Coronations and the Festive Calendar in Medieval and Early Modern England

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In its artwork and design, the invitation to Charles III’s coronation on 6 May 2023 deliberately evokes the seasonal setting of the celebration. According to the official website of the royal family, the central motifs of flowers, foliage and Green Man are ‘symbolic of spring and rebirth, to celebrate the new reign’. Yet, while the occasion of modern coronations is an important factor in practical and symbolic terms, it was of central significance to medieval and early modern monarchs throughout Europe. We can see this from as early as Charlemagne’s coronation as Holy Roman Emperor on Christmas Day, 800 AD. But English kings and queens (and their advisors) were particularly keen to pair occasions of political priority with ones of liturgical and popular resonance.

The Coronation of Edward the Confessor on Easter Sunday 1043 (Chetham MS 6712 Flores Historiarum c. 1250)

The Liber Regalis, compiled in the late fourteenth century, specified that English monarchs must be crowned ‘always on a Sunday or some Holy-day’. Looking at the long-term history of the coronation ceremony suggests that this rule merely codified ancient custom. As the table below shows, from Edward the Confessor’s ceremony on Easter Sunday in 1043, through to Anne’s on St. George’s Day in 1702, forty-eight out of fifty coronations took place on a Sunday or Holy Day.

Table of English Coronation Dates. Sunday or Holy Days in bold. Coronations not following this tradition (2 total) are shown in blue. Dates collected from the ODNB.

MonarchConsortDateWeek DayFeast Day, Holy Day, Saint’s Day
Edward the Confessor3 April 1043SundayEaster
Harold Godwinson6 January 1066Epiphany
William I25 December 1066MondayChristmas
Matilda of Flanders11 May 1068SundayPentecost
William II26 September 1087Sunday
Henry I5 August 1100SundayOswald
Matilda of Scotland11 November 1100SundayMartin
Adeliza of Louvain25 January 1121TuesdayConversion of Paul
Stephen26 December 1135ThursdayStephen
Matilda of Boulogne22 March 1136SundayEaster
Henry IIEleanor of Aquitaine19 December 1154Sunday
Henry the Young King14 June 1170Sunday
Margaret of France27 August 1172Sunday
Richard I3 September 1189Sunday
Berengaria of Navarre12 May 1191Sunday
John27 May 1199ThursdayAscension
Isabella of Angoulême8 October 1200Sunday
Henry III (1st)28 October 1216FridaySimon and Jude
Henry III (2nd)17 May 1220SundayPentecost
Eleanor of Provence20 January 1236SundayFabian and Sebastian
Edward IEleanor of Castile19 August 1274Sunday
Edward IIIsabella of France25 February 1308SundayQuinquagesima (Shrove Sunday)
Edward III1 February 1327SundayVigil of Purification of Mary
Philippa of Hainault25 February 1330Sunday
Richard II16 July 1377Thursday
Anne of Bohemia22 January 1383ThursdayVincent
Isabella of Valois7 January 1397Sunday
Henry IV13 October 1399MondayTranslation of Edward the Confessor
Joanna of Navarre27 February 1403SundayQuinquagesima (Shrove Sunday)
Henry V9 April 1413SundayPassion Sunday
Catherine of Valois23 February 1421Sunday
Henry VI6 November 1429SundayLeonard
Margaret of Anjou30 May 1445Sunday
Henry VI Readeption13 October 1470SaturdayTranslation of Edward the Confessor
Edward IV28 June 1461Sunday
Elizabeth Woodville26 May 1465Sunday
Richard IIIAnne Neville6 July 1483Sunday
Henry VII30 October 1485Sunday
Elizabeth of York25 November 1487SundayCatherine
Henry VIIICatherine of Aragon24 June 1509SundayJohn the Baptist (Midsummer)
Anne Boleyn1 June 1533SundayPentecost
Edward VI20 February 1547SundayQuinquagesima (Shrove Sunday)
Mary I1 October 1553Sunday
Elizabeth I15 January 1559Sunday
James IAnne of Denmark25 July 1604MondayJames
Charles2 February 1626ThursdayPurification of Mary (Candlemas)
Charles II23 April 1661TuesdayGeorge
James IIMary of Modena23 April 1685ThursdayGeorge
William III and and Mary II11 April 1689Thursday
Anne23 April 1702ThursdayGeorge

Picking the right festive occasion for a coronation was an enduring matter of strategy, symbolism and affective piety. While we are rarely privy to the planning and decision making process behind medieval and early modern coronations, this is clearly evident in some of the dates chosen over nearly seven centuries. At one end, William the Conqueror followed in Charlemagne’s footsteps, cementing his newly won rule with a coronation on Christmas Day 1066. At the other, late Stuart monarchs Charles II, James II and Anne all staged their English coronations on the feast day of England’s patron saint, George – a mini-tradition which came to an end, ironically, with Georgian rule.

