. Scrivelsby, the home of the champions. With some account of the Marmion and Dymoke families. Illustrated . Between William the Conqueror andRichard II. were ten sovereigns, not including the daughterof Henry I. who exercised royal power at intervals, duringthe troubled reign of Stephen. But although it has been saidthat at the coronation of Edward HI. the immediate pre-decessor of Richard H., Sir Freville, knight,performed the office of Champion as owner of the Castle ofTamworth,* a confusion has probably been made betweenSir Alexanders claim and the of the duties which
. Scrivelsby, the home of the champions. With some account of the Marmion and Dymoke families. Illustrated . Between William the Conqueror andRichard II. were ten sovereigns, not including the daughterof Henry I. who exercised royal power at intervals, duringthe troubled reign of Stephen. But although it has been saidthat at the coronation of Edward HI. the immediate pre-decessor of Richard H., Sir Freville, knight,performed the office of Champion as owner of the Castle ofTamworth,* a confusion has probably been made betweenSir Alexanders claim and the of the duties whichthe claim involved. There is, however, no well authenticatedaccount of an armed Champion taking part in a coronationbefore the time of Richard H., although, as will be presentlyshewn, from the time of William the Conqueror there hadalways been a Champion in England, albeit a Championfaineant. It is by no means easy to give a satisfactory explanationof the absence of this official from so many of the earlycoronations, and to account also for the sudden and hotly Collins Peerage. 5th Ed., Vol. d, p. a ~ ? Si O 2I- h ! CORONATION CEREMONY. 25 contested claim to act as Champion that was made in 1377 bvthe heads of two great families, each claiming the right asbeing descended from the original champion, the great Normanbaron, Marmion, who is better known bv his court title,Robert Dispensator.* No difficulty, indeed, need be felt inrightly gauging the motives underlying the claims of the rivalfamilies : but the task of accounting for the non-appearance ofa Champion at so manv of the earlv coronations is muchmore difficult. A plausible explanation, however, may besafely advanced. It is quite possible that after William the Conqueror, thecircumstances under which his immediate successors came tothe throne made it desirable that their coronation should beconducted as quietlv and unostentatiously as possible, andconsequently the most striking part of the pageant wasomitted. In this
Size: 880px × 2841px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookpubl, booksubjectcoronations
