. Henry II . here rejoined the queen, who had given birthon 8th September to a third son, Richard. Theremainder of the autumn was no doubt spent inhunting, but at the end of the year the court movednorthwards to Lincoln, where Christmas was local tradition, or superstition, forbade the wearingof the royal crown within the city walls. Stephen,it is true, had defied this tradition in 1146, but thefortunes of Stephen were not such as to make hisaction an encouraging precedent, and Henry, pre-ferring to be on the safe side, caused the ceremonialof coronation to take place in the church of S
. Henry II . here rejoined the queen, who had given birthon 8th September to a third son, Richard. Theremainder of the autumn was no doubt spent inhunting, but at the end of the year the court movednorthwards to Lincoln, where Christmas was local tradition, or superstition, forbade the wearingof the royal crown within the city walls. Stephen,it is true, had defied this tradition in 1146, but thefortunes of Stephen were not such as to make hisaction an encouraging precedent, and Henry, pre-ferring to be on the safe side, caused the ceremonialof coronation to take place in the church of St. Maryof Wigford outside the walls. From Lincoln theking moved on, at the beginning of 1158, to Carlisleto meet Malcolm of Scotland. The result of themeeting was unsatisfactory, and Henry abandonedhis original intention of bestowing upon the youngking that honour of knighthood which he had him-self once received at the hands of Malcolms pre-decessor, David. Easter in that year fell on 20th April, when the 40. Map illustrating the -^Campaigns of Henry II in FRANCE (The portion of France underHenrys sovereignty is tinted.) 1158] FOREIGN AFFAIRS 41 court was at Worcester, and Henry and Eleanorcelebrated the festival by observing, for the lasttime, the elaborate ritual of coronation. When theservice was over they laid their crowns upon thealtar and vowed to wear them no more. There wouldseem to have been no deeper reason for this renuncia-tion than Henrys dislike of ceremony. To the rest-less king, who never sat except on the saddle andwho whispered and scribbled notes to relieve theboredom of Mass, the elaborate ceremonial of thecrown-wearing must have been distasteful and weari-some. The outward pomp and circumstance ofroyalty were nothing to the man whose rule extendedfrom the Pennines to the Pyrenees, and the glitterof a crown was no enhancement to the clearest headin Europe, throbbing full with political problems,national and international. The kings of Wales andScotland had
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookidcu3192402791, bookyear1914
