Читать книгу The Children's Story of Westminster Abbey онлайн

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In the church were many of the Saxon people of London, and mixed with them were a number of Normans. Outside, the Norman horsemen kept guard. When the people began to acclaim the King in the usual English fashion, the Norman soldiers did not understand what was going on, and thought it was a riot. Being afraid of what might happen, they set fire to some of the thatched buildings near the Abbey. The crowd rushed out in alarm, leaving William alone in the church, with the bishops and other clergy. A terrible tumult followed, and even the Conqueror trembled. The rest of the Coronation was hurriedly finished, Archbishop Aldred making William promise to defend the Saxons before he would put the crown on his head.

The Conqueror, like the Saxon Kings before him and the Norman Kings after him, used to appear in church on the great festivals wearing his crown.

From this time onward the Coronations always took place in Westminster Abbey. All the Regalia were kept in the Treasury at Westminster until the time of Henry VIII, and some of them until the time of the Commonwealth. It was part of the duty of the Abbot of Westminster to instruct and prepare the King for his Coronation. Further, it was settled by Lanfranc, the first Norman Archbishop of Canterbury, that the Archbishop of Canterbury, and not the Archbishop of York, was to have the right to crown the King.