism. The Emperor and the other Kings were anointed with simple oil. The privilege of the King of France doubtless arose from the use of the "Sainte Ampoulle." This was so holy a relic that the oil from it must be mixed at the least with the holy chrism. This was probably the reason why the custom arose in France: how it arose in England we cannot yet tell.

What enhanced the crime of the murderers of

The King was in earlier times anointed in three places only: on the head, on the hands, and on the breast. Later this was increased to five places. We find it so in the fourth recension. Richard I. appears to have been anointed only in three places, signifying, as Hoveden remarks, glory, knowledge, and strength.3 The two additional places are the inside of the elbows, and on the shoulders and the back between the

1 Archæologia, vol. liii. part i. p. 213 (a paper by Mr. H. S. Milman on "The Vanished Memorials of St. Thomas of Canterbury.")

2 In the western Church the Bishop on Maundy Thursday blesses three kinds of oils: the oil of the sick, the oil of the catechumens, and lastly the cream.

3 Thomas Becket held a similar view. See Materials for the Life of Thomas Becket, ed. J. C. Robertson, Rolls Series, 1881, vol. v. p. 280. "Inunguntur enim reges tribus in locis, in capite, in pectore, et in brachiis, quod significat, gloriam, fortitudinem, scientiam."

shoulders. After 1689 the number of places has been gradually reduced, and at the last coronation, in 1838, Queen Victoria was only anointed on the head and hands. It may be noticed that Edward VI. is reported to have been anointed on the feet, but this may very likely be due to the confusion which can easily arise between pectus and pedes."

From the beginning of the litany, and up to the time of unction, the King had lain prostrate; but now he arose, was stripped of his Parliament robe by the Lord Great Chamberlain, and went to St. Edward's chair. In most cases he received the unction sitting in St. Edward's chair, but there are instances in which he seems to have knelt to receive it.

The later Plantagenets and the Tudors appear to have knelt to receive the unction. Charles I. received it sitting, and all sovereigns of England since then have received it sitting. And certainly kneeling would seem the more natural position, considering the importance that was attached to unction in the middle ages.

The rubric of Egbert's Pontifical directs that the unction shall be performed by more than one bishop: apparently each place is to be anointed by different bishops. This adds to the probability that it was considered necessary in early times to have a collegium to consecrate a King.

While the ceremony is being performed, four Knights of the Garter hold a canopy of cloth of gold over the King. This originally hid the King from view like a tent, so that the unction was supposed to take place in secret. This was forgotten in 1689, when the King and Queen took a position so that the unction could be seen by the members of the House of Commons.R

The Dean of Westminster pours the oil from an ampulla into the spoon, and with the spoon the Archbishop anoints the sovereign in the

1 See Doc. xxix. p. 370.

2 Brit. Mus. Harl. 3504, fo. 234, "anoynted on the breast, on the soles of his feete," etc. But cp. Acts of the Privy Council, 1547-50, p. 31. "And furste the saide Archebushope shall anoynte the King, knealing, in the paulmes of his handes, sayeng theis wordes Ungas + manus, with this Collete Respice Omnipotens Deus. After he shall anoyncte him in the breste, in the middes of his backe, on his two bowghtes of his armes and on his hedde, making a Crosse, and after making an other Crosse on his hedde with Holy Creme, sayeng as he annoyncteth the places afforesaide Ungatur caput, Ungantur scapula,† etc.

3 See J. Wickham Legg, Three Coronation Orders, p. 161.

4 Chr. Wordsworth, The... Coronation of King Charles I., p. 32 n. "Then the Kinge sitts down in ye Chaire in which he is to be anointed. A rich coveringe is held ouer his

heade." Laud corr. marg.

5 See Doc. ii. p. 5, n. 3.

6 J. Wickham Legg, Three Coronation Orders, Henry Bradshaw Society, 1900, p. 143.

form of a cross,' first on the palms of the hands; secondly, on the breast; thirdly, on the shoulders and back; fourthly, on the inside of the elbows; and lastly, on the head. In the pre-reformation times this was followed by the unction on the crown of the head with chrism, taken probably from the eagle. In the Stewart orders the King was anointed only with chrism, and the simple oil was not used at all.

