Chapter 11

See also Ralfe,Nav. Biog.i. 387;Naval Chronicle, vii. 1; Charnock,Biogr. Nav.vi. 523.

CORO,a small city and the capital of the state of Falcón, Venezuela, 7 m. W. of La Vela de Coro (its port on the Caribbean coast), with which it is connected by rail, and 199 m. W.N.W. of Carácas. Pop. (1904, estimate) 9500. Coro stands on a sandy plain between the Caribbean and the Gulf of Venezuela, and near the isthmus connecting the peninsula of Paraguaná with the mainland. Its elevation above sea-level is only 105 ft., and its climate is hot but not unhealthy. The city is badly built, its streets are unpaved, and it has no public buildings of note except two old churches. Its water-supply is derived from springs some distance away. Coro is the commercial centre for an extensive district on the E. side of Lake Maracaibo and the Gulf of Venezuela, which exports large quantities of goat-skins, an excellent quality of tobacco, and some coffee, cacao, castor beans, timber and dyewoods. It was founded in 1527 by Juan de Ampués, who gave to it the name of Santa Ana de Coriana (afterwards corrupted to Santa Ana de Coro) in honour of the day and of the tribe of Indians inhabiting this locality. It was also called Venezuela (little Venice) because of an Indian village on the gulf coast built on piles over the shallow water; this name was afterwards bestowed upon the province of which Coro was the capital. Coro was also made the chief factory of the Welsers, the German banking house to which Charles V. mortgaged this part of his colonial possessions, and it was the starting-point for many exploring and colonizing expeditions into the interior. It was made a bishopric in 1536, and for a time Coro was one of the three most important towns on the northern coast. The seat of government was removed to Carácas in 1578 and the bishopric five years later. Coro is celebrated in Venezuelan history as the scene of Miranda’s first attempt to free his country from Spanish rule. It suffered greatly in the war which followed.

COROMANDEL COAST,a name formerly applied officially to the eastern seaboard of India approximately between Cape Calimere, in 10° 17′ N., 79° 56′ E., and the mouths of the Kistna river. The shore, which is low, is without a single good natural harbour, and is at all times beaten by a heavy sea. Communication with ships can be effected only by catamarans and flat-bottomed surf-boats. The north-east monsoon, which lasts from October till April, is exceedingly violent for three months after its commencement. From April till October hot southerly winds blow by day; at night the heat is tempered by sea-breezes. The principal places frequented by shipping are Pulicat, Madras, Sadras, Pondicherry, Cuddalore, Tranquebar, Nagore, and Negapatam. The name Coromandel is said to be derived fromCholamandal, the mandal or region of the ancient dynasty of the Chola. Its official use has lapsed.

CORONA(Lat. for “crown”), in astronomy, the exterior envelope of the sun, being beyond the photosphere and chromosphere, invisible in the telescope and unrecognized by the spectroscope, except during a total eclipse (seeSun;Eclipse).

Corona Borealis, also known as theCorona septentrionalis, and the Northern Crown or Garland, is a constellation of the Northern hemisphere, mentioned by Eudoxus (4th cent. B.C.) and Aratus (3rd cent. B.C.). In the catalogues of Ptolemy, Tycho Brahe, and Hevelius, eight stars are mentioned; but recent uranographic surveys have greatly increased this number. The most interesting members are: σCoronae, a binary consisting of a yellow star of the 6th magnitude, and a bluish star of the 7th magnitude;R Coronae, an irregular variable star; andT CoronaeorNova Coronae, a temporary or new star, first observed in 1866.Corona Australis, also known asCorona meridionalis, or the Southern Crown, is a constellation of the Southern hemisphere, mentioned by Eudoxus and Aratus. In Ptolemy’s catalogue thirteen stars are described.

In physical science, coronae (or “glories”) are the coloured rings frequently seen closely encircling the sun or moon. Formerly classified by the ancient Greeks with halos, rainbows, &c., under the general group of “meteors,” they came to receive considerable attention at the hands of Descartes, Christiaan Huygens, and Sir Isaac Newton; but the correct explanation of coronae was reserved until the beginning of the 19th century, when Thomas Young applied the theories of the diffraction and interference of light to this phenomenon. Prior to Young, halos and coronae had not been clearly differentiated; they were both regarded as caused by the refraction of light by atmospheric moisture and ice, although observation had shown that important distinctions existed between these phenomena. Thus, while halos have certain definite radii, viz. 22° and 46°, the radii of coronae vary very considerably; also, halos are coloured red on theinside, whereas coronae are coloured red on theoutside(seeHalo).

It has now been firmly established, both experimentally and mathematically, that coronae are due to diffraction by the minute particles of moisture and dust suspended in the atmosphere, and the radii of the rings depend on the size of the diffracting particles. (SeeDiffraction of Light.)

Other meteorological phenomena caused by the diffraction of light include theanthelia, and the chromatic rings seen encircling shadows thrown on a bank of clouds, mist or fog. These appearancesdiffer from halos and coronae inasmuch as their centres are at the anti-solar point; they thus resemble the rainbow. The anthelia (from the Greekἀντί, opposite, andἥλιος, the sun) are coloured red on the inside, the outside being generally colourless owing to the continued overlapping of many spectra. The diameter increases with the size of the globules making up the mist. The chromatic rings seen encircling the “spectre of the Brocken” are similarly explained.

