Coronation of Henry IV, Anno Domini 1399

[Gandalfus]

THE CORONATION OF HENRY OF BOLINGBROKE
MAY, 1399.

Henry chose to hold his coronation midway through the year, in the summer. Twenty one days after Saint George's feast, the fourteenth day of May. Crowds had gathered in the thousands, prepared to witness the grand spectacle. Bolingbroke felt that this speedy coronation was necessary; many north of London probably did not even realise that there even was a new King. And the power of Kings lay in being seen.

After the vigil, at the Tower, the King rode in great procession to Westminster Palace. For the first time, ever, the King wouldn't be crowned alone. Mary rode alongside Bolingbroke, part the head of the snake that slowly trampled through London town. There, the people cheered, as was their wont, for the new monarch and his wife, their queen. Exeter, as Lord Chamberlain, would enrobe him, with one of the Queen's ladies performing a similar function in his name for Mary. They left the palace to walk to the Abbey, where York, not Canterbury, that seat still vacant, waited to grace Henry's brow with the Confessor's Crown that was, at the moment, being carried by the Duke of York. Buckingham carried the sword, as tradition demanded, and Courtenay the globe. Westmorland carried the King's train, the pallium held by the rest of the prominent Earls, including both FitzAlans, and Worcester. Both King and Queen were dressed in fabulous crimson robes, but with bare heads. The Abbey itself was as finely decorated as the King and Queen to be, with almost everything dappled in either royal heraldry of the King's livery badges.

FitzAlan was assisted in this double coronation by the Bishops of Durham, Ely, Winchester, Worcester, and Salisbury. Henry would sit upon saint Edward's chair, anointed, with Mary sat on a similarly designed throne adjacent to him. Spurs were fastened upon his feet, the Sword of State and the Globus Crucifer was handed to him, and then a heavy purple robe and mantle was slung over his shoulders. Then, Saint Edward's crown was placed atop Henry's brow; Bolingbroke looked down upon all gathered, stony faced, gaze impenetrable.

[General Brewster]

York did his duties with great pride, being included in a coronation ceremony was no small feat he thought.

[The Mad Skylord]

As the King sat upon his throne and had his spurs fastened, the Archbishop of York stood patiently, piously - looking regal in his ceremonial robes. The bloated Archbishop looked considerably lighter since the King had last seen him, though certain issues did continue....

With the King sitting in his throne, wearing his robes and his spurs and holding the Sword of State with the Globus Crucifer, York raised the Crown of the Confessor highand he placed the Crown upon the King's head. "In the name of God, I crown thee; Henry IV, King of England and France, Lord of Ireland and Duke of Aquitane." Moving over to the Queen, he crowned her in a similar fashion, while the choir began to sing Te Deum.

[Gandalfus]

All lords were then called forth before the two thrones, to pay homage to Bolingbroke and his Queen. By his side now stood the Prince of Wales, Harry of Monmouth; by Mary stood Thomas, now Duke of Clarence. They were both the first to swear allegiance with feudal oath, and surely the rest would follow suit.

[General Brewster]

York went first, as his status would deem it he figured.

"I swear homage to you my liege, I swear allegiance to thee and thy kin, I swear to fatefully execute thy will and serve you as the Duke of York, I Edward of Norwich, second duke of York swear my allegiance to thee and thy kin. May God be my witness."

Richard, the Earl of Cambridge waited for all the dukes to have sworn fealty before doing it himself. Shamlessly copying his brother's words.

[The Mad Skylord]

Shrewsbury stepped forwards and knelt to Henry. "I swear to you my homage and fealty, to be your man till the day of your death or of mine. I swear to uphold the legal right of your son, the Prince of Wales, as your heir."

Arundel stepped forwards and repeated a similar oath.

[Xion]

Devon, wearing an robe of gold and azure, ornately decorated with furs and precious stones, a heraldic badge depicting the quartered arms of the Earl of Devon, along with other extravagant clothing the usually austere earl shuns wearing in favor of simplistic clothing, rides to the coronation as part of the King's entourage before being handed the Globus Crucifier as required by his role to play in the coronation. With his usual stoic expression, the Lord High Steward carries out his required role in the coronation, having been taught the process of the coronation by his late uncle, the Archbishop.

"God save the King!"

As the lords are called up, Devon quietly waits for the dukes, both royal and non-royal to go forward and swear fealty, before the Lord High Steward would advance forward, as one of the first earls to swear fealty to the new monarch. Devon would bow, then go on one knee before the king and queen. "I, Edward de Courtenay, Earl of Devon, sixth Baron Okehampton, fifth Baron Plympton, Baron Barnstaple, Lord High Steward, Lord Captain of Calais, and Admiral of the West, do swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to his majesty, Henry, fourth of his name, his heirs and successors, according to law. So help me God."

