Today in 1553 Mary I proceeded through London on the way to her coronation.
From https://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/tudor-england/marys-coronation/:
Two people had a very prominent place at the coronation procession held on September 30th – Mary’s half-sister Elizabeth and Anne of Cleves. How much Elizabeth was there simply because she was family is difficult to know. She was briefly incorrectly associated with disloyalty and was known to be a Protestant. One’s mother had been divorced to make way for the mother of the other. It is difficult to believe that there was a great deal of affection between Mary and Elizabeth, though in this era, the public display of such affection was rare even if it did exist as it was not the ‘done thing’ amongst royalty. Anne was there, so it is believed, as she was someone who had suffered the same public humiliation as Mary’s mother – divorce. Now Mary had the opportunity to make amends and to give a very public display of unity between the new queen and her former half-mother.
In her coronation procession, Mary was driven through London in a carriage drawn by six horses. She wore a purple gown with ermine edges. A small “circlet of gold” was worn on her head and observers claim that it had so many valuable jewels in it that its value was inestimable and that she had to hold up her head with her hands, as the weight of the circlet was so great.
Mary’s carriage was accompanied by knights, bishops, lords, and immediately in front of her carriage was the Privy Council. Various senior nobles were in front of her carriage – The Lord Chancellor, the Earl of Oxford, and Knights of the Bath.
Immediately behind Mary’s carriage was another with Princess Elizabeth and Anne of Cleves in it. Behind this carriage rode a number of “gentlewomen”.
All along the route of the coronation procession, pageants were performed, including ones by performers from Genoa and Florence. A writer described a conduit at Cornhill as “running with wine”. In the city, the carriage containing Mary stopped and the Recorder of London read out a speech to her professing the loyalty of the people of London and he gave to Mary a gold thread purse that contained 1,000 gold coins. Near to St. Paul’s, an oration was read out to her in English and Latin.
From here Mary’s procession continued to Whitehall. On October 1st, Mary went by the Thames to the old Whitehall Palace. From here she went on foot to St. Peter’s Church where she was crowned and anointed by Stephen Gardner, the Bishop of Winchester. The whole coronation ceremony lasted until late afternoon.
That’s your Tudor Minute for today. Remember you can dive deeper into life in 16th century England through the Renaissance English History Podcast at englandcast.com.
Suggested links:
Tudor Summit: Melita Thomas on Mary Tudor
Episode 23 Mary Tudor (Mary I)
From the shop:
Celebrate Elizabeth I’s birthday month with stuff from the Celebrations of Elizabeth I Collection.
Featuring: Elizabeth I Pattern T-Shirt
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Heather Teysko is the creator, writer, and producer of The Renaissance English History Podcast, one of the longest running indie history podcasts, going since 2009. She's been writing about history online for over 25 years, since her first site on Colonial American history became number one in history on Yahoo in 1998. She writes books, created the original Tudor Planner (a yearly diary filled with Tudor history) and in 2019 created the world's first Tudorcon (you can "attend" online this year!). She has been passionate about Tudor England since she first read Alison Weir's The Six Wives of Henry VIII 20 years ago, and subsequently moved to London after college to spend her time immersed in Tudor history.