Two noble kinsmen and a funeral

This chapter focuses on Prince Henry, the heir apparent, and Prince Frederick, Elector Palatine of Germany. Frederick arrived in England in October 1612 in order to marry Princess Elizabeth. Henry and Frederick spent considerable time together in various activities. Most of the chapter explores Henry and the startling fact of his unexpected death on 6 November, charting the progression of his illness and sometimes gruesome treatments and demonstrating the impact of his death, including the funeral on 7 December. An incalculable outpouring of grief gets documented in part by the many elegies that poured from printing presses, such as those by Donne, Heywood, and Webster. England would not be the same afterward.

A Valentine wedding

This chapter focuses on the elaborate wedding of Elizabeth and Frederick, which took place on 14 February 1613. This account details the entertainments that battened onto this event. Elizabeth was the first royal child in decades to marry. The fireworks and sea battle on the Thames between the ‘Christian’ and ‘Turkish’ forces form a colorful part of the celebration. The wedding itself was spectacular, followed in subsequent days by masques by Campion, Chapman, and Beaumont, filling several nights of entertainment. A couple of weeks after the wedding, Elizabeth and Prince Charles requested performances of two plays, one by Marston and the other by Chapman. Elizabeth and Frederick left England in April, making their way to his native Germany. This chapter closes with Queen Anne’s progress entertainments at Bath, Bristol, and Wells.

Epilogue

This conclusion peers into the early days of 1614, including the birth of the first royal grandchild, Elizabeth’s first son, in early January, confirming the ‘German connection’ for the British royal family. The failure of the ‘Addled Parliament’ in 1614, gets discussed. Against good advice, King James summoned the parliament and spoke to it on three occasions, all to no avail. Infighting and intransigence doomed the legislative attempts. The narrative arc of 1613 plausibly ends with the Accession Day Tilt on 24 March 1614, a spectacular display in the Whitehall Tiltyard, led by the Duke of Lennox, a fitting end to the exploration of cultural life.

Divorce, wedding, and murder

This chapter focuses mainly on the Robert Carr-Frances Howard relationship, her divorce from the Earl of Essex, and subsequent marriage to Carr in an elaborate wedding on 26 December. This marriage solidified the political power of the Howard family. For the wedding, Thomas Campion wrote the first masque, and Jonson wrote two masques. The celebration extended into the City of London in early January with a procession to the Merchant Taylors’ Hall, which included a play, a banquet, a masque by Thomas Middleton, and other entertainments. On 6 January, the court witnessed the performance of Masque of Flowers, financed by Francis Bacon. Only Frances Howard and possibly Carr knew that Thomas Overbury, Carr’s friend, had been murdered in the Tower at her instigation. Not until 1615 did others learn of this plot.

A queen’s translation

This brief chapter looks at the reburial of King James’s mother, Mary, Queen of Scots. The king ordered that her body be exhumed from Peterborough Cathedral, where it had lain since 1587, and that it be moved to Westminster Abbey. The body moved in darkness through London’s streets on 8 October 1612. The chapter discusses the vexed relationship between son and mother, whom he knew only through letters and reports. But in late fall, she moved into Westminster Abbey to be placed in an elaborate tomb, opposite and clearly rivaling the one for Queen Elizabeth. At last James appeared to be a dutiful son.

Two great stars

The two stars in conjunction refers to the competing and complementing cultural spheres of the court and London. Thus, the chapter focuses on the exceptional output of books printed and drama performed in London. The discussion examines books on the environment, such as those of Arthur Standish and Gervase Markham; publications about colonization and exploration, such as those by Sylvester Jourdain and Robert Harcourt. Poetry focuses on the published works of William Browne, John Taylor, and George Wither. Powerful tragedies by Marston, Chapman, and Webster are examined; likewise, comedies, such as those by Jonson, Beaumont, and Middleton. The chapter ends with a discussion of Middleton’s mayoralty pageant, The Triumphs of Truth, performed in London’s streets on 29 October. These performances and publications forge a powerful cultural force that enlivened and enriched life in Shakespeare’s London, complementing the cultural life of the Jacobean court.

‘Death be not proud’: drama’s solace

The chapter begins with the official betrothal of Elizabeth and Frederick on 27 December. At last the period of mourning had ended, and the court could proceed with plans for the wedding. The nineteen plays, presented at court from Christmas to February, constitute a kind of ‘antidote’ or ‘solace’ to the grief that had gripped the court and nation. These performances create a bridge, a translation, that leads away from sorrow to the joy of Elizabeth’s wedding. The chapter discusses all the plays performed, including works by Dekker, Shakespeare, Beaumont and Fletcher, and Jonson. Shakespeare’s plays range across all dramatic genres. The King’s Men, Shakespeare’s acting company under the patronage of King James, performed most of the plays at court in this season.

Fire and phoenix

This chapter begins with the burning of the Globe Theatre on 29 June 1613 and comments on the play being performed there, Henry VIII. This play’s ending looks forward to the reign of King James and creates the image of ‘phoenix’. The discussion circles back to James’s poem Phoenix, and its final anticipation of Ludovic Stuart, the 9-year-old son of Esmé. On his arrival in Scotland, Ludovic assumed his father’s title as Duke of Lennox. He followed James to England and served him as a major confidant, becoming a kind of ‘phoenix’. The chapter includes a brief discussion of Lennox’s participation in a variety of political and cultural events. It closes with Two Noble Kinsmen, which, with its funerals and wedding, points toward the events of 1613.

Prologue

The Prologue offers an overview of the book and a sketch of its narrative trajectory, including the unexpected death of Prince Henry, the heir apparent, and then the wedding of the only royal daughter, Elizabeth, to a German prince. The Prologue includes a sketch of some of the principal figures, such as King James, Queen Anne, Henry, Elizabeth, and the Duke of Lennox. Drama permeates both the court and London in 1613 in exceptional quantity, measured by both performance and publication. The Prologue establishes the link and productive tension between the Jacobean court and the City of London.