[Lucius Malfoy]

The Duke of Buckingham came forth to kneel before the King. Until others present, Humphrey viewed the man who was now monarch as a father and an uncle. Thus, in a ways, he was not only bowing as vassal to monarch, but a son to his father and a nephew to his uncle. After him came forth the Earl of Northumberland, who had organized the coronation, as Lord Marshal, ensuring everything was in order and that the day was one that would be remembered. Harry Percy bows to the King, who, hopefully, one day, his daughter would come to love as a father as she was presently engaged to his second son, Thomas. Then came forth Henry Beaufort, Earl of Bedford, who knelt before the King. And lastly, the Earl of Pembroke, John Hastings, came forth and knelt before the King, swearing his oath and fealty, despite his personal allegiances to Mortimer and previous monarch.

All four men recited the same oath to the King, pledging loyalty and fealty to both monarch and crown prince.

[Gandalfus]

"God save the King."

"God save the King!"

Somerset and Kendall then both went up, one one after the other, after all the councillors; they'd whispered to each other the entire event, in some sort of secretive reunion. Thomas looked more happy to do so than John, though, who delivered his words with little more than monotone: swearing allegiance to both the King and his son, Wales, to protect his rights, and so forth.

[Mary The Quene]

Lord Westmorland stepped forward to King and Queen to swear his homage to the his sovereigns, as the king's brother in law he was one of the foremost peers to do so and he wouldn't tolerate any vipers before him. He bowed before King and Queen.

'Here do I swear fealty and service to England, and to the King and Queen of the realm, to speak and to be silent, to do and to let be, to come and to go, in need or plenty, in peace or war, in living or dying, from this hour henceforth, until my lord release me, or death takes me, or the world end. So say I, Ralph son of John, earl of Westmorland of the North'

[Oznerol]

The Duke of Surrey repeats the oath, nonchantically, hand in the chest. All the expected formulaic and empty words, taking the divinity as witness of his fealty and so on. Even if he took no pleasure of the act, he did it anyway, his face an emotionless mask. Exeter, who had participated on the very ceremony, personally atending and clothing the king, swore fealty before his nephew, as John Holland was created a duke before Thomas was; Exeter was quite fervent, profusely profesing his loyalty and fealty. Worcester came within the earls' ranks, as councillor he preceded some important and more ancient titles, and their holders, something he was fiercely proud of. The baron Rotherham came last, among several other barons, and nervously took the oath, feeling quite intimidated.

[Dirty Chai]

One of the last of the earls came forward: Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March and 6th Earl of Ulster, whose presence seemed to have gone unnoticed throughout most of the coronation, despite his distinct appearance and stature. He wore his colors, of blue and yellow, as livery, and stepped forward not slowly but somehow hesitantly as if the closer he got to the newly crowned king and queen, the more difficult it became.

There was a pause as he stopped those several feet away from them, on the very spot so many peers before him had knelt down and sworn oaths. He seemed to freeze on the spot as the crowd and lines of peers looked on with wary eyes.

When he started to go down onto his knee, something shattered within. Upon his knee, bowing his head, the Earl of March was tamed - humiliated he felt - submitting to Lancaster. He was the senior heir to this throne, before any of them.. And he had never wanted it.. or rather, perhaps he'd never realized he wanted it...

"I, Roger de Mortimer, son of Edmund de Mortimer and Philippa of Clarence," he said, saturnine, "do hereby give thee, Your Grace, due homage, and swear to protect thee, uphold thy rule, and provide thee with good counsel, "

It was the things you took for granted.

[Gandalfus]

Henry of course had to administer his own oath, having done so at the gates of Westminster Abbey. He looked down upon Mortimer from the Confessor's throne, unsmiling.

"I thank thee for thy pledge, Lord Mortimer. You'll defend my son's rights too, I suspect." Bolingbroke spoke very quietly, almost under his breath, so that Roger would have to strain to hear.

[Dirty Chai]

The Earl of March nodded hesitantly, his obsidian hair moving little and obstructing his emotionless expression only marginally.

"I do hereby swear also to uphold the rights of thine son, Henry, as heir to thine kingdom."

[Gandalfus]

Bolingbroke gave the faintest of nods in response, satisfied, then looked over to the next of those who were due to come and swear their fealty to the King, as if the act itself meant little. Within, however, he was deeply satisfied, with Mortimer's oath, inspired by the previously held petty feelings of envy. Perhaps he'd have to see his confessor, in due course.

[Barry Goldwater]

The Earl of Warwick was present in a swirl of greys and silvery whites (with precious little of Beauchamp red and gold to be seen), patiently awaiting his turn to do homage unto the new king of England. When it finally did arrive, the typically subdued earl swore it with a spark of genuine enthusiasm: Bolingbroke's ascent over Richard II was a sign that the Beauchamps' fortune, long forgotten, was finally starting to turn in his eyes. That the previous regime fell in such a rapid and bloodless coup to boot, with less violence than even a tourney of madmen and uncouth foreigners, was the icing on the cake.

"God save the King." Richard de Beauchamp declared at the end of his oath, not loudly, not cheerfully, but resolutely.