Ceremony and Symbolism: Mayor Making at St Mary’s Guildhall, Coventry in the 17th Century

‘Cultural analysis is...guessing at meanings, assessing the guesses and drawing explanatory conclusions...’ C. Geertz, The Interpretation of Cultures, p.20

 In his book Architecture and Power, Robert Tittler has explored the role of town halls in the late 16^th and early 17^th century. He notes that they were not only regarded as a place of government but also as a ‘semiotic object’ functioning as the ‘tangible formulation’ of the notion of civic authority. Their architecture, furnishings and iconography made them theatres for political life.  Coventry’s Guildhall was typical. It symbolized and celebrated the formal relationship between citizens and town governors and between town governors the crown and the church.[i]

            The Reformation had triggered the end of the Trinity Guild and the Hall became a purely secular centre of town government. Coventry’s rich medieval Catholic ceremonial calendar of popular saints’ days processions, plays and bonfires also came to an end and the City’s ceremonial calendar was dominated by officially sanctioned secular civic ceremonies centred on the Great Fair at Cross Cheaping (which, from 1678, included the Godiva procession) and mayor-making at the Guildhall.[ii]

            The annual election and inauguration of the mayor was the most important of these civic ceremonies, and whilst it had long been a part of the ceremonial year (the first mayor was elected in 1348), from the early 17^th century it took on increasing cultural importance due to the enhanced authority of the mayor. Until 1605, the mayor was elected by a substantial body of freemen known as the Leet or Great Leet that had a prominent role in the governing of Coventry. Then in a resolution of 1605, confirmed in a new charter of 1621, the Leet declared that in future the Council should be self-electing and Coventry’s government became an oligarchy, that is a closed assembly that filled its own vacancies and elected the mayor and other civic officers. During the 17^th century and up until the Municipal Corporation Act of 1835 which reformed borough government, the self selecting ‘Mayor’s Council’ of mayor and 10 aldermen effectively ran the City and the Leet, the flourishing assembly of the late middle ages, lost its influence. [iii]

             With the enhanced importance of the mayor, the mayor making ceremony took on added significance as the epitome of civic authority. In Coventry’s archives are the papers of the 17^th century town clerk Humphrey Burton. Burton served as deputy town clerk and then town clerk from about 1620 until his death in 1685. He was a meticulous codifier of history and precedent in the governing of Coventry and amongst his papers is a document of 1637 titled The All saints’ Day at the taking the Mayor’s Oath. It is a procedural note, probably compiled from his researches, oral and written, to guide him in the management of the formal transfer of power from one mayor to his successor. In this traditional ceremonial right of passage St Mary’s Hall played an important symbolic role. [iv]

            The oath taking ceremony took place on 1^st of November and embodied time-honoured practices in the transfer of power. The departing and incoming mayors kneeled on cushions on the dais below the great tapestry, kissed the insignia of office - the sword and the mace - and the departing mayor passed the hat of maintenance to the incoming mayor. The new mayor took the oath of office and the two men then took their place on the mayor’s ‘bench’, possibly the ornate chair now in the Council Chamber, with the new mayor on the right. At the end of the ceremony the new mayor doffed his hat as a public gesture of deference to the old mayor and the aldermen. The crier then called on all those gathered in the Hall to attend a sermon at St Michael’s where both mayors sat together. The new mayor then kept a grand feast at his expense in the Hall.

            This carefully choreographed ceremony and feast promoted the concepts of civic deference and hospitality and these ideas bore heavily on the role of St Mary’s Hall. Everything in the Hall spoke to the status and character of Coventry’s civic authority, pride and relationship to the county and the crown.

            The participants were surrounded by an iconography in wood, cloth, glass, paint and verse of the city's royal and aristocratic patrons, political benefactors, and generous philanthropists. The most dramatic feature that would have formed an important backdrop to those involved in the ceremony was the tapestry and stained glass window on the north wall. Indeed it was a symbolic actor in the ceremony. This was no ‘off the peg’ tapestry but was woven specifically for Coventry’s Guild Hall where it still hangs in its original location. When commissioned and installed at the turn of the 16^th century it was designed to celebrate the political relations within and without the city. It was about the management of image in the service of power.[v] Here in cloth and glass was displayed Coventry’s favoured status and distinctive urban culture. The top panels of the tapestry reflect divine authority and below them is reflected royal authority. The lower panels possibly depict Henry VI and his queen Margaret of Anjou. Henry VI had raised Coventry’s status and prominence in the 1450s and by commissioning the tapestry Coventry was perhaps paying homage to Henry VII’s desire to glorify his Lancastrian ancestor as a saint. On the raised stage at floor level were the outgoing and incoming mayor and the aldermen. They knelt on cushions face to face for the formal proceedings of the transfer of the insignia of authority reflecting the image of the kneeling king and queen in the lower panels of the tapestry.  

