Queen Elizabeth’s Frog, the Countess’s Small Pox, Measuring Windsor, and more.

It's that time, again!  It's Tudor Trivia Tuesday!

1) From 1511 to 1512, Henry VIII military expenses exploded by 1200%.  In 1513 they went up another  350%.  These were the years of his first war with France.

2) According to Harrison’s Description of England (1577), alewives were in the habit of adding “rosen” and “salt” to their ale.  The salt was added in order to keep the customer ever thirstier for all the ale he might drink.  I am not aware of the reason for the “rosen”.

3) According to a workman’s notes, during the reign of Henry VII, “the body of the Church” at Windsor Castle was “in Lenkyth from the west ende to the fyrst degre befor the quere doore in to the Est ys. Ciij fote. And the brede of the sayde Chirch ys .xl. fote. Sm^a iiijm^l cxx fote.”  It was 103’x40’ for an area of 4120’.

4) An inventory completed on the 26^th of March, 1522, counted “11 wine merchants in London, and 28 principal taverns having cellars of wine; and the total quantity of wine in the cellars of the merchants and tavern keepers was 809 pipes.”

5) The French Duke of Anjou (previously Duke of Alencon) arrived in England on October 31, 1581, to make one final attempt to strike a marriage bargain with Queen Elizabeth.  He would be the Queen’s last suitor and was probably more intent to be fobbed off with funds to support his military endeavors in the Low Lands.

6) Queen Elizabeth called Anjou her “Frog”.

7) In 1582, worked pewter cost 8d. per pound in London.  Worked gold buttons cost about 3s each (depending upon the details).

8) Roger Manners reported to the Earl of Rutland that, on June 1^st, 1583, “my Lord of Oxford cam to [the Queen’s] presence, and after some bitter words and speches, in the end all sins ar forgiven and he may repayre to the court at his plesure.” Oxford had been exiled two years from the Royal Court for impregnating the Queen’s lady-in-waiting Anne Vavsour.

9) Before the Queen would except the Earl of Oxford back at Court, he was required to return to his wife, Anne Countess of Oxford.  He had refused to allow her into his presence for more than 8 years.  Soon after his return to housekeeping they had a son who died very shortly after birth.

10) On August 17, 1571, the Earl of Sussux wrote the Earl of Rutland that: “It has pleased God to visit my wife with the small pox, which causes my absence from the Court. Upon the Queen's move from Hampton Court I came hither, to stay a night or two with my wife, and to return to the Court at her coming to Hatfield. Upon my coming, I found my wife " extremely taken with a hot fever," which made my stay somewhat longer, and in the end it turned to small pox.”

Also at Virtual Grub Street:

• The Fascinating Itinerary of the Gelosi Troupe, 1576.  June 10, 2019.  “The Spanish soldiers had not been paid and unpaid soldiers tend to rob and loot.  The citizens were prepared to give them a fight.  Violent flare ups were occurring everywhere.”
• Lady Southwell on the Final Days of Queen Elizabeth I.  March 24, 2019.  “her majesty told [Lady Scrope] (commanding her to conceal the same ) that she saw, one night, in her bed, her body exceeding lean, and fearful in a light of fire.”
• Hedingham Castle 1485-1562 with Virtual Tour Link.  January 29, 2019. “Mr. Sheffeld told me that afore the old Erle of Oxford tyme, that cam yn with King Henry the vii., the Castelle of Hengham was yn much ruine,…”
• The Battle Over Shakespeare's Early and Late Plays. September 24, 2018. “The answers to the post-Oxford dilemma, of course, are three.”
• Shakespeare on Gravity. August 26, 2018. “So carelessly does Shakespeare throw out such an extraordinary divination. His achievement in thus, as it were, rivalling Newton may seem in a certain sense even more extraordinary than Goethe's botanical and osteological discoveries;…”
• Check out the English Renaissance Article Index for many more articles and reviews about this fascinating time and about the Shakespeare Authorship Question.