The blue colour of the sky (q.v.), supernumerary rainbows, and the gorgeous sunsets observed after intense volcanic disturbances, when the atmosphere is charged with large quantities of extremely minute dust particles (e.g. Krakatoa), are also explicable by the diffraction of light. (SeeDust.)

See E. Mascart,Traité d’optique(1899-1903); J. Pernter,Meteorologische Optik(1902-1905).

In architecture, the term “corona” is used of that part of a cornice which projects over the bed mould and constitutes the chief protection to the wall from rain; it is always throated, and its soffit rises towards the wall. The term is also given to the apse or semicircular termination of the choir; as at Canterbury in the part called “Becket’s crown.” The large circular chandelier suspended in churches, of which the finest example is that given by Barbarossa to Aix-la-Chapelle, is often called a corona. The term is also used in botany of the crown-like appendage at the top of compound flowers, the diminutive beingcoronule.

CORONACH(a Gaelic word, fromcomh, with, andranach, wailing), the lamentation or dirge for the dead which accompanied funerals in the Highlands of Scotland and in Ireland. The more usual term in Ireland is “keen” or “keening.”

CORONADO, FRANCISCO VASQUEZ DE(c. 1500-c. 1545), Spanish explorer of the south-western part of the United States of America. He accompanied Antonio de Mendoza to New Spain in 1535; by a brilliant marriage, became a leading grandee, and in 1539 was appointed governor of the province of New Galicia. The report presented by Fray Marcos de Niza concerning the “Seven cities of Cibola” (now identified almost certainly with the Zuñi pueblos of New Mexico) aroused great interest in Mexico; Melchior Diaz was sent late in 1539 to retrace Fray Marcos’s route and report on his story; and an expedition under Coronado left Compostela for the “Seven Cities” in February 1540. This expedition consisted of a provision train and droves of live-stock; several hundred friendly Indians, Spanish footmen, and more than 250 horsemen. Coronado, with a part of this force, captured the “Seven Cities.” The fabled wealth, however, was not there. In the autumn (1540) Coronado was joined by the rest of his army. Meanwhile exploring parties were sent out: Tusayan, the Hopi or Moki (Moqui) country of north-eastern Arizona, was visited; Garcia Lopez de Cardenas discovered and described the Grand Canyon of the Colorado; and expeditions were sent along the Rio Grande (Tuguez), where the army wintered. The Indians revolted but were put down. The army, reinspirited by the tales of a plains-Indian slave1about vast herds of cows (bison) on the plains, and about an Eldorado called “Quivira” far to the N.E., started thither in April 1541, and, with a few horsemen, penetrated at least to what is now central Kansas. Here Coronado found a few permanent settlements of Indians; in October he was again on the Rio Grande; and in the spring of 1542 he led his followers home. Thereafter he practically disappears from history. The first description of the bison and the prairie plains, the first trustworthy account of the Zuñi pueblos, the discovery of the Grand Canyon, a vast increase of the nominal dominion of Spain and Christianity (the priests did not return from Cibola), and a notable addition to geographical knowledge, which, however, was long forgotten, were the results of this expedition; which is, besides, for its duration and the vast distance covered, over mountains, desert and plains, one of the most remarkable expeditions in the history of American discovery. In connexion with it, in 1540, Hernando de Alarcon ascended the Gulf of California to its head and the Colorado river for a long distance above its mouth.

All the essential sources with a critical narrative are available in G. P. Winship’sThe Coronado Expedition(in the 14th Report of the United States Bureau of Ethnology, for 1892-1893, Washington, 1896), except theTratado del descubrimiento de las Yndias y su conquestaof Juan Suarez de Peralta (written in the last third of the 16th century, republished at Madrid, 1878). See also especially Justo Zaragoza,Noticias historicas de la Nueva España(Madrid, 1878), the various writings of A. F. A. Bandelier (q.v.); General J. H. Simpson in Smithsonian InstitutionReport(Washington, 1869), with an excellent map; and Winship for a full bibliography. H. H. Bancroft’s account in hisPacific States(vols. 5, 10, 12) is less authoritative.

1He was later killed for deception, and confessed that the Pecos Indians induced him to lure Coronado to destruction.

CORONATION(Lat.corona, crown), a solemnity whereby sovereigns are inaugurated in office. In pre-Christian times in Europe the king or ruler, upon his election, was raised on a shield, and, standing upon it, was borne on the shoulders of certain of the chief men of the tribe, or nation, round the assembled people. This was called thegyratio, and it was usually performed three times. At its conclusion a spear was placed in the king’s hand, and the diadem, a richly wrought band of silk or linen, which must not be confused with the crown (seeCrown and Coronet), was bound round his forehead, as a token of regal authority. When Europe became Christian, a religious service of benediction was added to the older form, which, however, was not abandoned. Derived from the Teutons, the Franks continued thegyratio, and Clovis, Sigebert, Pippin and others were thus elevated to the royal estate. From a combination of the old custom with the religious service, the later coronation ceremonies were gradually developed. In the ceremonial procession of the English king from the Tower to Westminster (first abandoned at the coronation of James II.), in the subsequent elevation of the king into what was known as the marble chair in Westminster Hall, and in the showing of the king of France to the people, as also in the universal practice of delivering a sceptre to the new ruler, traces, it is thought, may be detected of the influence of the original function.

