Royal Maundy

Today Queen Elizabeth performed a special ceremony that monarchs of Great Britain have performed off and on for centuries.  She attended a Maundy Thursday service at Leicester Cathedral, then distributed packets of specially minted Maundy Money to 91 men and 91 women, one each for every year of her life.  The recipients were pensioners, elderly retirees remarkable for their community service and service to the crown, though not necessarily poverty-stricken.  In doing so, Elizabeth shared a common bond with the least likely of her Plantagenet forbears, King John, who actually started the ritual around 1213.

The word Maundy is a corruption of the Latin word Mandatus, as in the mandate or commandment Jesus gave to his followers at the Last Supper.  "If I, your Lord and Master, washed your feet, so you ought to wash the feet of one another."  Beginning in 5th and 6th century England, there were church services on Maundy Thursday, but the foot washing was performed by religious and clergy, not royalty.  Beginning in 1213, John of England began the habit of distributing alms as well as linen shirts and parcel of food to twelve poor people, as well as washing of feet on some occasions.  The recipients were picked for their poverty to the number of 12, as in the 12 Apostles.  They were then entitled to the King's charity for life, a much needed benefit in the years before pensions and welfare benefits.  And, very often, the feet of these common people would be prewashed beforehand, just in case.  John and other early kings kept Maundy services at several different times throughout the years, and successor kings added their own traditions.

John's son Henry III made the Maundy ritual a family affair, with his sons assisting him in passing out the alms and other gifts.  Edward I limited the Maundy ritual specifically to Maundy Thursday.  Edward III gave fifty pence, one for each year of his life, to fifty elderly men.  From him came the idea that the recipients were numbered to the years of the monarch's life, not the 12 Apostles.  By this time, other members of the royal family, including the queen and other leading nobles, might keep their own Maundy services, distributing alms and food independently of the king.  The money given was in regular coins.  The custom of specialized Maundy Money dates from the 18th century.  In later years, monarchs discontinued the foot-washing portion and sometimes did not attend, sending the Lord High Almoner in their place.  In the early 20th century, Princess Marie Louise, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria, convinced her cousin George V to resume attendance at Maundy.  Today, the sovereign gives out two purses.  A red purse holds the commemorative Maundy Money.  A white purse contains regular coins in the same nominal amount.