973

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<poem>

Here was Edgar,
of Angles lord,
with courtly pomp
hallow'd to king
at Akemancester,
the ancient city;
whose modern sons,
dwelling therein,
have named her BATH.
Much bliss was there
by all enjoyed
on that happy day,
named Pentecost
by men below.
A crowd of priests,
a throng of monks,
I understand,
in counsel sage,
were gather'd there.
Then were agone
ten hundred winters
of number'd years
from the birth of Christ,
the lofty king,
guardian of light,
save that thereto
there yet was left
of winter-tale,
as writings say,
seven and twenty.
So near had run
of the lord of triumphs
a thousand years,
when this was done.
Nine and twenty
hard winters there
of irksome deeds
had Edmund's son
seen in the world,
when this took place,
and on the thirtieth
was hallow'd king. </poem>

Soon after this the king led all his marine force to Chester; and there came to meet him six kings; and they all covenanted with him, that they would be his allies by sea and by land.

(Ingram, p.95-96)


King Edgar, Alfred's great grandson, was anointed in Bath in a solemn coronation using a liturgy that remains the basis of English coronations to this day. This accomplished an alliance between the church and the crown, symbolised by the solemn anointing of King Edgar at his coronation, the first time that a king of all England had been blessed with this sacrament that was jealously reserved by the Roman church. The kings of Scotland had to wait for it until 1331.

(Lacey, p.35,108)