Jacobean pageant ; or, The court of King James I

The king is the leading actor in an English court pageant (1603–25) of jousts, masques, brilliant weddings, and glittering receptions. Scholarship as vivid as fiction presents all major aspects of the court from its intrigues, organization, and finances to the topography of Whitehall Palace and the poisoning of Sir Thomas Overbury. The cast includes Secretary Cecil, Lord Chancellor Bacon, Lady Arabella Stuart, and Sir Walter Raleigh. The first full study of James’s court in more than a century, Jacobean Pageant not only utilizes the findings of modern scholarship but makes generous use of primary sources, printed and manuscript... FOREWORD TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PROLOGUE CHAPTER I. The New King CHAPTER II. The Journey South CHAPTER III. The New Court Is Formed CHAPTER IV. A Day's Business at Winchester CHAPTER V. The Hungry Scots CHAPTER VI. Ambassadors from Beyond the Seas CHAPTER VII. Gunpowder, Treason and Plot CHAPTER VIII. The Royal Brother-in-Law CHAPTER IX. The Empty Exchequer CHAPTER X. The Fox of Hatfield Chase CHAPTER XI. The Languishing Lady CHAPTER XII. Tears for Prince Henry CHAPTER XIII. The Marriage of Thames and Rhine CHAPTER XIV. The Courtier's Life CHAPTER XV. The Rising Star of Somerset CHAPTER XVI. Murder in the Tower CHAPTER XVII. The Great Villiers CHAPTER XVIII. Titles, Money and Morals CHAPTER XIX. Duels and Affrays CHAPTER XX. Home to Scotland CHAPTER XXI. Death Beckons CHAPTER XXII. The Whitehall Connoisseurs CHAPTER XXIII. Inigo Jones Builds at Whitehall CHAPTER XXIV. Lord Chancellor Bacon CHAPTER XXV. Clergy at Court CHAPTER XXVI. Gondomar CHAPTER XXVII. Disaster in Bohemia CHAPTER XXVIII. With Prince Charles in Spain CHAPTER XXIX. The Pretensions of Parliament CHAPTER XXX. Last Scene of All Epilogue APPENDIX: A Note on the Plan of Whitehall Key to the Plan of Whitehall Palace NOTES CHAPTER REFERENCES INDEX Akrigg, G.P.V., Jacobean The Court Of King James I