What is particular to the Coronation Rite of monarchs at Westminster was the actual presentation of the Bible. THE taking of the oath on sacred objects, which included the Bible, was fairly normal in Christendom. The oath, on the Bible, thus acquired a definite Protestant symbolism something which Queen Anne and the first three of her Hanoverian successors emphasised by accompanying it with an additional declaration against transubstantiation, the invocation of saints, and “the sacrifice of the Mass” as understood by “the Church of Rome”. Nevertheless, for those with eyes to see and ears to hear, it was obvious that a new prominence was being given to the Bible, since Edward VI then laid his hand on the Gospels, promising by “those holy Evangelists by me bodily touched upon this holy altar”. Edward VI may have been a Protestant, but the political situation meant that, in effect, he had a medieval coronation, which included making “a solemn oath upon the Sacrament laid upon the altar”. In the late medieval period, the Gospels were joined by the Blessed Sacrament and relics for the oath. The use of the Gospels made the point that this was not an empty ritual, but a sacred contract, administered by the Archbishop with the assistance of the clergy, in the presence of the lay magnates of the kingdom. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records how William the Conqueror made his oath on “Christ’s book”. WHEN taking the Coronation Oath, it has been customary for the monarch to lay a hand on the Gospels. The central rite of the Coronation is the moment of anointing, which has its roots in the scriptures of the Old Testament the lessons are drawn from scripture and the rite of holy communion is mandated by the Bible.īut there are two other ways in which the Bible publicly plays an important part in the coronation: it has been used since time immemorial for the taking of the oath and, from 1689, there has been a formal presentation of the Bible. IT IS an important truth that without the Bible there could be no Coronation.
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