The custom existed, though was less strong, in Scotland as well. James IV, for example, was crowned on Midsummer’s Day 1488, which was also the anniversary of the great Scottish victory over the English at Bannockburn 1314. James IV’s eventual brother-in-law Henry VIII would also be crowned on Midsummer (1509). It’s not difficult to see the appeal of this feast of bonfires and Summer Lords to two youthful Renaissance princes.

The careful selection of an ideal festive occasion seems to have obtained under various political circumstances. Stephen (26 December 1135) and James I (25 July 1604) were both crowned on the feast days of their respective saintly namesakes. Yet James had over a year to plan his spectacle on St James’ Day, after acceding to the throne in March 1603 without much overt challenge. Stephen, on the other hand, seized the throne on 22 December during a dynastic crisis. He was crowned only four days later, but on a sacred occasion which he may have hoped lent intercessory and legitimizing value.

Similar tactics can be spied at other moments of dynastic unrest. When Henry IV was crowned only days after usurping the throne from Richard II, the coronation took place on the Translation of Edward the Confessor (13 October 1399). In the words of historian Chris Given-Wilson, the new king was ‘appropriating the saint who had become the talisman of English monarchy’, and one especially important to Richard II. Not for nothing, the day also marked the anniversary of Henry’s exile by Richard one year previously. During the height of the Wars of the Roses, in October 1470, the Kingmaker Earl of Warwick would likewise choose the Translation of Edward the Confessor as the occasion for a hasty re-crowning of Henry VI.

While an ideal sacred and festive occasion might lend legitimacy to a new reign, it was of course not always the top priority of a new monarch and their advisors. This was particularly true during times of domestic instability, or when a child acceded to the throne. Both scenarios were in play when nine-year-old Henry III was crowned on 28 October 1216, amid the chaos of the First Barons’ War and only nine days after the death of his father John. Yet due to the slapdash nature of the ceremony, another coronation was held in the more stable climate of 1220, this time on one of the chief celebrations of the Christian year: Pentecost.

Pentecost or Whitsunday was a consistently popular occasion for coronations. Three Whitsun coronations took place over the centuries (1068, 1220, 1533), equalled in prevalence only by St George’s Day (1661, 1685, 1702), and Shrove Sunday (1308, 1403, 1547). Shrove Sunday, the Sunday before Shrove Tuesday (or Carnival) was a popular occasion for coronations elsewhere in Europe as well. Henry III of France, for example, was crowned not once but twice on Shrove Sunday within the span of two years (1574-5), first as the elected king of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and then as king of France. Carnival speaks to the fact that coronations were not just sacred rituals, but also public and popular spectacles. When the boy-king Edward VI was crowned on Shrove Sunday 1547, the celebrations coincided with the public merriness of Shrovetide (a festival especially associated with childhood); masques, plays and jousts extended onto Shrove Monday and Tuesday.

Edward VI’s procession through London on Shrove Saturday before his coronation on Shrove Sunday 20 February 1547. Engraved from a drawing by S. H. Grimm of a contemporary painting at Cowdray, Sussex. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Certain feast days had clear symbolic or practical advantages, but sacred days (whether Sundays or Holy Days) were also thought by many to hold innate ritual power during this period. Perhaps the most compelling evidence of this comes from the reign of King John. The regnal years of English monarchs were usually calculated from the date of their accession (when they came to the throne) rather than their coronation. But due to dynastic dispute, John’s reign did not begin until his crowning on Thursday 27 May 1199, the Feast of the Ascension. Suggestive of the power of sacred time, it was the feast day, rather than the calendar date of 27 May, which marked the beginning of each new regnal year. And since Ascension was a moveable feast falling forty days after Easter, this meant each year varied in length according to when the holy day occurred. In this special case, the festive occasion of a coronation literally warped time.

It is difficult to say how long this metaphysical outlook on sacred or ritual time maintained, but it is clear that English monarchs continued to plan coronations in conference with festivals well into the early modern period. The time-honoured tradition was finally broken when the Hanoverians came to the throne. And though occasion and season have remained relevant, British coronations of the last three centuries have made far less use of the ritual, symbolic and social power available in the festive calendar.

Some Sources on the History of English Coronations

L. G. W. Legg (ed.), English Coronation Records (London: Archibald Constable & Co., 1901).

P. E. Schramm, A History of the English Coronation, trans. L. G. W. Legg (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1937)

A. Hunt, The Drama of Coronation Medieval Ceremony in Early Modern England (Cambridge: CUP, 2008).

R. Strong, Coronation: A History of the British Monarchy (Harper Collins, 2022).

See also http://kingscoronation.com/ for blog posts describing individual coronations.

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