The added religious service was naturally derived from the Bible, where mention is frequently made, in the Old Testament, of the anointing and crowning of kings. The anointing of the king soon came to be regarded as the most important, if not essential, feature of the service. By virtue of the unction which he received, the sovereign was regarded, in the middle ages, as amixta persona, in part a priest, and in part a layman. It was a strange theory, and Lyndwode, the great English canonist, is cautious as to it, and was content to say that it was the opinion of some people. It gained very wide acceptance, and the anointed sovereign was generally regarded as, in some degree, possessed of the priestly character. By virtue of the unction he had received, the emperor was made a canon of St John Lateran and of St Peter at Rome, and also of the collegiate church of Aachen, while the king of France waspremier chanoineof the primatial church of Lyons, and held canonries at Embrun, Le Mans, Montpellier, St Pol-de-Léon, Lodève, and other cathedral churches in France. There are, moreover, trustworthy records that, on more than one occasion, a king of France, habited in a surplice and choir robes, took part with the clergy in the services of some of those churches. Martène quotes an order, which directs that at the imperial coronation at Rome, the pope ought to sing the mass, the emperor read the gospel, and the king of Sicily, or if present the king of France, the epistle. Nothing like this was known in England, and a theory, which has prevailed of late, that the English sovereign is, in a personal sense, canon of St David’s, is based on a misconception. The canonry in question was attached to St Mary’s College at St David’s before the Reformation, and, at the dissolution of the college, became crown property, which it has remained ever since; but the king of England is not, and never was personally, a canon of St David’s, nor did he ever perform any quasi-clerical function.

At first a single anointing on the head was the practice, but afterwards other parts of the body, as the breast, arms, shoulders and hands received the unction. From a very early period in the West three kinds of oil have been blessed each year on Maundy Thursday, the oil of the catechumens, the oil of the sick, and the chrism. The last, a compound of olive oil andbalsam, is only used for the most sacred purposes, and the oil of the catechumens was that used for the unction of kings. In France, however, a legend gained credence that, as a special sign of divine favour, the Holy Dove had miraculously descended from heaven, bearing a vessel (afterwards called the Sainte Ampoule), containing holy oil, and had placed it on the altar for the coronation of Clovis. A drop of oil from the Sainte Ampoule mixed with chrism was afterwards used for anointing the kings of France. Similarly the chrism was introduced into English coronations, for the first time probably at the coronation of Edward II. To rival the French story another miracle was related that the Virgin Mary had appeared to Thomas Becket, and had given him a vessel with holy oil, which at some future period was to be used for the sacring of the English king. A full account of this miracle, and the subsequent finding of the vessel, is contained in a letter written in 1318 by Pope John XXII. to Edward II. The chrism was used in addition to the holy oil. The king was first anointed with the oil, and then signed on the head with the chrism. In all other countries the oil of the catechumens was alone used. In consequence of the use of chrism the kings of England and France were thought to be able to cure scrofula by the imposition of their hands, and hence arose the practice in those countries of touching for the king’s evil, as it was called. In England the chrism disappeared at the Reformation, but touching for the evil was continued till the accession of the house of Hanover in 1714.

The oldest of all existing rituals for the coronation of a king is contained in what is known as the Pontifical of Egbert, who was archbishop of York in the middle of the 8th century. The coronation service in it is entitledMissa pro rege in die benedictionis ejus, and the coronation ceremony is interpolated in the middle of the mass. After the Gospel the officiant recites some prayers of benediction, and then pours oil from a horn on the king’s head, while the anthem “Zadok the priest,” &c., is sung. After this the assembled bishops and nobles place a sceptre in the king’s hands, while a form of intercessory benediction is recited. Then the staff (baculus) is delivered to him, and finally a helmet (galea) is set upon his head, the whole assembly repeating thrice “May King N. live for ever. Amen. Amen. Amen.” The enthronement follows, with the kisses of homage and of fealty, and the mass, with special prayers, is concluded.

Another coronation service of Anglo-Saxon date bearing, but with no good reason, the name of Æthelred II., has also been preserved, and is of importance as it spread from England to the continent, and was used for the coronations of the kings of France. It differs from the Egbert form as the coronation precedes the mass, while the use of a ring, and the definite allusion to a crown (coronanotgalea) occur in it. Joined to it is the form for the coronation of a queen consort. It may have been used for the crowning of Harold and of William the Conqueror.

A third English coronation form, of the 12th century, bears the name of Henry I., but also without good reason. The ceremonial is more fully developed, and the king is anointed on the head, breast, shoulders and elbows. The royal mantle appears for the first time, as does the sceptre. The queen consort is to be crownedsecundum ordinem Romanum, and the whole function precedes the mass.

