Elizabetha Anglo[rum], id est a intore Angelo[rum] Regina fformosissima & felicissima. Too the disconsolate & retyred spryte, the hermyte of Tybolles. ...: manuscript on vellum

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Elizabethan Club > Elizabetha Anglo[rum], id est a intore Angelo[rum] Regina fformosissima & felicissima. Too the disconsolate & retyred spryte, the hermyte of Tybolles. ...: manuscript on vellum

2005564

Description

Title: Elizabetha Anglo[rum], id est a intore Angelo[rum] Regina fformosissima & felicissima. Too the disconsolate & retyred spryte, the hermyte of Tybolles. ...: manuscript on vellum
Alternative Title: Mock charter
Creator: Elizabeth I, Queen of England, 1533-1603
Contributor: Hilliard, Nicholas.
Published / Created: 1591 May 10
Description: This manuscript, a unique specimen of dramatic composition by Queen Elizabeth, represents the only surviving piece of stage property from the Elizabethan theater. It was passed from player to player during the great Theobalds Entertainment of 1591, and it is the only surviving original manuscript of any part of that Entertainment.
Elizabeth was entertained by her Lord High Treasurer, Lord Burghley, at his Hertfordshire house, Theobalds, between 10 and 20 May 1591. In a contemporary manuscript text of the entertainments at Theobalds (British Library, Egerton MS. 2623), there is preserved a fanciful speech by a "Hermit," delivered to the Queen on Burghley's behalf, in which, pleading for royal permission to retire from public life, he requests her to restore to him his "cell," namely, Theobalds. The present document was prepared as an answer to Burghley's request and grants the "Hermit," her "woorthely belooved Coounceloour," the right to retire to his "cave," his "own houus," with "full & pacifik possession of all & every part thearof," and to be henceforth free from public duties if he so wishes.
The text of the "charter" was printed in John Strype's Annals of the Reformation (1709), where it is described as having been "drawn up by the queen herself in a facetious style, to cheer the said treasurer." A highly characteristic example of Elizabethan wit, it has the form of a formal charter, certified and signed by Lord Chancellor Hatton, who is known to have taken part in a number of court entertainments. It bears the Great Seal and was no doubt read out and presented to Burghley, or to an actor representing him as a hermit. Instead of giving a simple answer to Burghley's request to retire from public life, Elizabeth evidently chose to enter into the spirit of the Hermit's request and frame her reply accordingly having this charter drawn up by one of her chancery scribes and passed by Hatton under the Great Seal, as part of a prearranged performance for the amusement of the court on the first day of her visit to Theobalds.
The entertainment at Theobalds are described by E.K. Chambers in The Elizabethan Stage (II:247-248), Sir Walter Greg in the Review of English Studies (I[1924]:452-454), John Payne Collier in his History of English Dramatic Poetry (I:276), Alexander Dyce in The Works of George Peele (III:161-169), and John Nichols in his account of The Progress and Public Processions of Queen Elizabeth (III:74).
Purchased 1985.
Extent: ca. 26.5 cm.
Extent of Digitization: This object has been completely digitized.
Language: English

Collection Information

Repository: Elizabethan Club
Call Number: Eliz Vault

Subjects, Formats, And Genres

Genre: Sources
Resource Type: unspecified
Subject (Geographic): England
Subject (Name): Burghley, William Cecil, Baron, 1520-1598.
Subject (Topic): Theater
History
Subjects: Marbury, P. > Autograph
Hatton, Christopher, Sir > Autograph
Burghley, William Cecil, Baron, 1520-1598
Theater > England > History > 16th century > Sources

Access And Usage Rights

Access: Public
Rights: The use of this image may be subject to the copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) or to site license or other rights management terms and conditions. The person using the image is liable for any infringement.

Identifiers

Orbis Record: 3620951
Object ID (OID): 2005564