Sequitur benedictio cujuscumque regalis ornamenti. Deus, Rex regum et Dominus dominantium, per quem reges regnant, et legum conditores jura decernunt, dignare propitius benedicere hoc regale ornamentum, et præsta ut famulus tuus rex noster, qui illud portaturus est, ornamento bonorum morum et sanctarum actionum in conspectu tuo fulgeat, et post temporalem vitam, æternam gloriam, quæ tempus non habet, sine fine possideat. Per Dominum.38 Benedictio ensis. Exaudi, quæsumus Domine, preces nostras, et hunc ensem, quo famulus tuus .N. se circumcingi desiderat, majestatis tuæ dextera bene dicere et sanctificare dignare, quatenus defensio ac protectio possit esse ecclesiarum, viduarum, orphanorum, omniumque Deo servientium, contra sævitiam paganorum, aliisque insidiantibus sit pavor, terror, et formido. Per Dominum nostrum. Postea ab episcopo ensem accipiat, et cum ense totum cingimus: in collo est namque vox, ideoque per collum loquendi usus exprimitur. Per amictum intelligimus custodiam vocis." Lib. 2. cap. 17. I would again refer the student, who wishes to know more of these mystical meanings, to Durandus, lib. 3. cap. 2: where he will find many of them, not omitting those which were founded, if we may use such a term, upon the strings also of the amice. But he will obtain much more solid information from Bona, Rer. Lit. lib. 1. cap. 24. with Sala's notes on the place: Saussajus, Panopl. Sacerdotalis. pars. 1. and Georgius. de Lit. Rom. Pontif. tom. 1. 38" Dictis itaque ornamentis benedictis, præfatus rex a Westm. abbate vel alio loco ipsius, ut præhabitum est, induetur vestimentis. Et prius induetur super prædictum colobium tunica longa, et talari intexta magnis imaginibus aureis ante et retro, simul caligis, sandariis, et calcaribus tibiis ejus et pedibus coaptatis. Tunc sequetur benedictio ensis. 'Exaudi,' etc." Lib. Regalis, and the margin of the Pontifical. 39 The Anglo Saxon order of regnum sibi fideliter ad regendum secundum subscripta verba sciat esse commendatum, dicente metropolitano: Accipe gladium per manus episcoporum, licet indignas, vice tamen et auctoritate sanctorum apostolorum consecratas, tibi regaliter impositum, nostræque benedictionis officio in defensionem sanctæ Dei ecclesiæ divinitus ordinatum: et esto memor de quo psalmista prophetavit dicens, Accingere gladio tuo super femur tuum, potentissime, ut per eundem, vim æquitatis exerceas, molem iniquitatis potenter destruas, et sanctam Dei ecclesiam ejusque fideles propugnando protegas, nec minus sub fide falsos quam Christiani nominis hostes execreris et destruas, viduas et pupillos clementer adjuves, ac defendas, desolata restaures, restaurata conserves, ulciscaris injusta, confirmes bene K. Ethelred, immediately succeed- "Oratio post datum gladium. Deus, qui providentia tua cœlestia simul et terrena moderaris, pro pitiare Christianissimo regi nostro, ut omnis hostium suorum fortitudo, virtute gladii spiritualis, frangatur, ac te pro illo pugnante penitus conteratur. Per. "Hic coronetur Rex. etc." See below. Without specifying all the variations, of which the chief is the omission of the antiphon, " Confortare," it will be sufficient to state here, that from hence, to the benediction" Sta et retine," with which the earlier Forms conclude, all the other MSS. follow the order and prayers of the text: except that one of them only, viz. that of K. Edward II., gives the benediction of the ring, and that *The first part of this prayer, within brackets, is supplied from the Cotton MS. Tiberius B. viij. disposita, quatenus hæc in agendo, virtutum triumpho gloriosus, justitiæque cultor egregius, cum mundi Salvatore, cujus typum geris in nomine, sine fine merearis regnare. Qui cum Patre. 40 Accinetus autem ense, similiter armillas" accipiat, dicente metropolitano vel episcopo: the Dublin MS. omits also the benediction of the crown. The Dublin MS. is moreover imperfect, ending with the delivery of the sceptre. 40 Et mox rex accinctus surgit, et eximit ensem de vagina, illumque viriliter vibrat, deinde super brachium sinistrum tergit, ac iterum coram metropolitano genuflectit." Pontif. Rom. Of this somewhat absurd ceremony, we do not find any trace in the English Forms. The student should compare however the form, "De benedictione novi militis" in the same pontifical; from which it seems to have been introduced. 