Egerton MS 3320

ff. 1r–24r: Drawings of Elizabeth I's coronation, 14–15 January 1559, possibly an incomplete draft of the Book of Ceremonies for it.

ff. 1r–11v: Diagrammatic drawings of the procession from the Tower of London through the City to Westminster, Saturday 14 January 1559, the day preceding the Coronation. See J. Nichols, The Progresses and Public Processions of Queen Elizabeth, 1823, i, pp. 38–60, and The Quenes Maiesties Passage through the Citie of London to Westminster the Day before her Coronacion, ed. J. M. Osborn (a facsimile of the edition of 1558) (Yale, 1960). For reproductions and further observations see also I. K. Fletcher, Splendid Occasions in British History 1520–1947, 1951, p. 15; L. E. Tanner, The History of the Coronation, 1952, p. 55; A. L. Rowse, An Elizabethan Garland, 1953, pp. 17–22. The order of the procession is almost identical with that found in The National Archives, Lord Chamberlain's Miscellanea (L.C.5) Vol. 32, pp. 164–166. Two further sets of drawings of the procession are in College of Arms MS M.6, ff. 35–48, ff. 87–97 (see Heralds Commemorative Exhibition 1484-1934, Enlarged and Illustrated Catalogue, p. 65 and plate xii, and R. C. Strong, Portraits of Queen Elizabeth I, 1963, p. 100), the first set being more elaborate but less accurate than the present manuscript, the second set less finished.

f. 12r: Drawing of a gateway, possibly representing the gateway in the south west corner of New Palace Yard leading to St. Margaret's Lane beside Westminster Hall. Another gateway (possibly to Old Palace Yard and Westminster Abbey) is seen through the archway. See Ralph Agas's 1560 map, Civitas Londinum (an 1874 edition is held at the BL, Maps 16.c.15) and the view of New Palace Yard by Wenceslas Hollar, 1647 (Crace collection).

f. 12v: Sketch of the interior of Westminster Hall with tables arranged for the coronation banquet. Elizabeth is depicted wearing a crown, seated at a table on a dais beneath a canopy.

f. 13r: Unfinished sketch of the north front of Westminster Hall.

ff. 13r–20v: Diagrammatic drawings of the coronation procession from Westminster Hall to Westminster Abbey, 15 January 1559. The figure of Elizabeth is not drawn and officers carrying regalia are represented by stylised drawings of the regalia. For contemporary accounts of this procession and of the coronation ceremony see C. G. Bayne, 'The Coronation of Queen Elizabeth', English Historical Review, 22 (1907), 650–673. The order of procession is identical with that found in The National Archives, Lord Chamberlain's Miscellanea (L.C.5), vol. 32, pp. 166–167.

ff. 20v–22r: Plan of the interior of Westminster Abbey showing the stage erected between the choir and sanctuary bearing an octagonal dais on which stands the chair of estate; the arrangement of carpets and cushions before the High Altar for the ceremony of anointing, and St Edward's Chapel with the shrine and the 'Quenes Travers'.

The watermarks in this manuscript are similar to E. Heawood, Watermarks, nos. 3549, 3555. Contemporary numberings in roman figures, cliii–clx, at ff. 15r–22r. Limp vellum binding bearing the press mark 'A 26' on the spine (f. i).