The Elizabethan Court Day by Day

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"The Elizabethan Court Day by Day" by Marion E. Colthorpe is licensed under an Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license. This means that anyone who wants to read, search, share, remix, transform, and build on "The Elizabethan Court Day by Day" is free to do so, under the following conditions:

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Note: As with any resource of this magnitude built over decades of research, The Elizabethan Court Day by Day is neither exhaustive nor without the potential for error. If you have questions, please direct them to Folger Reference at reference@folger.edu.

Author's Introduction

This began, decades ago, as an investigation into the people and places visited by Queen Elizabeth I on her travels, known as ‘progresses’, and the entertainments presented before her. It gradually expanded until I had discovered the whereabouts of the Queen on every day throughout her long reign, what she was doing, often what she was saying, who her companions were.

Thus it shows the Queen at work as well as at play. Light is shed on her relationship with favoured courtiers, her dealings with foreign ambassadors and monarchs, with her Councillors, her Parliaments, her people. Although the focus is on the court, a number of events away from court, some overseas, are included.

Plays, tournaments, and other court entertainments, are covered in detail. Hundreds of extracts from contemporary books, many dedicated to the Queen, some by famous authors, build into an unusual anthology of Elizabethan literature.

Numerous sources not previously published have been used, including diaries, letters, and the account-books kept by senior officials of the Royal Household. To endeavour to make everything readily accessible spelling has been modernised, and references to sources have been made as brief as possible. The New Year has been taken to start on January 1st, not (as was the custom) on March 25th. Foreign languages have been translated; dispatches of Ambassadors often give revealing glimpses of the Queen.

As listed in a ‘Contents Summary’, a large number of Indexes are provided, for example of ‘Women at Court’, which has biographical details never brought together before. The ‘Prominent Elizabethans’ Index gives condensed biographies of the leading personalities of the reign. There are some 150 ‘Subject Indexes’ which cover a very wide range of topics, such as Apparel, Jewels, Music, Ships, Sports, Voyages. There should be something to interest everyone.

Marion E. Colthorpe, MA.

Cambridge, 2017.

The Elizabethan Court Day by Day

CONTENTS SUMMARY (23 p.)

Contents and Survey of the Reign

YEARS OF THE REIGN (2366 p.)

Prologue and 1558
1559
1560
1561
1562
1563
1564
1565
1566
1567
1568
1569
1570
1571
1572
1573
1574
1575
1576
1577
1578
1579
1580
1581
1582
1583
1584
1585
1586
1587
1588
1589
1590
1591
1592
1593
1594
1595
1596
1597
1598
1599
1600
1601
1602
1603

COURT; ANECDOTES and MISCELLANEOUS; INDEXES (934 p.)

Anecdotes and Miscellaneous (33 p.)
Authors and Books (43 p.)
County Index, Hosts, Proposed Progresses, Traditional and Mistaken Visits (106 p.)
Court Entertainments and Tournaments (34 p.)
Court: Women at Court, and the Royal Household (100 p.)
Irish and Scots (23 p.)
Prominent Elizabethans (162 p.)
Prominent Foreigners; Ambassadors (85 p.)
Subject Indexes (320 p.)
Glossary (14 p.)
Bibliography (14 p.)

About the Author

I'm originally from Essex, where we were fruit-growers. After studying at Oxford and at one of the Inns of Court, Lincoln's Inn, I moved to Cambridge in 1963. Since then I have had the good fortune to live beside the River Cam and opposite a Nature Reserve.
I have had a varied career, particularly in tourism and publishing. I was already keenly interested in Elizabethan literature, and had also visited a number of places claiming that 'Queen Elizabeth slept here'. The more I read about 'Gloriana' and her court the more fascinated I became.
This led me to start to work on unpublished manuscripts, which entailed innumerable trips to the Public Record Office (now The National Archives), the British Library, and other libraries and Record Offices. The research was arduous but enjoyable, and was interspersed with my hobbies such as gardening and rowing on the Cam in my little boat Greensleeves.
The first results of my research were two books published in 1977: Royal Cambridge: Royal Visitors to Cambridge, and Queen Elizabeth I and Harlow.
I went on to publish many articles on the Elizabethan court in learned journals.
I then took the decision to concentrate on this comprehensive work following the Queen throughout her reign. It has taken much longer than I expected, but now I am honoured that the Folger Shakespeare Library is presenting it to the public.

Marion E. Colthorpe, MA, Barrister-at-Law.

Cambridge, May 2017.

Acknowledgements

My first and most heartfelt acknowledgement must be to the late Dr Marie Axton, formerly of Newnham College, Cambridge. For many years she read and discussed my work with me and gave me unfailing encouragement, support, and guidance. I am so sad that she did not live to see this project completed.
When Marie’s failing health no longer permitted her to continue, Dr Jean Wilson, also of Cambridge, stepped into her place as a kind and friendly mentor. I owe more than I can say to Marie and Jean.
I am grateful to Jane A.Lawson and Steven W.May, both of Atlanta, Georgia, specialists on the reign of Elizabeth, for valuable advice and assistance.
I also thank Pauline and Richard Freeman, and Claire Brown, all of Cambridge, for their enthusiastic support.
Two libraries have been essential for my research, and I am much obliged to their staff: the London Library, and Cambridge University Library.

I also make acknowledgement to:
The Bodleian Library, Oxford.
The British Library.
The National Archives, Kew.
The Archivist, College of Arms, London.
The Archivist of the Duke of Northumberland at Alnwick Castle (mainly descriptions of Garter ceremonies).
The Archivist, Berkeley Castle (letters to Lord Hunsdon in 1602).
The Head of Archives and Library, Canterbury Cathedral.
The Archivist, Chatsworth, Derbyshire (letter of July 1587).
The Curator of Manuscripts, Folger Shakespeare Library.
The Curator, Longleat Historic Collections, Wiltshire.
English Province of the Society of Jesus, London (transcripts of letters from Father Rivers, 1602).
The Provost and Fellows, Eton College (Audit Books).
The Librarian, Lambeth Palace Library.
The Librarian, University College, London.
The Society of Genealogists, London.
Robert Brudenell, for notes from Edmund Brudenell’s Almanac, at Deene Park, Northants.
The De L’Isle Manuscripts are quoted by kind permission of Viscount De L’Isle, from his private collection.
The Pepys Manuscripts. Transcriptions included by permission of the Pepys Library, Magdalene College, Cambridge.
The Marquess of Salisbury for his kind permission to quote from the HMC Calendars of Salisbury MSS and from microfilms of the originals at Hatfield, Hertfordshire.
Berkshire Record Office, Reading.
Bristol Archives.
Cambridgeshire RO.
Coventry Archives; Warwickshire CRO.
Essex Record Office: Chelmsford.
Hampshire RO, Winchester.
Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies, Hertford.
Kent History and Library Centre, Maidstone.
Lichfield RO; Staffordshire RO.
Lincolnshire Archives, Lincoln (Ancaster MSS).
Norfolk RO, Norwich.
Oxfordshire History Centre, Oxford.
Suffolk: East and West Suffolk RO: Ipswich; Bury St Edmunds.
Surrey History Centre, Woking.

Marion Colthorpe, May 2017