§ 26. The ampulla from which the oil is taken is in the shape of an eagle, the head of which screws off in order to allow the oil to be put in ; and the oil is poured out through the beak. In the pre-reformation days there were two ampuls on the altar, one of which contained the oil of the catechumens, and the other containing the chrism. The former in the Liber regalis is directed to be of silver, the latter to be of silver gilt. After 1400 that which contained the chrism must have been in the shape of an eagle, or at any rate it must have been placed inside the eagle. For the phial that was given to Thomas Becket by St. Mary was placed inside a golden eagle, and as the Kings of England professed to be anointed with this heaven-sent oil, the eagle must have been used for the chrism. The legend about the oil, an obvious imitation of the story of the "Sainte Ampoulle" in France, did not become very prevalent until 1400, when Henry IV. found it useful to strengthen his somewhat questionable occupation of the throne. Edward III. and Richard II. did not consider themselves anointed with this miraculous oil, and, indeed, in the fifteenth century there is a curious discrepancy with the account given by John XXII. For in Edward II.'s time St. Mary is made to prophesy that the oil would be found under Edward II.: but under Henry IV. the story says that Edward III. is to be the King when it is found. Secondly, the eagle, after its discovery at Poitiers by the Black Prince, was lost, and was only found, apparently by accident, at the Tower by Richard II.' Moreover, the long rubrics of the Liber regalis, which date from Richard II.'s time, make no mention of the eagle. In any case, had Edward III. professed to be anointed with this oil of Thomas Becket, such a story could not have arisen under Henry IV., to be used, as it was, against Richard II., the grandson and successor of Edward III.3

§ 27. Since the Reformation only the eagle has been used. The oil is poured from the beak into the spoon, which is mentioned by

1 At the coronation of James I. the King was not anointed in the form of a cross. The custom was revived by Laud, who was in consequence accused by the Puritans of popery. See Chr. Wordsworth, The... Coronation of King Charles I., p. 87.

* Thomas Walsingham, Historia Anglicana, ed. H. T. Riley (Rolls Series), 1864, vol. ii. p. 239.

8 See Docs. x. p. 70, and xv. p. 169.

Sporley in his list of the regalia in the fifteenth century. The spoon now used is older than the year 1649, when all the regalia, including the eagle and spoon, were "totally broken and defaced." It is, therefore, the only piece of the more precious regalia which is older than the middle of the seventeenth century; it is not, however, the original coronation spoon, but merely a silver-gilt spoon of the thirteenth century, which has, since 1661, been used for this purpose. It has a floreated device on the bowl, and four pearls in the middle of the handle. There was another object in the regalia connected with the unction. This was St. Edward's comb, made of ivory or bone, which was used to arrange the King's hair if the process of anointing had disarranged it. It was destroyed in 1649, but not renewed in 1661, as were the rest of the regalia.1

The Archbishop did not anoint the King in all these places one after the other without intermission. He first anointed the hands of the King with the formula Ungantur manus, which is found in the third recension, and disappears after James II. When the hands had been anointed, there followed the anthem Unxerunt Salomonem, the Coronation Anthem "Zadok the priest," now sung to Handel's well-known music. This anthem is found in every recension but the third; and, thanks to Handel, it is likely to continue to be used at these services as long as there are coronations in England. In 1685 it preceded Ungantur manus, and in 1689 it was placed before the formula of unction. When the anthem was finished, the prayer Prospice omnipotens Deus was said. Since the first recension a prayer has been said after the anthem: in the second recension, indeed, two prayers were said: in the first recension we have Deus electorum fortitudo, in the second the curious Christe perunge, which is sometimes amalgamated with the prayer before, and also Deus electorum. In the third we meet with Prospice omnipotens Deus, but in 1685 the prayer after the anthem disappears and has not since been revived.

After Prospice omnipotens Deus the Archbishop proceeded with the anointing, saying to each place, Ungatur caput, pectus, etc. In 1831 the formula of unction was altered. Instead of mentioning each part of the body which was anointed, the Archbishop merely says, "Be thou anointed with holy oil," etc. In the third recension the completion of the unction is followed by the anthem Deum time, which is peculiar to this recension. The anointing is now over, and the Archbishop returns to the altar

1 The coronation spoon has been described in a paper by Mr. C. J. Jackson, F.S.A. (Archæologia, vol. liii. part i. p. 118.)