Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-03-28
G0RONATI0N5 OMENS
UNLUCKY INCIDENTS AT THE
GROWING OF KINGS.
Fate of Harold, Who Succeeded Edward
the Confessors-, Stephens
Troubled Reign.
From the London Nail.

| From the London Mail.
what is the finest sight an the world?''
| said Horace Walpole. "a coronation. What
| do people most talk about? coronation.
| What is the thing most delightful to have
passed? A corona ton"
These words are an accurate indication of
| the close scrutiny which is cast by the pub
| lie eye upon this great historical event. 1t
| arouses, therefore, but little surprise to
| learn that even the tiniest incidents on this
| great occasion have been remarked and
| noted down by the curious; while value
| altogether disproportionate has been not in
| frequently assigned to them.
Unfortunate Sovereigns.
Naturally, this has proved to be the case
n a very marked manner at the coronation
of sovere!gns whose reigns have subse-
| quently been clouded with disaster and fail
ure or, perhaps, terminated in violent
and untimely end. There was the we'll
known scene at the deathbed of Edward
the ConfesSor, when Harold and his rela-
tives forced their way into the kings bed
| chamber and demanded the name of his
successor.
Eye know full WELL" replied the dying
monarch, that have bequeathed my king
dom to the Duke of Normandy. and are
there not those here whose oaths have been
given to secure his succession?'
Dissatisfied with this answer, the earl
| proceeded to repeat the question In still
more peremptory terms. Harold, take it,
if such be thy wish,'' was the reply, but
the gift will be thy ruin. Against the duke
and his baronage no power can avail
thee" A few more moments and the king
had passed away. Harold was hastily
crowned, and before that year had been
gathered to its rest he himself was lying, a
d-stained corpse, beneath a heap of
Saxon slain, upon Senlac field!
Another seventy years and the troubled
reign of Stephen commenced. From the
very first this reign was marked with
| events which augured i'll for the new SOW
ereign. The usual kiss of peace was for
gotten; the host bestowed at the celebra-
ton disappeared in some strange and I'M
accountable manner. The archbishop, Will
liam. de Corbeuil., who but a short time
previously had solemnly pledged his word
to uphold Queen Maude, and was now de-
liberately breaking it by browning the king,
died within the year; while the great off,
GERS of church and state who had taken
part in the ceremony all came to some
Wretched and miserable end.
A Badly Cooked Banquet.
The coronation of Edward II was a scene
of desperate confusion. Archbishop Winch
elsey was unable to officiate, owing to the
breakdown of health and his absence at
Rome. He accordingly named a commits
sion, consisting of three prelates, to act in
L
lock. bishop of Winchester was actually
intrusted by the wretched Edward with the
duty Of browning him, in spite of the fact
that he had deliberately played the traitor
to the great sovereign who had just passed
away.
Another incident which Jared upon the
affection felt by the nation for Edward
was the elevation Of Piers Gaveston, the
royal favorite who had been excluded from
the court, to a position superior to that of
of the great magnHtpS of the realm.
The arrangements WHICH Galveston had su-
perintended were of the crudest descrip-
ton, with the result that the .hallowing'
Of the king and queen was not completed
| until o'clock in the afternoon.
When at length the hungry and weary
mobiles sat down to the coronation banquet
the confusion displayed in the hall seemed
to rival that of the abbey, for the food was
eXecrably cooked and the whole thing was
i'll served to degree.
Richard III endeavored to throw dust in
the eyes of his subjects by great display
of magnifcence.
Still it was hardly to be expected that
the murderer of his own flesh and blood, so
to speak, should receive the warmest of
welcomes. For the first time it was felt
to be necessary to surround the king S per-
son with a body of 1900 gentlemen, who
were recruited from the north. The abbot
and other members of the convent met the
king, as usual. at the door Of the abbey,
but with heavy hearts. for, according to
| tradition, they sang TIE Deum with faint
courage" only.
Above all, the king received the rites of
amounting and browning at the hands of a
| perjured prelate, for barely three short
weeks back Archbishop Bourchier had
| pledged his ain body and SOUL for the
safety of the young Duke of York, now ly-
ing. with his brother, the victim of foul
| crime.
An Unlucky Chair.
The melancholy story of the two last
ma n he
here, nor yet the five brief unhappy years
| during which Queen Mary 1 ruled over the
| land. At her coronation terribly evil
| omen for the cause Of Professionalism was
| remarked. Mary. so runs the tale, abso-
| lutely declined to be seated in the same
| chair Is that which Edward VI had occu-
| pied. Hence, it became necessary to pro-
| vide substitute for this ancient throne
| of the land.
| Needless to say, the new one was care
| fully blessed and sanctified by his holiness
| the pope ere the queen ventured to trust
| herself upon it. Once more, it Is curious to
| note that during the act of homage the
mobiles one and all held both their hands
| together, in manner of lamenting."
The Stuart dynasty, too. displays boun-
tiful crop of evil omens. Take the corona
| ton of James II, for instance Even in
the preliminary preparations for that GER
emory a curious lack of reverence for past
traditions is shown, together with deter
| mination to ride rough-shod over popular
| opposition. To begin with, the actual ser
vice was mangled almost beyond recogni-
ton. The reason alleged was the necessity
| for curtailing the extreme length of the
proceedings.
In reality. the omission of the communion
| and other prominent features of the rite
| was entirely due to desire to refrain from
| outraging the papal sympathies of the
| king. Once more, the timehonored process
| sion from the Tower through the city to
| Westminster was abandoned on the ground
| of expense. This cause did not. however,
| dred thousand pounds on the adornment of
his queen