Crowning a Medieval King
The Plantagenets and historical memory
Gracious lord,
Stand for your own, unwind your bloody flag,
Look back into your mighty ancestors.
Go, my dread lord, to your great-grandsire’s tomb,
From whom you claim. Invoke his warlike spirit
And your great-uncle’s, Edward the Black Prince,
Who on the French ground played a tragedy,
Making defeat on the full power of France
In a moment of hesitation, fear, perhaps imposter syndrome, Shakespeare’s Henry V is encouraged by the archbishop of Canterbury to seek the inspiration from his ‘mighty’ ancestors. War-like Kings who sought to conquer France. In his powerful oration, the archbishop advises the despondent Henry to go to his great-grandsire’s tomb, the tomb of Edward III, the first King to call himself King of England and France, to establish the Order of the Garter, calling on Saint George as its patron saint and to rehabilitate the legendary king Arthur as a clarion call to Englishmen to fight for their country.
Shakespeare evokes historical memory. This is through his character of Henry V but also, from his audience. Shakespeare rightly notes that the past has a powerful legacy in shaping identity in the present. Edward III’s tomb, like English kings and queens before and after him, is held at Westminster Abbey, in the Confessor’s Chapel. His tomb is one of five medieval kings and four medieval queens that surround the chapel’s namesake, the most famous of all medieval kings, Saint Edward the Confessor.
Since 1066, Westminster Abbey has been the burial place of many kings and queens, but it has also, exclusively, been the space of anointing future kings. A temporal realm of God’s chosen representatives on earth. Westminster Abbey has had a major role in shaping our identity as an English nation, particularly in its most famous role, as the sacred place of coronation for all English monarchs. Since 1066, over 38 coronations have taken place here, all with a deeply symbolic and political meaning, contributing to a sense of national identity in the present.