The fourth and most important of all English coronation services is that of theLiber Regalis, a manuscript still in the keeping of the dean of Westminster. It was introduced in 1307, and continued in use till the Reformation, and, in an English translation and with the Communion service substituted for the Latin mass, it was used for the coronation of James I. In it the English coronation ceremonies reached their fullest development. The following is a bare outline of its main features:—

The ceremonies began the day before the coronation, the king being ceremonially conducted in a procession from the Tower of London to Westminster. There he reposed for the night, and was instructed by the abbot as to the solemn obligations of the kingly office. Early next morning he went to Westminster Hall, and there, among other ceremonies, asrex regnaturuswas elevated into a richly adorned seat on the king’s bench, called the Marble Chair. Then a procession with the regalia was marshalled, and led into the abbey church, the king wearing a cap of estate on his head, and supported by the bishops of Bath and Durham. A platform with thrones, &c., having been previously prepared under the crossing, the king ascended it, and all being in order, the archbishop of Canterbury called for the Recognition, after which the king, approaching the high altar, offered a pall to cover it, and a pound of gold. Then a sermon appropriate to the occasion was preached by one of the bishops, the oath was administered by the archbishop, and theVeni Creatorand a litany were sung. Then the king was anointed with oil on his hands, breast, between the shoulders, on the shoulders, on the elbows, and on the head; finally he was anointed with the chrism on his head. Thus blessed and anointed, the king was vested, first with a silk dalmatic, called thecolobium sindonis, then a long tunic, reaching to the ankles and woven with great golden images before and behind, was put upon him. He then received the buskins (caligae), the sandals (sandalia), and spurs (calcaria), then the sword and its girdle; after this the stole, and finally the royal mantle, four-square in shape and woven throughout with golden eagles. Thus vested, the crown of St Edward was set on his head, the ring placed on his wedding finger, the gloves drawn over his hands, and the golden sceptre, in form of an orb and cross, delivered to him. Lastly, the golden rod with the dove at the top was placed in the king’s left hand. Thus consecrated, vested and crowned, the king kissed the bishops who, assisted by the nobles, enthroned him, while theTe Deumwas sung. When a queen consort was also crowned, that ceremony immediately followed, and the mass with special collect, epistle, gospel and preface was said, and during it both king and queen received the sacrament in one kind. At the conclusion the king retired to a convenient place, surrounded with curtains, where the great chamberlain took off certain of the robes, and substituted others for them, and the archbishop, still wearing his mass vestments, set other crowns on the heads of the king and queen, and with these they left the church.

This service, in English, was used at the coronation of James I., Elizabeth having been crowned with the Latin service. Little change was made till 1685, when it was considerably altered for the coronation of James II. The Communion was necessarily omitted in the case of a Roman Catholic, but other changes were introduced quite needlessly by Archbishop Sancroft, and four years later the old order was still more seriously changed, with the result that the revisions of 1685 and 1689 have grievously mutilated the service, by confusing the order of its different sections, while the meaning of the prayers has been completely changed for no apparent reason. Alterations since then have been verbal rather than essential, but at each subsequent coronation some feature has disappeared, the proper preface having been abandoned at the coronation of Edward VII.

In connexion with the English coronation a number of claims to do certain services have sprung up, and before each coronation a court of claimsisconstituted, which investigates and adjudicates on the claims that are made. The most striking of all these services is that of the challenge made by the king’s champion, an office which has been hereditary in the Dymoke family for many centuries. Immediately following the service in the church a banquet was held in Westminster Hall, during the first course of which the champion entered the hall on horseback, armedcap-à-pie, with red, white and blue feathers in his helmet. He was supported by the high constable on his right, and the earl marshal on his left, both of whom were also mounted. On his appearance in the hall a herald in front of him read the challenge, the words of which have not materially varied at any period, as follows: “If any person, of what degree soever, high or low, shall deny or gainsay our sovereign lord ..., king of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, defender of the faith (son and), next heir unto our sovereign lord the last king deceased, to be the right heir to the imperial crown of this realm of Great Britain and Ireland, or that he ought not to enjoy the same; here is hischampion, who saith that he lieth, and is a false traitor, being ready in person to combat with him; and in this quarrel will adventure his life against him, on what day soever he shall be appointed.” The champion then threw down the gauntlet. The challenge was again made in the centre of the hall, and a third time before the high table, at which the king was seated. The king then drank to the champion out of a silver-gilt cup, with a cover, which he handed to him as his fee. The banquet was last held, and the challenge made, at the coronation of George IV. in 1821. The champion’s claim was admitted in 1902, but as there was no banquet the duty of bearing the standard of England was assigned to him. There is no record of the challenge having been ever accepted.