            The onlookers would thus have been made clearly aware of the delineation of a concept of authority in which the mayor and corporation owed their legitimacy to the king, and the king in his turn to God. A Catholic image, possibly the Holy Trinity, at the centre of the top panels had been rewoven sometime after the Reformation with a seated figure to represent divine justice more appropriate to the Protestant values of the City. Above the tapestry visitors would see a stained glass window, almost congruent with the tapestry made up of three sections with three lights, each depicting a royal figure. The window and the tapestry taken together thus had an unmistakable political message. For the incoming and outgoing mayors it enhanced their status as they sat together in their robes of office below the linked images of divine and royal authority, ‘distinguishing them as a group apart within urban society’. To those outside the governing elite the window, the tapestry and the gathered dignitaries on the raised dais conveyed a message of  ‘a descending concept of authority, in which kings were subservient to God, urban magistrates were subject to kings and townspeople owed their obedience to civic leaders.’[vi] All those present at the ceremony and feast would have been aware of this visual message and its relevance. This was particularly the case in the 17^th when urban corporations generally had a difficult relationship with the Crown. Coventry’s was a notably fractious one having backed Parliament and Cromwell during and after the Civil Wars of mid century. Certainly in the 1660s after the Restoration of Charles II, the city wanted to portray itself as reliable supporter of the restored monarchy.

If you’re fascinated by history and eager to delve into the rich heritage of St Mary’s Guildhall and Coventry, why not plan a visit? Step inside and uncover the intriguing stories and vibrant history that this iconic building holds. From its medieval origins to its role in the city’s cultural tapestry, St Mary’s Guildhall offers a captivating journey through time. Don’t miss the chance to explore this historic gem and immerse yourself in Coventry’s fascinating past.

Primary Sources

Coventry Archives and Research Centre (CARC) BA/F/A/23/1: ’Humphrey Burton’s Book’; BA/H/C/17/2, ‘Council Minute Book 1640-1696; BA/E/F/31/2, Coventry 2^nd Leet Book, 1588-1834.

John Hewitt, The Journal of John Hewitt, 1779, Coventry Research Centre Library ref. 347.96.

The National Archives (TNA), SP/29/161-317, ‘State Papers Domestic Charles II.’ - the letters of Ralph Hope.

Secondary Sources.

F. Bliss Burbage, Old Coventry and Lady Godiva, (Birmingham n.d.).

A. A. Dibben, Coventry City Charters, (Coventry 1969).

C Geertz, The Interpretation of Cultures, (New York 1973). ‘ Centers, kings and charisma: reflections on the symbolics of power’ in J. Ben-David and T. N. Clarke, eds, Culture and its creators: essays in honor of Edward shills, (Chicago 1977).

R. G. Holl, The History of St Mary’s Hall Coventry (Coventry 1989).

J. C. Lancater, St Mary’s Hall Coventry, A Guide to the Building its History and Contents, (Coventry 1981).

P Knowles, Continuity and Change in Urban Culture. A case study of two provincial towns, Chester and Coventry c. 1600-c. 1750, (D.Phil Thesis, University of Leicester, 2001).

C. D. Liddy, ‘Urban politics and material culture at the end of the Middle Ages: the Coventry tapestry in St Mary’s Hall’, Urban History, 39, 2 (2012).

Footnotes

[i] R. Tittler, Architecture and Power: The Town Hall and the English Urban Community c. 1500-1640, (Oxford 1991), p.93; C Geertz, The Interpretation of Cultures, (New York 1973), p.91.

[ii] C Phythian Adams, ‘Ceremony and the citizen: the communal year at Coventry 1450-1550’, in P. Clark and P. slack, Crisis and Order in English Towns 1500-1700, (London 1972), pp.79-80; P Knowles, Continuity and Change in Urban Culture. A case study of two provincial towns, Chester and Coventry c. 1600-c. 1750, (D.Phil Thesis, University of Leicester, 2001), pp.40-44.

[iii] S. and B. Webb, English Local Government from Revolution to the Municipal Corporation Act: the Manor and the Borough, vol II, (London 1908), pp.424-442 ; A. A. Dibben, Coventry City Charters, (Coventry 1969), pp. 31-2. The evolution of the system of governance in Coventry was a slow process with the gradual growth of the influence of the elite merchants of the trading companies at the expense of the broader body of freemen. The ‘charter’ of 1621 was the culmination of this process.

[iv] Coventry Archives and Research Centre (CARC) BA/F/A/23/1: ’Humphrey Burton’s Book.’ f.269ff. An accessible summary of this can be found in F. Bliss Burbage, Old Coventry and Lady Godiva, (Birmingham n.d.) pp.174-5. 

[v] C. D. Liddy, ‘Urban politics and material Culture at the end of the Middle Ages: the Coventry Tapestry in St Mary’s Hall’, Urban History, 39, 2, 2012, pp. 203-224.

[vi] Liddy, ‘Urban Politics and Material Culture’, pp. 222-3.