The coronation of Mary I as Queen of England and Ireland took place at Westminster Abbey, London, on Sunday 1 October 1553. This was the first coronation of a queen regnant in England, a female ruler in her own right. The ceremony was therefore transformed. Ritual and costume were interlinked. Contemporary records insist the proceedings were performed "according to the precedents", but mostly these were provisions made previously for queens consort.
Proclamation on 19 July
Mary I was proclaimed queen on 19 July 1553 by William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, setting aside the claims of Lady Jane Grey, the crown was "most rightfully and lawfully" hers. The proclamation was reported to have been well-received, and an Italian observer compared the shouts and applause to a volcano erupting.
The Italian also wrote that in nearby streets, Sir John York, who was riding on horseback, was confused by the uproar, and shouted that rumours were untrue. York had to be rescued from the crowd by the Sheriff, William Garrett or Garrard. In fact, York was placed in the Sheriff's custody as a supporter of Lady Jane Grey.
In the Tower of London, the Duke of Suffolk went to the hall used by Lady Jane Grey and removed the canopy or cloth of state that conferred royal status on his daughter. She was said to have gladly acknowledged Mary's rights to the crown. A letter or order signed by Henry Nevill and others was sent to Nicholas Pelham and all the gentlemen of Sussex declaring Mary to be queen and denouncing Lady Jane Grey as "a quene of new and pretie invencion".
The Oration gratulatory
Richard Taverner wrote an Oration gratulatory made upon the joyfull proclayming of the most noble Princes Quene Mary Quene of Englande, a pamphlet published by John Day describing the legitimacy of Mary's succession. Writers addressed the challenges to rule that Mary had overcome. Thomas Watertoune published a ballad, An Invective against Treason, and a ballad by Leonard Stopes compared her bloodless struggle to the biblical stories of Judith and Holofernes and Esther and Haman.
There was no English publication describing the coronation ceremony. A narrative description of the coronation was published in Italian and Spanish versions. These texts have many similarities with descriptions produced by diplomats. A Spanish narrative also gave an estimated cost of all the coronation events at 100,000 ducats.
Religious issues
Mary intended to reverse the Reformation in England and restore the country to Catholicism, however the legal instruments necessary could only be enacted through Parliament, which by tradition, could not meet until after a coronation, which would be theoretically at least, a Protestant service. The Archbishop of Canterbury would usually conduct the coronation service, but besides being the leading Protestant reformer, was imprisoned in the Tower of London for sedition because of his role in promoting Lady Jane Grey; therefore the conservative Bishop of Winchester, Stephen Gardiner, was released from prison to perform the ceremony. Mary wrote to her cousin, Cardinal Reginald Pole in Rome, requesting absolution for herself and her fellow Catholics who took part in the service, and she sent to the Bishop of Arras for new holy oils. Mary also prepared a form of words to add to the coronation oath in case that obliged her to support Protestantism, however the actual text of the oath she took is not known.
Plays and drama at the coronation
The revels accounts include fabric for costumes for a play to be performed during Mary's coronation feasts, which included a good and a bad angel with a personification of the Genus Humanum. The troubles of the human race, Scarcity, Sickness, Feebleness and Deformity, were countered by Reason, Plenty, Verity, Self-Love, and Care. These were probably understood as virtues residing in Mary's court and realm. No text of this morality play has yet been identified. Mary made a warrant for the fabrics to Edward Waldegrave, Master of the Royal Wardrobe. His wife Frances dressed Mary after her anointing as queen.
There is some doubt as to whether the Genus Humanum play was performed at the coronation. Mary gave Thomas Cawarden a warrant for performing a play at the coronation on 26 September, while she was at St James' Palace. The accounts for making the costumes include a note that the performance was deferred until Christmas.
An anonymously authored play, Respublica, written for performance at Christmas presented some of issues in 1553 relating to Mary's accession and her relationship with Parliament. Respublica has sometimes been attributed to Nicholas Udall, but its authorship and connection to court revels is disputed. In the play, Mary is honoured as "Verity, the daughter of sage old Father Time". This echoes a motto used by Mary, Veritas Filia Temporis. The idea was of a "Truth" in opposition to Protestant reformers.
Royal Entry to London
Mary had been at Kenninghall in Norfolk and Framlingham in Suffolk. At Ipswich children presented her with a golden heart. She met her sister Princess Elizabeth at Wanstead. Elizabeth had arrived in London on 29 August, with a large and armed household and retinue.
Mary rode into London on 3 August 1553, in procession. On this occasion, according to Estienne Perlin, she wore violet velvet, "velours violet". Wriothesley says she changed her clothes in a house in Whitechapel, to a rich apparel of "purple velvet French fashion, with sleeves of the same, her kirtle of purple satin all thick set with goldsmith work and great pearl, with her foresleeves of the same set with rich stones". The ambassador Simon Renard described this costume similarly, as violet velvet, with skirts and sleeves embroidered with gold. She was followed by as many as 180 ladies and gentlemen. The French ambassador, Antoine de Noailles, avoided attending the Entry. According to Renard, Noailles claimed to be busy deciphering letters in his lodging at the Charterhouse. Renard wrote that Noailles was spotted observing some of the proceedings from a window, and he was able to provide a description of the procession.
