The first Maundy alms were given in Knaresborough

At the Maundy ceremony the sovereign gives each person two leather purses

The first Maundy alms were given in Knaresborough

25th March 1936: Officials at their office in Queen Anne's Gate preparing purses of specially minted Maundy Money which is traditionally given to poor, aged parishioners. (Photo by London Express/Getty Images) Hulton Archive
At the Maundy ceremony the sovereign gives each person two leather purses

It's 800 years since the first recorded occasion when the sovereign distributed Maundy alms. That was in Knaresborough in 1210 when King John distributed garments, forks, food, and other gifts to the poor of the town.

It is thought that the Maundy ceremony goes back to around 600 A.D. but the ceremony we see today bears little resemblance to the one back then which has its origins in Christ's commandment, on washing the feet of his disciples the day before Good Friday, 'that ye love one another' (John XIII 34).
Knaresborough Castle

King John first gave Maundy alms to the poor in Knaresborough

King Edward III is said to have washed feet and given gifts including money to the poor as a reminder that the sovereign served the people. The practice continued regularly and King James II was the last monarch to do this. In the nineteenth century monetary allowances were substituted for the gifts of clothing and food.

It was King Henry IV who began connecting the number of recipients of the gifts to the sovereign's age and, as it became the custom of the sovereign to perform the ceremony, the event became known as the Royal Maundy.

The ceremony always used to take place in London but, early in her reign, Queen Elizabeth II decided it should take place in a different venue each year. She distributed Maundy money in Selby Abbey in 1969; York Minster in 1972 and Ripon Cathedral in 1985.

Today's recipients of Royal Maundy, as many elderly men and women as there are years in the sovereign's age, are chosen because of the Christian service they have given to the Church and community.

At the ceremony, the sovereign hands each recipient two small leather string purses. One, a red purse, contains - in ordinary coinage - money in lieu of food and clothing; the other, a white purse, contains silver Maundy coins consisting of the same number of pence as the years of the sovereign's age.

Prior to 1663, ordinary coinage was used for Maundy gifts with the Tudors and Stuarts using silver pennies for the ceremony.

In the reign of Charles II special Maundy money was created with an undated issue of hammered coins in 1662. The coins were a fourpenny, threepenny, twopenny and one penny piece. It was not until 1670 that a dated set of all four coins appeared.
Her Majesty the Queen distributing the Royal Maundy in St Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh, N Ireland. Copyright Getty Images
Prior to 1663, ordinary coinage was used for Maundy gifts

Maundy money has remained in much the same form since 1670, with the coins used for the Maundy ceremony traditionally being struck in sterling silver.

When decimalisation took place, the face value of the coins was increased from old to new pence.

The effigy of the Queen on ordinary circulating coinage has undergone three changes since she came to the throne, but Maundy coins still bear the same portrait of Her Majesty prepared by Mary Gillick for the first coins issued in the year of her coronation in 1953.

On Easter Saturday, 3 April 2010, Knaresborough is marking the 800th anniversary of the first Maundy ceremony.

The celebrations will include a re-enactment of the first Royal Maundy by the Knaresborough Players and 13 people have been chosen as recipients of a silver commemorative Maundy coin in recognition of their loyalty and devotion to Knaresborough.

These will be presented by guests of honour, the Bishop of Knaresborough, James Bell, the Lord Lieutenant, the Mayor and Mayoress of Knaresborough, Councillors Mavis Clemmitt and Jean Burdett and Mrs Pat Kellett.

David Walker from Knaresborough was amongst the recipients of the official Maundy money from the Queen in Derby on Maundy Thursday