Thomas Hudson (poet)
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Thomas Hudson, (died in or before 1605) was a musician and poet from the north of England present at the Scottish court of King James VI at the end of the 16th century. Both he and his brother Robert Hudson were members of the Castalian Band, a group of court poets and musicians headed by the King in the 1580s and 1590s. William Hudson taught King James to dance, and another brother, James Hudson, became involved in diplomacy between England and Scotland.[1]
The Hudson brothers came to Scotland in the retinue of Lord Darnley, and seem to have been connected with Anthony Standen, an English servant of Darnley.[2] Two months after Mary married Darnley, five belts and five pairs of garters of red taffeta were bought for the brothers. They were paid a fee or wages as "sangsteris", singing men.[3]
The brothers joined the household of the infant James VI of Scotland at Stirling Castle as viola players and were listed in the household on 10 March 1568 as "Mekill [Big] Thomas Hudson, Robert Hudson, James Hudson, William Hudson", with their servant William Fowlartoun.[4] The four Hudson brothers were given £50 yearly for their livery clothes,[5] and were allocated a table of their own for their dinners in royal household.[6]
An inventory of Stirling Castle made in 1584 mentions a "violer's chamber beside the great hall", used as the musicians lodging when the court was at the castle.[7] Thomas Hudson also played the lute for the king, and lute strings were bought for him in January 1580.[8] As the brothers were employed by the successive Regents of Scotland, it can be presumed that their sympathies lay with the Protestantism rather than Catholic and French interests.[9]
Dance and masques at court
A "dancing house" at Holyrood Palace was roofed in September 1579.[10] William Hudson was paid to teach the king to dance in 1580 and was called the "master balladin". The dancing lessons can be associated with new French cultural influences at the Scottish court on the arrival of Esmé Stewart.[11][12][13][14] The King's mother, Mary, Queen of Scots, had been taught dancing by a balladin, Jehan Paulle or Giovan Paulo, in France in 1551.[15][16] William Hudson received a New Year's Day gift of £200 Scots in January 1584.[17]
The "violeris" were bought costumes in December 1579 for a court masque, apparently the Navigatioun written by Alexander Montgomerie. It involved the torchlit entrance at Holyrood Palace of a narrator and his companions, a "Turk, the More, and the Egyptien".[18] The musicians were bought "mask claithis" comprising red and yellow taffeta, silver tock, and swords and daggers.[19] Montgomerie's prologue alludes to the Magi and Epiphany to flatter James VI as the Northern Star. James was also characterised as Solomon. The masque was followed by dancing.[20]
Thomas Hudson was involved in the king's performance in these masques both as a choreographer and costumer. In February 1582, he supplied James with "necessar apparell" for a "mask danss".[21] No surviving music is certainly attributed to the brothers, but old Scottish collections include two pieces Huchison's pavan and Huchison's galliard which may be the work of the brothers known by a variant spelling of their surname. A part song for four voices Nou let us sing has been associated with the brothers and the 1579 Entry of James VI into Edinburgh.[22]
