Elizabeth I...?

Question

i need detailed descriptions of court life and entertainment

also a description of a maid of honor's role...

should be relevant to a historical fiction term paper

THANX!

Answer 1

If you haven't waited until the last second to do your term paper there are several good books out that you should read.  If you like historical fiction you need to read The Virgin's Lover by Philippa Gregory.  It's about Elizabeth I and gives great descriptions of the court and maids lives.  It's easy to read and will only take a few days.

Answer 2

Court was wherever the Queen happened to be and was made up of all those who surrounded the Queen from servants to the courtiers themselves. Once a year the Queen would often go on a progress to the southern counties, but most of the time, she resided in one of the great royal palaces; Whitehall, Hampton Court, Greenwich, Richmond, Westminster, St James, Windsor Castle, and towards the end of her reign, Nonsuch.

Over a thousand people attended court and the larger the palace, the easier it was to accommodate this number of people where being lodged at court was an honour. The Queen would usually retire to Whitehall for Christmas, and after a few weeks would move on to another palace such as Richmond or Greenwich before moving to Windsor for Easter and the Maundy ceremony that the Queen participated in every year. In this ceremony, Elizabeth would ceremoniously wash the feet of poor women (the same number as the Queen's age), sign them with a cross, and then kiss them. The women would then be given presents of cloth, shoes, fish, bread and wine, and purses containing the same number of coins as the Queen's age. St George's Day was also celebrated at Windsor.  

It was important that the court moved after a few weeks as the palaces needed to be "aired and sweetened". Sewerage facilities were primitive and unless the palaces were cleaned after several weeks, it would become an unhygienic and unpleasant place to be. When the court was not in residence, the Palace would be cared for by a Keeper and resident staff and they were expected to have things ready so that the Queen and her court could arrive at a moments notice.

Everyone who was permitted to court had access to the Presence Chamber. This was a great hall in which the monarch would give audience and where all entertaining and general socializing took place. Access to other parts of the palace, depended on status and relationship to the Queen. Security was necessarily tight as with so many people daily visiting court there was always the danger that an assassin could target the Queen. Elizabeth was thus well guarded and access to her privy chambers was strictly controlled by her Gentleman Usher. The Queen had two private rooms, the Privy Chamber and the Bedchamber, although she was rarely, if ever, alone in either. Not only were her six maids of honour often present, but there were also ladies of the bedchamber, ladies and grooms of the Privy Chamber, aswell as the Gentleman Usher. The Queen would also entertain government officials or Ambassadors here.  

Elizabeth tended to spend most of her day in the Privy Chamber, but also had a privy garden and she loved to take brisk walks in the great outdoors, accompanied by her maids of honour. The palaces also housed a great library and Elizabeth was an avid reader. She was fluent in Latin and Greek and loved to read and translate the works of classical authors and was also very interested in history.

Dinner was usually served around noon and courtiers would generally eat together in the Presence Chamber, although some would have food delivered to them privately in their quarters. Elizabeth tended to take her meals in her Privy Chamber and ate only in the Presence Chamber on special occasions. Not only was she spared public scrutiny, but she could eat her meals without too much ceremony, and get on with the business of the day. Her ladies would bring several plates of food to her Privy chambers, food which had been ceremoniously checked for poison, and after taking what she wanted, the food would be shared amongst her ladies.

Supper was served at between five and six in the evening and afterwards entertainment would be provided in the Presence Chamber, such as a play, a masque, a ball, or a musical concert. Sometimes the Queen would attend or she would stay in her privy rooms and continue reading and signing state papers. Most of the palaces had a hunting park where the Queen and her courtiers could hunt deer. This was one of the Queen's favourite pastimes. Bear baits and dog baits were also held at court, together with less violent sports such as hawking. Tennis was another courtly pastime.

There was a lot of ceremony surrounding the Queen. For example, as she moved around the palace, guards would line her route and a fanfare would announce her arrival. The Queen's head was always theoretically meant to be higher than everyone elses, although in practice this may have been hard to observe without all the tall men of her court permanently kneeling. No one was supposed to turn their back on the monarch, which often meant walking backwards if leaving the Queen's presence. All courtiers were also expected to present the Queen with a New Year's gift, and in return the Queen would present them with a gilt plate to the value of their status. Later, it became customary to present her with a gift on her birthday and accession day also.  

Much was expected of a male courtier. He was expected to be graceful and courteous in manner and discourse; well educated in classical works of literature, history, geography, mathematics, languages;  athletic, industrious, generous, and witty. While all the men who frequented the court were technically a courtier, the role of the traditional courtier was very different to the role of the councillor or the politician.  



Therefore Elizabeth expected different things from various of her men. Of traditional Courtiers like Robert Dudley, she expected a certain flamboyance of dress and manner. She expected to be courted very much in the courtly love tradition. She was the available but ultimately unobtainable lady that they were trying to woo. She expected flattery, gifts, expected to be courted by music, by dancing, and by words of love and devotion. It was all part of the courtly ideal and a perfect solution to the problem of how a man should behave towards a female monarch, more over a single female monarch. It was in many ways frivolous fun and married men as well as single men played this game with the Queen. It was not meant to be taken from the courtly to the personal level or to result in an actual relationship or personal romance with the Queen. Hostile outsiders sometimes misconstrued the innocent flirtations for serious romantic intentions and this was partly responsible for Elizabeth's erroneous lascivious reputation.  

Elizabeth's court also housed its share of spies. These spies belonged to various foreign powers who planted them in the Royal household to find out secrets and to generally provide them with information. The Queen had her own spies in royal residences in other countries.

Answer 3

http://www.elizabethi.org/us/    go to that site u will find all u need.