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The Progress of 1578 was an extensive royal tour of East Anglia, England by Queen Elizabeth I, which took place in July and August 1578. It is the only extensive royal tour of the region, the only progress to have been the subject of a monograph, and one of the best recorded Elizabethan progresses.[1][2] It is argued that the Progress contributed to her reputation as an unmarried, chaste queen.[3]
Background
East Anglia was unstable at the time of the Queen's progress,[2] and Norfolk was known for being rebellious at this time; memory of Kett's Rebellion in 1549, an agrarian uprising in response to the enclosure of common land, was a part of the national consciousness.[4] Mary Tudor's 1553 coup d'etat had been mounted from Suffolk, and the execution of Duke of Norfolk Thomas Howard took place six years prior to the progress,[2] following the conspiracy to assassinate Elizabeth known as the Ridolfi plot and the subsequent Northern Rebellion of 1569 in which citizens of Norfolk participated. The execution had created a power vacuum.[5]
By the time of her visit to Norwich, the Dutch community in this city, known as the Strangers, was one of the most substantial communities of this group in England. An uprising against these religious refugees had occured in 1570, though tensions had eased by the mid-1570s and civic leaders were praising this population for their industry, contributions, and obedience. However, in Spring 1578, Queen Elizabeth had backed away from her direct support for the Protestant Dutch and William of Orange.[6] Additionally, there had been a decline in trade and industry, an increase in poverty, and threats of foreign invasion.[5]
Preparations
Route planning
It is debatable as to who decided to begin a progress to East Anglia in 1578 and who drew up the queen's exact itinerary for the progress; it may have been Elizabeth herself, Lord Chamberlain, or the more opaque machinery of government at the time. Evidence is not consistent as to who of the interested parties knew of the plans and when. There are conflicting reports; in May 1578, Gilbert Talbot told his father, the then Earl of Shrewsbury, that "It is thought her Majesty will go in progress to Norfolk this year, but there is no certain determination thereof as yet." The Earl of Leicester remarked on 18 June that his friend Lord North had no time "to furnish his house according to his duty and honourable good will." Though Norwich was notified of the visit in June, Thomas Churchyard was of the belief that Norfolk and Suffolk had been given "but small warning". In mid-July, Lord Keeper Sir Nicholas Bacon as unsure whether the Queen would get as far as Suffolk, and on 20 July, Norfolk gentleman Sir Christopher Heydon wrote in a letter to Bacon's son Nathaniel may not be coming as far as Norwich, "if the bird sing truly that I heard this day". On 21 July, the Earl of Northumberland asked William Cecil about "the certainty of Her Majesty's progress". Patrick Collinson has argued that the decision to go to Norwich through Suffolk was taken by a dominant group in the Privy Council and possibly Earl of Leicester Robert Dudley who had interests in this area.[7]
Plans for celebrations in Norwich
Churchyard arrived in Norwich on 25 July.[7] It was planned for the Queen's arrival in this city on 16 August that she would meet "one which represented king Gurgunt, sometime king of England",[8] at the Town Close. It was to be falsely claimed that Gurgunt was a former King of England who had founded Norwich. The character of Gurgunt was claim to have built Norwich Castle, and to point out parallels between himself and Elizabeth, such as that they both had grandfathers who ended civil wars, had fathers who were enemies to Rome – Gurgunt's father was "King Belin" – and had founded schools at Cambridge.[9] Gurgunt would have spoken of the sacking of Rome by an ancient English army.[10] The actor playing Gurgunt was to wear a costume of armour with green and white silk bases, and a black velvet hat with green and white feathers,[9] as these were the family colours of the Tudors as well as the personal colours of the Queen.[11] This speech in particular would not come to pass.[12] Aside from this, Norwich's Protestant and pro-Dutch mayor Robert Wood prepared two orations for the visit. The Dutch congregation erected a monument, and its minister Hermanus Modert prepared one lengthy oration in Latin. Norwich schoolmaster Stephen Limbert prepared two orations.[6]
Route
Audley End
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Here, the University of Cambridge prepared presentations for Elizabeth, with vice-chancellor Richard Howland presenting her with a copy of the New Testament in Greek, a pair of gloves, and Latin verses celebrating her as an "innuba Virgo" who was "prudens/prudent" and "casta/chaste."[6]
On 12 August, the Queen proceeded into Norfolk and stopped at Kenninghall estate. On 16 August, she proceeded to Bracon Ash estate, going on to Norwich after dinner. Prior to entering the city she was greeted by the "Dutch congregation".[5]
Norwich