On this occasion, she entered the city at Aldgate. Renard describes around 100 poor children dressed in blue as being at the city gate. One of them asked the Queen to take care of them. The incident appears in the chronicle of Edmund Howes and Charles Wriothesley, who mention a pageant at St Botolph's Aldgate involving the children of Christ's Hospital, a charity school founded by Protestants following the dissolution of the monasteries, arranged on a specially built stage. John Howes, writing in 1582, relates that when the Queen "came near unto them she cast her eye another way, and never stayed nor gave any countenance to them". However, Robert Persons wrote that Mary listened appreciatively to an oration made by the young Edmund Campion.
The funeral of Edward VI took place on 8 August at Westminster Abbey. Mary would make a formal Royal Entry or procession through the city on 30 September as a preliminary to her coronation. She gave Elizabeth a number of jewels on 23 September at St James's Palace, perhaps to wear on the day. Simon Renard reported that guns and arrows were being stockpiled in houses in London in case of any attempts against Mary's life.
Coronation eve
Mary left St James' Palace by barge for the Tower of London on 28 September 1553. She left with Elizabeth after dinner, or at 3 o'clock in order to "shoot" London Bridge at high tide. As Mary passed down the Thames, she was followed by boats trimmed with streamers and banners which carried the Mayor, Thomas White, and the Aldermen. Trumpets sounded, and minstrels and waits sang to the playing of shawms and regals. The garrison of the Tower fired a gun salute as she approached. After she alighted, and all was quiet, Mary turned and thanked the Mayor and aldermen in a loud voice.
The wardrobe accounts include sumptuous costume for Mary and her ladies for the reception on the "eve" of the coronation. Mary's robe and mantle were of gold and silver tissue. The phrase refers to a ceremony before the coronation when the Knights of the Bath made their preparations and bathed, which took place "according to the old usage of England" at the Tower of London on 29 September. In the morning, new knights were dubbed in the queen's chamber of presence by the Earl of Arundel, steward of the queen's household. He was given Mary's commission to make knights on this occasion, and to dub knight batchelors on 2 October at Westminster Palace.
Edward VI's coronation accounts also include payments for a robe and mantle to wear at the creation of the Knights of the Bath. The costume historian Janet Arnold proposed that Mary's tissue clothes were re-used by Elizabeth I at her coronation, after alterations, and may be depicted in a coronation portrait of Elizabeth.
The coronation entry
Mary made her royal entry on 30 September in the afternoon. She came from the Tower in a chariot or litter to the Palace of Westminster. The windows of houses along the route were decorated with tapestry or cloth of gold and cloth of silver, and the roads were strewn with grass and flowers. There are several accounts of the procession, and these vary in detail, possibly confusing the colour of fabrics used for the caparisons of horses and to drape the vehicles with the colours of costume worn by the participants. Robert Wingfield wrote that the number of her female attendants was uncountable and a novel sight, though the procession accorded to ancient custom.
First on the route were heraldic officers, knights, the justiciary, the secretaries, the treasurer of the household Thomas Cheney, lords and barons, the ambassadors and their escorts, representatives of the Steelyard, the bishops, and the Mayor of London. The Earl of Arundel carried the sword, flanked by the Duke of Norfolk and the Earl Marshal.
Mary wore a mantle and kirtle of cloth of gold, furred with miniver, or, according to the account of Antonio de Guarás, her litter was furbished with cloth of gold, and she was mantled in cloth of silver. On her head was a gold circlet, a kind of crown, set with precious stones and pearls, with a jewelled caul or veil made of tinsel fabric. She also wore this newly-made circlet to the coronation. Some chronicle accounts mention the weight of the circlet and caul, and that Mary had sometimes to support it with her hand. These comments may imply misogynistic criticism of this unprecedented female coronation.
Following behind was a procession, including the women of her household. Princess Elizabeth and Anne of Cleves followed in another litter or "chariot", with a covering "all of coth of silver all white". According to the French ambassador Antoine de Noailles and other diplomats, Elizabeth and Anne were dressed in cloth of silver with robes or gowns in the French fashion. Elizabeth's silver costume, although more elaborate than those of the women of the household, would have marked her status as lower than her elder sister's costume.
Four ladies in waiting rode on horseback beside the queen's litter, as the "ladies of Estate". These were the Duchess of Norfolk, the Marchioness of Exeter, the Marchioness of Winchester, and the Countess of Arundel. The women of the household followed, riding in three carriages called "chariots" or on horseback. Although English and Spanish accounts say the women were apparelled with crimson velvet, and their horses "trapped" with the same fabric, Noailles wrote that the ladies and women of the household were all dressed in furred silver and gold gowns, also in the French fashion, and their horse mantles, couvertes, were of red cramoisy velvet. The wardrobe account of Elizabeth I's coronation details similar fabrics for the chariots, and includes equivalent lengths of crimson velvet bought for the women's saddles.
The second chariot carried four "ladies of Honour"; Dorothy, the "old" Countess of Oxford, the Countess of Oxford; the Countess of Shrewsbury; and the Countess of Derby. The third chariot carried six ladies in waiting; Lady Stourton, Lady Lumley, Lady Wentworth, Lady Rich, Lady Paget, and Lady Mordaunt, followed by five ladies on horseback. Behind this group followed ten ladies and gentlewomen riding on horseback including Cecily, Lady Mansel, Elizabeth Kempe, Susan Clarencieux, Mary Finch, and "Mrs Sturley" (Frideswide Strelley).