The revival of the western empire under Charlemagne was marked by his coronation by the pope at Rome in the year 800. His successors, for several centuries, went to Rome, where they received the imperial crown in St Peter’s from the pope, the crown of Lombardy being conferred in the church of St Ambrose (Sant’ Ambrogio) at Milan, that of Burgundy at Arles, and the German crown, which came to be the most important of all, most commonly at Aix-la-Chapelle. It must suffice to speak of the coronations at Rome and Aix-la-Chapelle. From Martène we learn the early form of the ceremony at Rome. The emperor was met at the silver door of St Peter’s, where the first coronation prayer was recited over him by the bishop of Albano. He was then conducted within the church, where inmedio rotae majoris, the bishop Of Porto said the second prayer. Thence the emperor went to the confessio of St Peter, where the litany was said, and there, or before the altar of St Maurice, the bishop of Ostia anointed him on the right arm and between the shoulders. Then he ascended to the high altar, where the pope delivered the naked sword to him. This he flourished, and then sheathed in its scabbard. The pope then delivered the sceptre to the emperor, and placed the crown on his head. The ceremony was concluded by the coronation mass said by the pope. The custom of the emperors going to Rome to be crowned was last observed by Frederick III. in 1440, and after that the German coronation was alone celebrated. The form followed was mainly thus: the electors first met at Frankfort, under the presidency of the elector-archbishop of Mainz, and, the election having been made, the emperor was led to the high altar of the cathedral and seated at it. He was then conducted to a gallery over the entrance to the choir, where, seating himself with the electors, proclamation was made of the election, and on a subsequent day the coronation took place. If the coronation was performed, as it most commonly was, at Aix-la-Chapelle, then the archbishop of Cologne, as diocesan, was the chief officiant, and the emperor was presented to him by the two other clerical electors, the archbishops of Mainz and Trier. The emperor was anointed on the head, the nape of the neck, the breast, the right arm between the wrist and the elbow, and on the palms of both hands. After this, he was vested in what were called the imperial and pontifical robes, which included the buskins, a long alb, the stole crossed priest-wise over the breast, and the mantle. The regalia were then delivered to him, and the crown was set on his head conjointly by the three archbishop-electors. Mass was then said, during which the emperor communicated in one kind. When the coronation was performed at Aix-la-Chapelle, the emperor was at once made, at its conclusion, a canon of the church.

The coronation form in France bore much resemblance, in its general features, to the English coronation, and was, it is believed originally based on the English form. The unction was given, first on the top of the head in the form of a cross, on the breast, between the shoulders, and at the bending and joints of both arms. Then, standing up, the king was vested in the dalmatic, tunic and royal robe, all of purple velvet sprinkled with fleurs-de-lys of gold, and representing, it was said, the three orders of subdeacon, deacon and priest. Then, kneeling again, he was anointed in the palms of the hands, after which the gloves, ring and sceptre were delivered. Then the peers were summoned by name to come near and assist, and the archbishop of Reims, taking the crown of Charlemagne from the altar, set it on the king’s head. After which the enthronement, and showing of the king to the people, took place. All the unctions were made with the chrism, mixed with a drop of oil from the Sainte Ampoule. After the enthronement, mass was said, and at its conclusion the king communicated in both kinds. The third day after the coronation, the king touched for the evil.

On the “11 Frimaire an 13” Napoleon and Josephine were jointly crowned at Paris, by the pope. Napoleon entered Notre-Dame wearing a crown, and before him were carried the imperial ornaments, to wit:”la couronne de l’empereur, l’épée, la main de justice, le sceptre, le manteau de l’empereur, son anneau, son collier, le globe impérial, la couronne de l’impératrice, son manteau, son anneau.”Each of these was blessed, and delivered with a benediction to the emperor and empress, kneeling, side by side, to receive them, both having previously received the unction on the head and on each hand. Napoleon placed the crown on his head himself. Mass with special prayers followed.

In Spain the coronation ceremony never assumed the fullness, or magnificence, that might have been expected. It was usually performed at Toledo, or in the church of St Jerome at Madrid, the king being anointed by the archbishop of Toledo. The royal ornaments were the sword, sceptre, crown of gold and the apple of gold, which the king himself assumed after the unction. In recent years the unction and coronation have been disused.

In Sweden the king was anointed and crowned at Upsala by the archbishop. The ceremony is now performed in the Storkyrka, at Stockholm, where the archbishop of Upsala anoints the king on the breast, temples, forehead and palms of both hands. The crown is placed on the king’s head by the archbishop and the minister of justice jointly, whereupon the state marshal proclaims: “Now is crowned king of the Swedes, Goths and Wends, he and no other.” When there is a queen consort, she is then anointed, crowned and proclaimed, in the same manner.

In Norway, according to the law of 1814, the coronation is performed in the cathedral at Trondhjem, when the Lutheran superintendent, or bishop, anoints the king. The crown is placed on the king’s head jointly by the bishop and the prime minister.

In Russia the coronation is celebrated at Moscow, and is full of religious significance. The tsar is anointed by the metropolitan, but places the crown on his head himself. He receives the sacrament among the clergy, the priestly theory of his office being recognized. In some other European countries the coronation ceremony, as in Austria and Hungary, is also performed with much significant ritual. In other countries, as Prussia, it is retained in a modified form; but in the remaining states such as Denmark, Belgium, Italy, &c., it has been abandoned, or never introduced.

Authorities.—L. G. Wickham Legg,English Coronation Records; Roxburgh Club—Liber Regalis; Anon.,A Complete Account of the Ceremonies observed in the Coronations of the Kings and Queens of England(London, 1727); F. Sandford,Description of the Coronation of James II.(1687); Menin,The Form, Order and Ceremonies of Coronations, trans. from the French (1727); Martène,De Antiquis Ecclesiae Ritibus, lib. ii.

(T. M. F.)

