The Progresses, Pageants, and Entertainments of Queen Elizabeth I

More Than Any Other English Monarch Before Or Since, Queen Elizabeth I Used Her Annual Progresses To Shape Her Royal Persona And To Bolster Her Popularity And Authority. During The Spring And Summer, Accompanied By Her Court, Elizabeth Toured Southern England, The Midlands, And Parts Of The West Country, Staying With Private And Civic Hosts, And At The Universities Of Oxford And Cambridge. The Progresses Provided Hosts With Unique Opportunities To Impress And Influence The Queen, And Became Occasions For Magnificent And Ingenious Entertainments And Pageants, Drawing On The Skills Of Architects, Artists, And Craftsmen, As Well As Dramatic Performances, Formal Orations, Poetic Recitations, Parades, Masques, Dances, And Bear Baiting.^ The Progresses, Pageants, And Entertainments Of Queen Elizabeth I Is An Interdisciplinary Essay Collection, Drawing Together New And Innovative Work By Experts In Literary Studies, History, Theatre And Performance Studies, Art History, And Antiquarian Studies. As Such, It Will Make A Unique And Timely Contribution To Research On The Culture And History Of Elizabethan England.^ Chapters Include Examinations Of Some Of The Principal Elizabethan Progress Entertainments, Including The Coronation Pageant Veritas Temporis Filia (1559), Kenilworth (1575), Norwich (1578), Cowdray (1591), Bisham (1592), And Harefield (1602), While Other Chapters Consider The Themes Raised By These Events, Including The Ritual Of Gift-giving; The Conduct Of Government Whilst On Progress; The Significance Of The Visual Arts In The Entertainments; Regional Identity And Militarism; Elite And Learned Women As Hosts; The Circulation And Publication Of Entertainment And Pageant Texts; The Afterlife Of The Elizabethan Progresses, Including Their Reappropriation In Caroline England And The Documenting Of Elizabeth's Reign By Late Eighteenth- And Early Nineteenth-century Antiquarians Such As John Nichols, Who Went On To Compile The Monumentalthe Progresses Of Queen Elizabeth (1788-1823). I. The Elizabethan Progresses Patterns, Themes, And Contexts. Monarchy In Motion : An Overview Of Elizabethan Progresses / Mary Hill Cole -- Giving And Receiving On Royal Progress / Felicity Heal -- Ii. Civic And Academic Receptions For Queen Elizabeth I. Location As Metaphor In Queen Elizabeth's Coronation Entry (1559) : Veritas Temporis Filia / Hester Lees-jeffries -- Spectator And Spectacle Royal Entertainments At The Universities In The 1560s / Siobhan Keenan -- Mysteries, Musters, And Masque : The Import(s) Of Elizabethan Civic Entertainments / C.e. Mcgee -- Pulling The Strings : Religion And Politics In The Progress Of 1578 / Patrick Collinson -- The 'i' Of The Beholder : Thomas Churchyard And The 1578 Norwich Pageant / David M. Bergeron -- Iii. Private Receptions For Queen Elizabeth I. Portraiture, Patronage, And The Progresses : Robert Dudley, Earl Of Leicester, And The Kenilworth Festivities Of 1575 / Elizabeth Goldring -- Contesting Terms : Loyal Catholicism And Lord Montague's Entertainment At Cowdray, 1591 / Elizabeth Heale -- Elizabeth I's Reception At Bisham (1592) : Elite Women As Writers And Devisers / Peter Davidson And Jane Stevenson -- Elizabethan Entertainments In Manuscript : The Harefield Festivities (1602) And The Dynamics Of Exchange / Gabriel Heaton -- Iv. Afterlife Caroline And Antiquarian Perspectives. `in The Purest Times Of Peerless Queen Elizabeth' : Nostalgia, Politics, And Jonson's Use Of The 1575 Kenilworth Entertainments / James Knowles -- A Pioneer Of Renaissance Scholarship : John Nichols And The Progresses And Public Processions Of Queen Elizabeth / Julian Pooley. Edited By Jayne Elisabeth Archer, Elizabeth Goldring And Sarah Knight. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [287]-293) And Index. Cover ......Page 1 Contents......Page 8 List of Illustrations......Page 13 Elizabetha Triumphans......Page 16 Part I: The Elizabethan Progresses . Patterns, Themes, and Contexts......Page 40 Monarchy in Motion: An Overview of Elizabethan Progresses ......Page 42 Giving and Receiving on Royal Progress......Page 61 Part II: Civic and Academic Receptions for Queen Elizabeth I......Page 78 Location as Metaphor in Queen Elizabeth’s Coronation Entry (1559): Veritas Temporis Filia ......Page 80 Spectator and Spectacle: Royal Entertainments at the Universitiesin the 1560s ......Page 101 Mysteries, Musters, and Masque: The Import(s) of Elizabethan Civic Entertainments ......Page 119 Pulling the Strings: Religion and Politics in the Progress of 1578 ......Page 137 The ‘I’ of the Beholder: Thomas Churchyard and the 1578 Norwich Pageant ......Page 157 PART III: Private Receptions for Queen Elizabeth I......Page 176 Portraiture, Patronage, and the Progresses Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, and theKenilworth Festivities of 1575 ......Page 178 Contesting Terms: Loyal Catholicism and Lord Montague’s Entertainment at Cowdray, 1591 ......Page 204 Elizabeth I’s Reception at Bisham (1592): Elite Women as Writers and Devisers......Page 222 Elizabethan Entertainments in Manuscript: The Harefield Festivities (1602) and the Dynamics of Exchange ......Page 242 PART IV: Afterlife . Caroline and Antiquarian Perspectives......Page 260 ‘In the purest times of peerless Queen Elizabeth’: Nostalgia, Politics, and Jonson’s useof the 1575 Kenilworth Entertainments ......Page 262 A Pioneer of Renaissance Scholarship: John Nichols and The Progresses and Public Processions of Queen Elizabeth ......Page 283 Select Bibliography of Secondary Criticism ......Page 302 Index......Page 310 The reign of Elizabeth I was a Golden Age of English culture. Part of Elizabeth's policy of 'popular monarchy' took the form of tours throughout southern England and the Midlands. In return, her hosts staged theatrical performances, pageants, and entertainments. These essays explore the Elizabethan progresses from a range of perspectives.