41 There is certainly some difficulty about the "armillæ :" not as regards the shape, and purpose, and mode of being put on, for all these points are cleared by the rubric presently cited from the Liber Regalis; but with respect to the There can be little doubt that the "armilla" was originally a bracelet; as Ducange explains the word in his glossary, citing Strabo, lib. 4. and Polybius, lib. 2. The same learned writer adds: "Has denique armillas, quas et Baugas vocabant, ut præcipua name. regiæ dignitatis ornamenta habuisse Francos nostros, pluribus docuimus ad Alexiadem pag. 261. quod etiam de Danis ac Anglis testatur Simeon Dunelm. lib. 2. cap. 13. et Thom. Walsingham, p. 196." A late writer, Mr. Taylor, has observed, (on the correctness of which I cannot venture an opinion,)" the word baugas identifies the armillæ' here spoken of with the Islandic baugr, and armbaugr the beag and earm-beag of the Anglo-Saxons ; their bracelet or arm-ring." Glory of regality, p. 84. But I do not think the difficulty above spoken of, is so great as some would make it: who argue that anciently the stole and the armil were two different things, put on separately: first the stole, then the armil or bracelet. I do not see that there is any reasonable ground to suppose this: but rather, that the armil was always made in the shape of a stole, and answered the purpose of it. It was called armil, because after being put about the neck, it was tied to the arms. Mr. Taylor, above mentioned, appeals to Thomas Accipe armillas sinceritatis et sapientiæ, divinæque circumdationis indicium, quibus intelligas omnes operationes tuas contra hostes visibiles et invisibiles posse esse munitas per Dominum.42 : Walsingham, as "a triumphant authority" to prove that the two were, anciently, different things: but the place he refers to is by no means so clear to that effect: for the historian says, that first the stole was put on, then that the archbishop delivered the armillæ. "Projecta circa collum ejus stola, tunc duo comites eum gladio accinxerunt, quo facto, archiepiscopus armillas dedit ei, dicens: Accipe armillas, etc." Hist. Angl. p. 196. This may well be understood to signify that these armillæ were first laid upon the shoulders of the king "in modum stolæ :" and when about to be tied to the arms, the archbishop repeated the prescribed form. Nor would there be any obscurity in Walsingham's account, if he had not inserted the account of the sword. The two ends however of the armillæ might during that time have been pendent, and untied. But in short: all this argument rests upon the supposition that Walsingham is correct in every detail: he might have been so: but whether or not, it is impossible that he can be so interpreted as to be made to say, that the armillæ and the stole were two different things: for the actual Form and Order of that coronation which he describes is the Liber Regalis, from which I have transcribed in the following note a rubric, which settles the dispute. This is a long note, yet I would add the following from "the Little Devise of the coronacion of Henrie VII." "And it is to wit that armyll is made in manner of a stole woven with golde and set with stones, to be put by the cardinall about the king's neck, and comyng from bothe shulders to his bothe elbowes, where thei shall be fastenid by the abbot of Westminster, with lace of silke to euerie side the elbowe in two places; that is to say, aboue the elbowes and beneth." Ives' select papers, Deinde tradatur ei pallium," metropolitano dicente sic: Accipe pallium quatuor initiis formatum, per quod intelligas quatuor mundi partes divinæ potestati esse subjectas, nec quemquam posse feliciter regnare in terris, nisi cui potestas regnandi fuerit collata de cœlis: Per Dominum. Sequatur benedictio coronæ, hoc modo: Deus, tuorum corona fidelium, qui in capitibus eorum ponis coronam de lapide pretioso, bene dic et sanctifica coronam istam, quatenus sicut ipsa diversis pretiosisque lapidibus adornatur, sic famulus tuus gestator ipsius multiplici pretiosarum virtutum munere, tua largiente gratia, repleatur: per Dominum nostrum, Jesum Christum, Filium tuum, Regem æternum. Qui tecum. metropolitanus vel episcopus: 'Accipe pallium,' etc. The order of K. Ethelred does not notice the armillæ or the pallium. See above, note 39. 43 "Pallium quadrangulum, cujusmodi etiam fuit Romanorum paludamentum, regum nostrorum proprium fuit: sic autem describitur a monacho Sangellensi, lib. 1. cap. 33. Gloriosissimus Carolus ad nocturnas laudes pendulo et profundissimo pallio utebatur. Cap. 36. Ultimus habitus eorum erat pallium canum vel, sapphiricum quadrangulum, duplex, sic formatum, ut cum imponeretur humeris, ante et retro pedes tegeret, de lateribus vero vix genua contegeret. Quod quidem pallii genus etiamnum retinent prin cipes nostri in suis inaugurationibus." Ducange: gloss. in verb. The open pall, as worn by K. James II. is figured in Sandford's account of that coronation: he calls it also the Dalmatic: by which we may suppose that the "robe royal" of modern days, or Dalmatic, is the ancient pall. But they were properly distinct vestments, and of different shapes. The Dalmatic, was a super-tunic, proper to deacons; and originally restricted to bishops. The first mention of it as an ecclesiastical garment is in the life of S. Cyprian, by his deacon: who, describing his martyrdom, says; "Cum se dalmatica exspoliasset, et diaconibus tradidisset, in linea stetit." I need scarcely remind |