CORONER,an ancient officer of the English common law, so called, according to Coke, because he was akeeperof the pleas of the crown (custos placitorum coronae). At what period the office of coroner was instituted is a matter of considerable doubt; some modern authorities (Stubbs,Select Charters, 260; Pollock and Maitland,Hist. Eng. Law, i. 519) date its origin from 1194, but C. Gross (Political Science Quarterly, vol. vii.) has shown that it must have existed before that date. The office was always elective, the appointment being made by the freeholders of the county assembled in county court. By the Statute of Westminster the First it was ordered that none but lawful and discreet knights should be chosen as coroners, and in one instance a person was actually removed from office for insufficiency of estate. Lands to the value of £20 per annum (the qualification for knighthood) were afterwards deemed sufficient to satisfy the requirements as to estate which ought to be insisted on in the case of a coroner. The complaint of Blackstone shows the transition of the office from its original dignified and honorarycharacter to a paid appointment in the public service, “Now, indeed, through the culpable neglect of gentlemen of property, this office has been suffered to fall into disrepute, and get into low and indigent hands; so that, although formerly no coroners would condescend to be paid for serving their country, and they were by the aforesaid Statute of Westminster expressly forbidden to take a reward, under pain of a great forfeiture to the king; yet for many years past they have only desired to be chosen for their perquisites; being allowed fees for their attendance by the statute 3 Henry VII. c. 1, which Sir Edward Coke complains of heavily; though since his time those fees have been much enlarged.” The mercenary character of the office, thus deprecated by Coke and Blackstone, is now firmly established, without, however (it need hardly be said), affording the slightest ground for such reflections as the above. The coroner is in fact a public officer, and like other public officers receives payment for his services. The person appointed is almost invariably a qualified legal or medical practitioner; how far one is a more “fit person” than another has frequently been a matter of dispute—a Bill of 1879, which, however, failed to pass, decided in favour of the legal profession. The property qualification for a county coroner (“having land in fee sufficient in the same county whereof he may answer to all manner of people,” 14 Ed. III. st. 1, c. 8), although re-enacted in the Coroners Act 1887, is now virtually dispensed with. The appointment is for life, but is vacated by the holder being made sheriff. A coroner may be removed by the writde coronatore exonerando, for sufficient cause assigned, or the lord chancellor may, if he thinks fit, remove any coroner from his office for inability or misbehaviour in the discharge of his duty.

Coroners are of three kinds: (1) coroners by virtue of their office, e.g. the lord chief justice of the king’s bench is the principal coroner of England; the puisne judges of the king’s bench are sovereign coroners—they may exercise their jurisdiction within any part of the realm, even in the verge1or other exempt liberties or franchises; (2) coroners by charter or commission, e.g. in certain liberties and franchises coroners are appointed by the crown or by lords holding a charter from the crown; (3) coroners by virtue of election, e.g. county and borough coroners. County coroners in England were, until 1888, elected by the freeholders, but by the Local Government Act 1888 the appointment was given to the county council, who may appoint any fit person, not being a county alderman or county councillor, to fill the office. By an act of 1860 the system of payment by fees, established by an act of 1843, was abolished and payment made by salary calculated on the average amount of the fees, mileage, and allowances usually received by the coroner for a period of five years, and the calculation revised every five years. In boroughs having a separate court of quarter sessions, and whose population exceeds 10,000, the coroner is appointed by the town council and is paid by fees. A county coroner must reside within his district or not more than two miles out of it. Deputy coroners are also appointed in both counties and boroughs, and the law relating to their appointment is contained in the Coroners Act 1892. The duties of a coroner were ascertained by 4 Edward I. st. 2:—“A coroner of our Lord the king ought to inquire of these things, first, when coroners are commanded by the king’s bailiffs or by the honest men of the county, they shall go to the places where any be slain, or suddenly dead or wounded, or where houses are broken, or where treasure is said to be found, and shall forthwith command four of the next towns, or five, or six, to appear before him in such a place; and when they are come thither, the coroner upon the oath of them shall inquire in this manner, that is, to wit, if it concerns a man slain, if they know when the person was slain, whether it were in any house, field, bed, tavern, or company, and if any, and who, were there, &c. It shall also be inquired if the dead person were known, or else a stranger, and where he lay the night before. And if any person is said to be guilty of the murder, the coroner shall go to their house and inquire what goods they have, &c.” Similar directions were given for cases of persons found drowned or suddenly dead, for attachment of criminals in cases of violence, &c. His functions are now, by the Coroners Act 1887, limited to an inquiry upon “the dead body of a person lying within his jurisdiction, where there is reasonable cause to suspect that such person has died either a violent or an unnatural death, or has died a sudden death of which the cause is unknown, or that such person has died in prison, or in such place or under such circumstances as to require an inquest in pursuance of any act” (S. 3), and upon treasure-trove (S. 36). The inquisition must besuper visum corporis(that is, after “viewing the body”); the evidence is taken on oath; and any party suspected may tender evidence. The Coroners Act 1887, S. 21, gives power to the coroner to summon medical witnesses and to direct the performance of a post-mortem examination. The verdict must be that of twelve at least of the jury. If any person is found guilty of murder or other homicide, the coroner shall commit him to prison for trial; he shall also certify the material evidence to the court, and bind over the proper persons to prosecute or to give evidence at the trial. He may in his discretion accept bail for a person found guilty of manslaughter. Since the abolition of public executions, the coroner is required to hold an inquest on the body of any criminal on whom sentence of death has been carried into effect. The duty of coroners to inquire into treasure-trove (q.v.) is still preserved by the Coroners Act 1887, which, however, repealed certain other jurisdictions, as,—inquests of royal fish (whale, sturgeon) thrown ashore or caught near the coast; inquest of wrecks, and of felonies, except felonies on inquisitions of death. By the City of London Fire Inquests Act 1888 the duty is imposed upon the coroner for the city to hold inquests in cases of loss or injury by fire in the city of London and the liberties thereof situated in the county of Middlesex. This is a practice which exists in several European countries.