The travelling show reached Norwich, then seen as the second city of the Kingdom, and stayed there from 16 to 22 August. The Spanish ambassador referred to the city as 'the North'. Celebrations here were stage-managed and choreographed by Thomas Churchyard.[1] On 16 August,[8] it rained and the Queen left before the actor playing King Gurgunt could recite his speech to her;[12] this was the only performer left dissapointed.[13]
Entrance into Norwich
Spanish ambassador Mendoza wrote to the King of Spain:[5]
When she entered Norwich large crowds of people came out to receive her, and one company of children knelt as she passed and said, as usual, 'God save the Queen.' She turned to them and said, 'Speak up; I know you do not love me here.'[5]
She then entered Norwich; Bernard Garter described that:[5]
Then hir Maiestie, drewe neare the Gates of the Citie called Sainct Stephens gates [...] The Queenes Armes were moste richely and beautifully set forth in the chiefe front of the gate, on the oneside thereof [...] on the other side, the armes of the Cittie: and directlye vnder the Queenes Maiesties armes was placed ye Falcon, hir hyghnesse Badge in due forme, & vnder the same were written these words, God and the Queen we serue.[5]
The beginning pageants of her visit included the exhortation "no Fraude, nor Force, nor foraine Foe may stand Againste the strength of thy moste puyssuant hand." This was an expression of the opposition of the public to her marriage negotiations with the Duke of Alençon.[3]
The day after the Court arrived in Norwich, Hermanus Modert delivered his oration, praising her for offering the Dutch refugees sanctuary, for her status as a Protestant queen, and a 'nurse' of the Church, as well as referencing the book of Isaiah and the biblical story of Joseph.[6] Upon hearing that the Dutch and Flemish Strangers had landed in Deal, and had gone to Sandwich to find it a "decayed town", she made the decision in letters patent to "give and graunte lycence to all and every persons strangers [...] to inhabite within our said towne and porte of Sandwich."[5]
The mayor spoke with Elizabeth about the religious issues of the city, and the Queen responded:[5]
We hartily thanke you, Maister Maior, and all the reste, for these tokens of goodwill, neuertheless Princes haue no neede of money: God hathe endowed vs abundantly, we come not therefore, but for that whiche in right is our owne, the heartes and true allegeaunce of our Subiects.[5]
A French delegation arrived to join the royal party halfway through Elizabeth's week at Norwich; the Catholic Duke of Anjou had sent M. de Bacqueville and M. de Quissy to press the reopening of marriage negotiations, whereas Henri III sent M. de Rambouillet. Stephen Limbert delivered his main oration on the Wednesday in front of the city's hospital nearby his grammar school. He spoke of the history of the hospital, her compassion for the poor that she had learned from reading Plato, and the similarity of her actions to classical figures like Hesiod and Homer, quoting their works in Latin and Greek. After hearing the beginning of Limbert's oration, Elizabeth encouraged the French delegation and her nobles to listen to it again, and closely. He finished the speech with praise for England as unified under her leadership. She is purported that she said to Limbert, "It is the best that euer I heard, you shal haue my hande, and pulled off hir gloue, and gaue him hir hand to kisse."[6]
On the third day of the visit, Robert Dudley wrote to William Davidson, England's ambassador to William of Orange, noting that the Court was "presently here at Norwich, somwhat nere you, where my thinkes I hear every day the voyce of that people", referring here to the presence of the Dutch community in the city, writing that they disapproved of the Queen's reticence to aid them; "lytle good I imagyn they say, but crye out uppon such neighbours."[6]
Contemporary accounts
Thomas Churchyard and Bernard Garter both wrote of the Queen's progress through Norwich, and rushed their accounts of these events to the press soon after their celebration.[1] Churchyard's account was published as A Discovrse of The Queenes Maiesties entertainement in Suffolk and Norffolk, and only contains the more courtly entertainments that were written by Churchyard himself in English; these have an underlying focus upon Churchyard.[6]
Garter's account was published in his work The Ioyfvll Receyuing of the Queenes most excellent Maiestie into her Highnesse Citie of Norwich (1578); this holds all of the Latin texts related to the visit, and portrays Norwich as a microcosm of England's claimed unity, in which "ther semed to be one hart in Queene, Counsaile, and Communalitie." It is also multi-vocal, featuring multiple speakers and attempting to make the Latin speeches accessible with full English translations.[6]
The 1578 progress was also the only progress to have been the subject of a monograph; this was by Zillah Dovey, titled An Elizabethan Progress.[1]
Historiography
Dustin M Neighbors has argued that the visit to Norwich was an attempt by the Queen solely "to demand the public’s obedience and rebuke religious non-conformists."[5]