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.Sarah Duncan, Mary I: Gender, Power, and Ceremony in the Reign of England’s First Queen (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012), p. 21: Anna Whitelock, Mary Tudor: England's First Queen (Bloomsbury, 2010), p. 191: Alice Hunt, The Drama of Coronation: Medieval Ceremony in Early Modern England (Cambridge, 2008), p. 52. 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.Judith M. Richards, 'Mary Tudor as 'Sole Quene'?: Gendering Tudor Monarchy', The Historical Journal, 40:4 (December 1997), p. 900.
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,Alice Hunt, 'The Monarchical Republic of Mary I', The Historical Journal, 52:3 (September 2009), pp. 560–561.John Gough Nichols, Chronicle of the Grey Friars of London (London: Camden Society, 1852), p. 80. the crown was "most rightfully and lawfully" hers.Paulina Kewes, 'The 1553 Succession Crisis Reconsidered', Historical Research, 90 (2017), p. 478. The proclamation was reported to have been well-received, and an Italian observer compared the shouts and applause to a volcano erupting.Sydney Anglo, Spectacle Pageantry, and Early Tudor Policy (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1969), p. 318: Royall Tyler, Calendar State Papers Spain 1553, 11 (London, 1916), pp. 104, 108.
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.Royall Tyler, Calendar State Papers Spain 1553, 11 (London, 1916), p. 108: Charles Bremont, 'Les Révolutions D'Angleterre en 1553 et 1554 racontées par un fourrier de L'Empereur Charles-Quint', Revue Historique, 110:1 (1912), p. 66.
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.Royall Tyler, Calendar State Papers Spain 1553, 11 (London, 1916), p. 113. 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".Jessica S. Hower, 'Her Most Noble Progenitours', Valerie Schutte & Jessica S. Hower, Mid Tudor Queenship and Memory: The Making and Re-making of Lady Jane Grey and Mary I (Palgrave Macmillan, 2023), p. 51.
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.Alice Hunt, The Drama of Coronation: Medieval Ceremony in Early Modern England (Cambridge, 2008), pp. 114, 120. 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.Aidan Norrie, 'What Mary did first', Valerie Schutte & Jessica S. Hower, Mary I in Writing: Letters, Literature, and Representation (Springer, 2022), pp. 114–115.
There was no English publication describing the coronation ceremony.Alexander Samson, Mary and Philip (Manchester, 2020), pp. 12, 37. A narrative description of the coronation was published in Italian and Spanish versions. These texts have many similarities with descriptions produced by diplomats.Alice Hunt, The Drama of Coronation: Medieval Ceremony in Early Modern England (Cambridge, 2008), p. 204 fn.37: Richard Garnett, The Accession of Queen Mary: Being the Contemporary Narrative of Antonio de Guaras (London, 1892). A Spanish narrative also gave an estimated cost of all the coronation events at 100,000 ducats.Alexander Samson, Mary and Philip (Manchester, 2020), pp. 42–43.
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.Strong 2005, pp. 205-206
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.Greg Walker, The Politics of Performance in Early Renaissance Drama (Cambridge, 1998), p. 169. The troubles of the human race, Scarcity, Sickness, Feebleness and Deformity, were countered by Reason, Plenty, Verity, Self-Love, and Care.Sydney Anglo, Spectacle, Pageantry and Early Tudor Policy (Oxford, 1969), pp. 340–341. These were probably understood as virtues residing in Mary's court and realm. No text of this morality play has yet been identified.Kevin M. Sharpe, Selling the Tudor Monarchy: Authority and Image in Sixteenth-century England (Yale, 2009), p. 287. 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.Meg Twycross, 'The Widow and Nemesis: Costuming Two Allegorical Figures in a Play for Queen Mary Tudor', The Yearbook of English Studies, 43 (2013), pp. 263, 272–273: Albert Feuillerat, Documents relating to the revels at court in the time of King Edward VI and Queen Mary (Louvain, 1914), pp. 289–290
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.Sarah Carpenter, 'Respublica', Thomas Betteridge & Greg Walker, The Oxford Handbook of Tudor Drama (Oxford, 2012), p. 519: Alfred Kempe, Loseley Manuscripts (London, 1836), pp. 61–62: Albert Feuillerat, Documents relating to the revels at court in the time of King Edward VI and Queen Mary (Louvain, 1914), pp. 149–151.
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.Alice Hunt, 'Legitimacy, Ceremony and Drama: Mary Tudor’s Coronation and Respublica', Peter Happé & Wim Hüsken, Interludes and Early Modern Society (Brill, 2007), pp. 331–351. Respublica has sometimes been attributed to Nicholas Udall, but its authorship and connection to court revels is disputed.Alice Hunt, 'The Monarchical Republic of Mary I', The Historical Journal, 52:3 (September 2009), pp. 567–571. 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.Paulina Kewes, 'Godly Queens: The Royal Iconographies of Mary and Elizabeth', Tudor Queenship (Palgrave Macmillan, 2010), p. 55.
Royal Entry to London
Mary had been at Kenninghall in Norfolk and Framlingham in Suffolk. At Ipswich children presented her with a golden heart.Paulina Kewes, 'Godly Queens: The Royal Iconographies of Mary and Elizabeth', Alice Hunt & Anna Whitelock, Tudor Queenship (Palgrave Macmillan, 2010), p. 49. She met her sister Princess Elizabeth at Wanstead.Anna Whitelock & Diarmaid MacCulloch, 'Princess Mary's Household and the Succession Crisis, July 1553', The Historical Journal, 50:2 (June 2007), pp. 265–287. Elizabeth had arrived in London on 29 August, with a large and armed household and retinue.Jeri L. McIntosh, From Heads of Household to Heads of State (New York: Columbia University Press, 2009), pp. 178–180, 189.
Mary rode into London on 3 August 1553, in procession.Judith M. Richards, 'Mary Tudor as Sole Quene?: Gendering Tudor Monarchy', The Historical Journal, 40:4 (December 1997), pp. 898–899. On this occasion, according to Estienne Perlin, she wore violet velvet, "velours violet".Jessica Hower, Tudor Empire: The Making of Early Modern Britain and the British Atlantic (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020), p. 224: Étienne Perlin, Description des Royaulmes d'Angleterre et d'Escosse (Paris, 1558), p. 15v. 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".Maria Hayward, 'Dressed to Impress', Tudor Queenship (Palgrave Macmillan, 2010), p. 82: William Douglas Hamilton, A Chronicle of England During the Reigns of the Tudors, vol. 2 (London, 1877), pp. 93–95 The ambassador Simon Renard described this costume similarly, as violet velvet, with skirts and sleeves embroidered with gold.Calendar State Papers, Spain, p. 151. She was followed by as many as 180 ladies and gentlemen.David Loades, Mary Tudor: A Life (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1989), p. 189. 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.E. Harris Harbison, Rival Ambassadors at the Court of Queen Mary (Princeton, 1940), p. 65: Royall Tyler, Calendar State Papers Spain, 1553 (London, 1916), pp. 152, 173.