In Scotland the duties of a coroner are performed by an officer called a procurator-fiscal.

In the United States and in most of the colonies of Great Britain the duties of a coroner are substantially the same. In some cases his duties are more enlarged, his inquisition embracing the origin of fires; in others they are confined to holding inquests in cases of suspicious deaths. Unlike a coroner in England, he is elected generally only for a specified period.

Authorities.—Jervis,Office and Duties of Coroners(6th ed., 1898); R. H. Wellington,The King’s Coroner(2 vols., 1905-1906). In 1908 a committee was appointed to inquire into the law relating to coroners and coroners’ inquests and into the practice in coroners’ courts.

(T. A. I.)

1Coroner of the Verge.—The verge comprised a circuit of 12 m. round the king’s court, and the coroner of the king’s house, called the coroner of the verge, has jurisdiction within this radius. By the Coroners Act 1887 the jurisdiction of the verge was abolished and became absorbed in that of the county, but the appointment of the king’s coroner was left with the lord steward, while his jurisdiction was limited to the precincts of the palace.

CORONIUM,that constituent (otherwise unknown) of the sun’s corona, which emits the characteristic green coronal ray, of which the wave-length is 5303.

COROT, JEAN-BAPTISTE CAMILLE(1796-1875), French landscape painter, was born in Paris, in a house on the Quai by the rue du Bac, now demolished, on the 26th of July 1796. His family were well-to-do bourgeois people, and whatever may have been the experience of some of his artistic colleagues, he never, throughout his life, felt the want of money. He was educated at Rouen and was afterwards apprenticed to a draper, but hated commercial life and despised what he called its “business tricks,” yet he faithfully remained in it until he was twenty-six, when his father at last consented to his adopting the profession of art. Corot learned little from his masters. He visited Italy on three occasions: two of his Roman studies are now in the Louvre. He was a regular contributor to the Salon during his lifetime, and in 1846 was “decorated” with the cross of the Legion of Honour. He was promoted to be officer in 1867. His many friends considered nevertheless that he was officially neglected, and in 1874, only a short time before his death, they presented him with a gold medal. He died in Paris, on the 22nd of February 1875, and was buried at Père Lachaise.

Of the painters classed in the Barbizon school it is probablethat Corot will live the longest, and will continue to occupy the highest position. His art is more individual than Rousseau’s, whose works are more strictly traditional; more poetic than that of Daubigny, who is, however, Corot’s greatest contemporary rival; and in every sense more beautiful than J. F. Millet, who thought more of stern truth than of aesthetic feeling.

Corot’s works are somewhat arbitrarily divided into periods, but the point of division is never certain, as he often completed a picture years after it had been begun. In his first style he painted traditionally and “tight”—that is to say, with minute exactness, clear outlines, and with absolute definition of objects throughout. After his fiftieth year his methods changed to breadth of tone and an approach to poetic power, and about twenty years later, say from 1865 onwards, his manner of painting became full of “mystery” and poetry. In the last ten years of his work he became the Père Corot of the artistic circles of Paris, in which he was regarded with personal affection, and he was acknowledged as one of the five or six greatest landscape painters the world has ever seen, along with Hobbema, Claude, Turner and Constable. During the last few years of his life he earned large sums by his pictures, which became greatly sought after. In 1871 he gave £2000 for the poor of Paris (where he remained during the siege), and his continued charity was long the subject of remark. Besides landscapes, of which he painted several hundred, Corot produced a number of figure pictures which are much prized. These were mostly studio pieces, executed probably with a view to keep his hand in with severe drawing, rather than with the intention of producing pictures. Yet many of them are fine in composition, and in all cases the colour is remarkable for its strength and purity. Corot also executed a few etchings and pencil sketches. In his landscape pictures Corot was more traditional in his method of work than is usually believed. If even his latest tree-painting and arrangement are compared with such a Claude as that which hangs in the Bridgewater gallery, it will be observed how similar is Corot’s method and also how masterly are his results.

The works of Corot are scattered over France and the Netherlands, Great Britain and America. The following may be considered as the first half-dozen: “Une Matinée” (1850), now in the Louvre; “Macbeth” (1859), in the Wallace collection: “Le Lac” (1861); “L’Arbre brisé” (1865): “Pastorale—Souvenir d’Italie” (1873), in the Glasgow Corporation Art Gallery; “Biblis” (1875). Corot had a number of followers who called themselves his pupils. The best known are Boudin, Lepine, Chintreuil, Français and Le Roux.

