Regalia: Ampula and Anointing Spoon

In Medieval times the high point of a coronation was not the moment the crown was placed on the sovereign's head.  Rather, it was the moment when he was anointed with holy oil, usually from a sacred vessel.  Two of the oldest pieces of today's Crown Regalia have to do with this ritual, and both have ties to the Plantagenet era.  According to legend, in 1170, not long before he was martyred, Thomas Becket received a visit from the Virgin Mary.  She presented him with a vessel in the shape of a golden eagle, containing what she said was sacred oil to be used in the crowning of all future English kings.  The legend dates from the 14th century and is a convenient moral on the right of the Archbishops of Canterbury to crown English kings.  Regardless of whether one believes the legend, a golden ampula in the shape of an eagle has been used in each subsequent coronation of a English sovereign. 

Most of the coronation regalia is quite new, being created in 1661 for the coronation of King Charles II.  This was because, in 1649, soon after the execution of Charles I, Oliver Cromwell ordered all the old regalia to be broken up and sold for scrap to pay his troops.  Orbs, crowns, spurs, scepters, swords and other valuable pieces, some said to date back to Edward the Confessor, were destroyed in this way.  A Yeoman of the Wardrobe bought the anointing spoon and tucked it away, later returning it to Charles II.  The spoon is gilt, silver covered in gold, and consists of a long-handled bowl with two grooves.  At the coronation ceremony, the Archbishop of Canterbury pours oil from the ampula into the spoon, dips two fingers, one in each groove, and touches the King (or Queen's) forehead, breast and hands with the oil.  This spoon has been traced to the coronation of King John in 1199 and thus, is the oldest piece of the regalia in existence.