It's that time, again! It's Tudor Trivia Tuesday! |
1) The great English statesman William Cecil’s father was Richard
Cecil, Groom, and afterwards Yeoman of the Wardrobe to Henry VIII. He held the
latter office under Edward VI. and died in it. March 22, 1552/3.
2) Don Juan de Figueroa, a Spaniard, was as representative
of the Emperor Charles V to be present at the nuptials of Philip of Spain and Queen
Mary I, and to make a formal resignation to them, in his name, of the kingdoms of
Naples and Sicily. Both the nuptials and the coronation as Queen of the two kingdoms
were performed at Winchester on the 25th of July, 1554.
3) December 4, 1549, Roman bookies were offering 100 for 40
for those betting on the English Cardinal Reginald Pole to replace Pope Paul
III who had died on November 10. Later
in the day he had backers at 100 for 46–50; and at night he was at 100 for 80,
and 30 ducats were paid down for payment of 100, in the event of his being
proclaimed Pope on the morning of the 5th. At midnight of the 4th, the
Cardinal of England was at 100 for 95. (During the conclave bookies — “bankers’
shops” — were never closed at any hour.) On February 7, Giovanni Maria Ciocchi del
Monte was elected Pope Julius III.
4) The last of her dalliances with the French Duke de Anjou
(formerly Alenҫon) having ended, Queen Elizabeth had lost her most effective
diplomatic ploy: the suggestion that she might marry. On April
19, 1581, a French embassy made up from many of France’s finest families was
invited to visit the English Court. The
embassy was made up of Francis de Bourbon, Dauphin d'Auvergne, and Charles de
Bourbon, Count de Soissons; Marshal de Cossé, Pinart, La Mothe Fenelon,
Brisson, and some 200 other courtiers of rank. So desirous was Elizabeth that
they should be impressed with the splendor of her court, that she ordered that the
London mercers should sell their fine stuffs at a reduction of 25 per cent, in
order that the courtiers might be handsomely dressed.
5) On April 30, 1581, the Baron Burghley entertained the
French legation at great Cecil House on the Strand. The following is the account for the evening:
…two stags, 40s.; two bucks, 20s.; six kids, 24s.; six pigs,
10s.; six shins of beef, 24s.; four gammons of bacon, 16s.; one swan, 10s.; three
cranes, 20s.; twenty-four curlews, 24s.; fifteen pheasants, 30s.; fifty-four
herons, £8, 15s.; eight part ridges, 8s., and vast quantities of meat of all
sorts; and sturgeon, conger, salmon, trout, lampreys, lobsters, prawns,
gurnards, oysters, and many sorts of fresh-water fish. Herbs and salads cost no
less than 36s., and cream, 27s. There were consumed 3300 eggs, 360 lbs. of butter,
42lbs. of spices, and three gallons of rose-water. £11, 7s. 3d. was paid for
the hire of extra vessels and glass; flowers and rushes cost £5, 7s. 10d., and
Turkey carpets, £11, This Gargantuan feast was served by forty-nine gentlemen
and thirty-four servants, and was washed down with £75 worth of beer as well as
Gascon, sack, hippocras, and other wine costing £21 ; the entire expenditure on
the afternoon's feeding being £649, 1s. 5d.
6) The 1536 miniature of Jane Seymour by Nicholas Hilliard is
believed to have been copied from an original portrait by Holbein.
7) “The fondness of our countrymen and countrywomen for
sweets astonished the Spaniards who came with the embassy of the Count
Villamediana in 1603. At Canterbury the English ladies are described as peeping
through the latticed windows (ventanas rejas) at the hidalgos, who presented
the ‘curious impertinent’ fair ones with the bonbons, comfits, and sweetmeats
that were upon the table, “which they enjoyed mightily ; for (it is remarked)
they eat nothing but what is sweetened with sugar, drinking it commonly with
their wine and mixing it with their meat.” [Brenchley Rye]
8) “Clownes and vulgar men onely use large drinking of Beere
or Ale, how much soever it is esteemed excellent drinke even among strangers;
but Gentlemen garrawse onely in Wine, with which many mixe sugar—which I never
observed in any other place or kingdome to be used for that purpose.” [Moryson]
9) It was believed by many in Tudor times that the moon had
an attendant star—Lilly calls it "Lunisequa". Some Shakespeare scholars
find an allusion to this idea in Love's Labour's Lost (IV.iii), where
the king says:
My love, her mistress, is a gracious
moon:
She an attending star, scarce seen
a light.
10) Cataracts were commonly called the “pin and web” in
Shakespeare’s time. He uses the term in
the Winter's Tale (I.ii.):
Leontes. all eyes blind
With the pin and web, but theirs,
theirs only
Also at Virtual Grub Street:
- Get Thee to the Mop. September 30, 2019. 'The most curious name by far, and the most persistent, it having become the popular name for such fairs, was the “mop fair,” or “the mop” for short.'
- The Secret Correspondence of Robert Cecil and James I. August 25, 2019. “As he was planning an armed attempt to “secure the person of the Queen,” after having returned from the country, in disgrace, and to force her to dismiss ministers who did not satisfy him, he was waiting for a return letter from King James VI of Scotland.”
- A Brief Introduction to Poisoning a Nobleman. August 4, 2019. “As those who read the primary accounts whenever possible know, never were vagaries so vague as in the Middle Ages.”
- A Most Curious Account of the Funeral of Queen Elizabeth I: April 28, 1603. April 28, 2019. “Once it was clear that James I would face no serious challenges, Cecil and the others could begin to give attention to the matter of the Queen’s funeral.”
- Stratford Shakespeare’s Undersized Grave. July 22, 2018. “Mr. Coll’s considers this evidence to support an old rumor that Shakspere’s head had been stolen in 1794. But I submit that he is merely making his observation based upon a coincidence.”
- Check out the English Renaissance Article Index for many more articles and reviews about this fascinating time and about the Shakespeare Authorship Question.
- Get Thee to the Mop. September 30, 2019. 'The most curious name by far, and the most persistent, it having become the popular name for such fairs, was the “mop fair,” or “the mop” for short.'
- The Secret Correspondence of Robert Cecil and James I. August 25, 2019. “As he was planning an armed attempt to “secure the person of the Queen,” after having returned from the country, in disgrace, and to force her to dismiss ministers who did not satisfy him, he was waiting for a return letter from King James VI of Scotland.”
- A Brief Introduction to Poisoning a Nobleman. August 4, 2019. “As those who read the primary accounts whenever possible know, never were vagaries so vague as in the Middle Ages.”
- A Most Curious Account of the Funeral of Queen Elizabeth I: April 28, 1603. April 28, 2019. “Once it was clear that James I would face no serious challenges, Cecil and the others could begin to give attention to the matter of the Queen’s funeral.”
- Stratford Shakespeare’s Undersized Grave. July 22, 2018. “Mr. Coll’s considers this evidence to support an old rumor that Shakspere’s head had been stolen in 1794. But I submit that he is merely making his observation based upon a coincidence.”
- Check out the English Renaissance Article Index for many more articles and reviews about this fascinating time and about the Shakespeare Authorship Question.
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