Authorities.—H. Dumesnil.Souvenirs intimes(Paris, 1875); Roger-Milès,Les Artistes célèbres: Corot(Paris, 1891); Roger-Milès,Album classique des chefs-d’œuvres de Corot(Paris, 1895); J. Rousseau,Bibliothèque d’art moderne: Camille Corot(Paris, 1884); J. Claretie,Peintres et sculpteurs contemporains: Corot(Paris, 1884); Ch. Bigot,Peintres français contemporains: Corot(Paris, 1888); Geo. Moore,Ingres and Corot in Modern Painting(London, 1893); David Croal Thomson,Corot(4to, London, 1892); Mrs Schuyler van Rensselaer, “Corot,”Century Magazine(June 1889); Corot,The Portfolio(1870), p. 60, (1875) p. 146; R. A. M. Stevenson, “Corot as an Example of Style in Painting,”Scottish Art Review(Aug. 1888); Ethel Birnstigl and Alice Pollard,Corot(London, 1904); Alfred Robaut,L’Œuvre de Corot, catalogue raisonné et illustré, précédé de l’histoire de Corot et de ses œuvres par Étienne Morceau-Nélaton(Paris, 1905).

(D. C. T.)

CORPORAL.1. (From Lat.corporalis, belonging to thecorpusor body), an adjective appearing in several expressions, such as “corporal punishment” (see below), or in “corporal works of mercy,” for those acts confined to the succouring of the bodily needs, such as feeding the hungry, visiting the sick, rescuing captives. A “corporal oath” was sworn with the body in contact with a sacred object (seeOath).

2. (From Lat.corporalis, sc.palla, orcorporale, sc.pallium), in the Roman Catholic Church, a small square linen cloth, which at the service of the Mass is placed on the altar under the chalice and paten. It was originally large enough to cover the whole surface of the altar, and was folded over so as to cover the chalice—a custom still observed by the Carthusians. The chalice is now, however, covered by another small square of linen, stiffened with cardboard, &c., known as the pall (palla). When not in use both corporal and pall are carried in a square silken pocket called the burse. The corporal must be blessed by the bishop, or by a priest with special faculties, the ritual prayers invoking the divine blessing that the linen may be worthy to cover and enwrap the body and blood of the Lord. It represents the winding-sheet in which Joseph of Arimathea wrapped the body of the dead Christ.

3. (Of uncertain derivation; the French formcaporal, and Ital.caporale, point to an origin fromcapo, Italian for head; theNew English Dictionary, however, favours the derivation from Lat.corpus, Ital.corpo, body), a non-commissioned officer of infantry, cavalry and artillery, ranking below a sergeant. This rank is almost universal in armies. In the 16th and 17th centuries there were corporals but no sergeants in the cavalry, and this custom is preserved in the three regiments of British household cavalry, the rank of sergeant being replaced by that of “corporal of horse,” and that of sergeant-major by “corporal-major.” In the 16th and early 17th centuries the title “corporal of the field” was often given to a superior officer who acted as a staff-officer to the sergeant-major-general. In the navy the “ship’s corporal,” formerly a semi-military instructor to the crew, is now a petty officer charged with assisting the master-at-arms in police duties on board ship.

CORPORAL PUNISHMENT,chastisement inflicted by one person on the body (corpus) of another. By the common law of England, Scotland and Ireland, the infliction of corporal punishment is illegal unless it is done in self-defence or in defence of others, or is done either by some person having punitive authority over the person chastised or under the authority of a competent court of justice. Corporal punishment in defence of self or others needs no comment, except that, like all other acts done in defence, its justification depends on whether or not it was reasonably necessary for the protection of the person attacked. Among persons invested with punitive authority, mention must first be made of parents and guardians, and of teachers, who have, by implied delegation from the parents, and as incidental to the relation of master and pupil, powers of reasonable corporal punishment. Such powers are not limited to offences committed by the pupil upon the premises of the school, but extend to acts done on the way to and from school and during what may be properly regarded as school hours (Clearyv.Booth, 1893, 1 Q.B. 465). The rights of parents, guardians and teachers, in regard to the chastisement of children, were expressly recognized in English law by the Prevention of Cruelty to Children Act 1904 (§ 28). Poor law authorities and managers of reformatories are in the same position in this respect as teachers. The punitive authority of elementary school teachers is subject to the regulations of the education authority: that of poor law authorities to the regulation of the Home Office and the Local Government Board. A master has a right to inflict moderate chastisement upon his apprentice for neglect or other misbehaviour, provided that he does so himself, and that the apprentice is under age (Archbold,Cr. Pl., 23rd ed., 795). Where a legal right of chastisement is exercised immoderately, the person so exercising it incurs both civil and criminal liability.

In some of the older English legal authorities (e.g. Bacon, Abridg. tit. “Baron and Feme,” B), it was stated that a husband might inflict moderate corporal punishment on his wife in order to keep her “within the bounds of duty.” But these authorities were definitely discredited in 1891 in the case ofR.v.Jackson(1 Q.B. 671). By the unmodified Mahommedan law, a husband may administer moderate corporal punishment to his wife; but it is doubtful whether this right could be legally exercised in British India (Wilson,Digest of Anglo-Mahommedan Law, 2nd ed., pp. 153, 154). In Hawkins’sPleas of the Crown(Bk. 1, c. 63, § 29) it is laid down that “churchwardens, and perhaps private persons, may whip boys playing in church” during divine service. But while the right to remove such offenders is undoubted, the right of castigation could not now safely be exercised. At common law the master of a ship is entitled to inflict reasonable chastisement on a seaman for gross breach ofduty. But such offences are now specially provided for by the Merchant Shipping Act 1894 (§§ 220-238); and where the provisions of that statute are available, corporal punishment would probably be illegal.

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