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handsomely rewarded each New Year’s Day for composing anthems and copying out music.
    In a much shorter ceremony, the Queen was crowned with a heavy gold diadem set with sapphires, rubies, and pearls. 44 When the royal couple emerged from the Abbey, the King was wearing his lighter “imperial” or arched crown and a purple velvet robe lined with ermine. As the crowds cheered, the organ and trumpets were sounding, drums thundering, and bells pealing to signify that Henry VIII “had been gloriously crowned to the comfort of all the land.” 45
    The King and Queen led the great procession back to Westminster Hall for the coronation banquet, which was to be “greater than any Caesar had known.” 46 When all were seated, a fanfare sounded, and the Duke of Buckingham and the Earl of Shrewsbury rode into the hall on horseback to herald the arrival of the “sumptuous, fine and delicate meats [in] plentiful abundance.” 47 When the second course was finished, the King’s Champion, Sir Robert Dymmocke, paraded up and down the hall on his courser before throwing down his gauntlet with the customary challenge to anyone who dared contest the King’s title. Henry rewarded him with a gold cup. After the banquet, “a tournament was held which lasted until midnight.” 48
    The celebrations continued for several days:
    To further enhance the triumphal coronation, jousts and tourneys were held in the grounds of the palace of Westminster. For the comfort of the royal spectators, a pavilion was constructed, covered with tapestries and hung with rich Arras cloth. And nearby there was a curious fountain over which was built a sort of castle with an imperial crown on top and battlements of roses and gilded pomegranates. Its walls were painted white [with] green lozenges, each containing a rose, a pomegranate, a quiver of arrows or the letters H and K, all gilded.
    The shields of arms of the jousters also appeared on the walls, and on certain days red, white and claret wine ran from the mouths of the castle’s gargoyles. The organisers of these jousts were Lord Thomas Howard, heir to the Earl of Surrey, Admiral Sir Edward Howard, his brother, Lord Richard Grey, Sir Edmund Howard, Sir Thomas Knyvet and Charles Brandon esquire. The trumpets sounded and the fresh young gallants and noblemen took the field. All the participants were magnificently attired. 49
    The challengers, wearing plumed gold helmets and calling themselves the Knights of Diana, included Edward Neville, Edward Guildford, and John Pechy, while the defenders were the Knights of Pallas. Charles Brandon distinguished himself at barriers against a huge German challenger, when “he so pummelled the German about the head” that his nose bled and he was led away defeated. 50
    On the next day, in honour of Diana, goddess of the hunt, deer were hunted and slaughtered in a miniature park and castle which had been created in the tiltyard, and their bloody carcasses, hung on poles, were presented to the Queen and the ladies. 51
    The festivities were brought to an end by the death of Margaret Beaufort, who passed away on 29 June, the day after the King attained his majority. She died urging him to take as his mentor the austere and devout John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, her confessor, fellow humanist, and associate in her educational projects. Fisher, who had enjoyed a distinguished academic career and had a reputation for being “the most holy and learned prelate in Christendom,” 52 was a man of firm principle and deep sincerity; he wore a hair shirt beneath his clerical robes, slept on hard straw matting, scourged himself regularly, and ate mainly bread and pottage. His patroness felt he was the right man to guide a young and inexperienced king, being no flatterer as bishops often were, but there is no evidence that Henry paid much attention to him.
    The King ordered the church bells to toll for six days to mark the Lady