Queen Elizabeth

1558–1603
Preceded by	Tudor period
Followed by	Stuart period Jacobean era
Monarch	Queen Elizabeth I

The Elizabethan era was the epoch in English history of Queen Elizabeth I's reign (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia was first used in 1572 and often thereafter to mark the Elizabethan age as a renaissance that inspired national pride through classical ideals, international expansion, and naval triumph over the hated Spanish foe. In terms of the entire century, John Guy (1988) argues that "England was economically healthier, more expansive, and more optimistic under the Tudors" than at any time in a thousand years.^[1]

This "golden age"^[2] represented the apogee of the English Renaissance and saw the flowering of poetry, music and literature. The era is most famous for theatre, as William Shakespeare and many others composed plays that broke free of England's past style of theatre. It was an age of exploration and expansion abroad, while back at home, the Protestant Reformation became more acceptable to the people, most certainly after the Spanish Armada was repulsed. It was also the end of the period when England was a separate realm before its royal union with Scotland.

The Elizabethan Age is viewed so highly because of the periods before and after. It was a brief period of largely internal peace between the English Reformation and the battles between Protestants and Catholics and the battles between parliament and the monarchy that engulfed the seventeenth century. The Protestant/Catholic divide was settled, for a time, by the Elizabethan Religious Settlement, and parliament was not yet strong enough to challenge royal absolutism.

England was also well-off compared to the other nations of Europe. The Italian Renaissance had come to an end under the weight of foreign domination of the peninsula. France was embroiled in its own religious battles that would only be settled in 1598 with the Edict of Nantes. In part because of this, but also because the English had been expelled from their last outposts on the continent, the centuries long conflict between France and England was largely suspended for most of Elizabeth's reign.

The one great rival was Spain, with which England clashed both in Europe and the Americas in skirmishes that exploded into the Anglo-Spanish War of 1585–1604. An attempt by Philip II of Spain to invade England with the Spanish Armada in 1588 was famously defeated, but the tide of war turned against England with an unsuccessful expedition to Portugal and the Azores, the Drake-Norris Expedition of 1589. Thereafter Spain provided some support for Irish Catholics in a debilitating rebellion against English rule, and Spanish naval and land forces inflicted a series of reversals against English offensives. This drained both the English Exchequer and economy that had been so carefully restored under Elizabeth's prudent guidance. English commercial and territorial expansion would be limited until the signing of the Treaty of London the year following Elizabeth's death.

England during this period had a centralised, well-organised, and effective government, largely a result of the reforms of Henry VII and Henry VIII. Economically, the country began to benefit greatly from the new era of trans-Atlantic trade.

The National Armada memorial in Plymouth using the Britannia image to celebrate the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588

Romance and reality[link]

The Victorian era and the early 20th century idealised the Elizabethan era. The Encyclopædia Britannica maintains that "The long reign of Elizabeth I, 1558-1603, was England's Golden Age...'Merry England,' in love with life, expressed itself in music and literature, in architecture, and in adventurous seafaring."^[3] This idealising tendency was shared by Britain and an Anglophilic America. In popular culture, the image of those adventurous Elizabethan seafarers was embodied in the films of Errol Flynn.^[4]

In response and reaction to this hyperbole, modern historians and biographers have tended to take a more dispassionate view of the Tudor period.^[5]

Government[link]

Elizabethan England was not particularly successful in a military sense during the period, but it avoided major defeats and built up a powerful navy. On balance, it can be said that Elizabeth provided the country with a long period of general if not total peace, and generally increasing prosperity. Having inherited a virtually bankrupt state from previous reigns, her frugal policies restored fiscal responsibility. Her fiscal restraint cleared the regime of debt by 1574, and ten years later the Crown enjoyed a surplus of £300,000.^[6] Economically, Sir Thomas Gresham's founding of the Royal Exchange (1565), the first stock exchange in England and one of the earliest in Europe, proved to be a development of the first importance, for the economic development of England and soon for the world as a whole. With taxes lower than other European countries of the period, the economy expanded; though the wealth was distributed with wild unevenness, there was clearly more wealth to go around at the end of Elizabeth's reign than at the beginning.^[7] This general peace and prosperity allowed the attractive developments that "Golden Age" advocates have stressed.^[8]

Plots, intrigues and conspiracies[link]

The Elizabethan Age was also an age of plots and conspiracies, frequently political in nature and often involving the highest levels of Elizabethan society. High officials in Madrid, Paris and Rome sought to kill Elizabeth, a Protestant, and replace her with Mary, Queen of Scots, a Catholic. That would be a prelude to the religious recovery of England for Catholicism. In 1570, the Ridolfi plot was thwarted. In 1584, the Throckmorton Plot was discovered, after Francis Throckmorton confessed his involvement in a plot to overthrow the Queen and restore the Catholic Church in England. Another major conspiracy was the Babington Plot - the event which most directly led to Mary's execution, the discovery of which involved a double agent Gilbert Gifford acting under the direction of Francis Walsingham, the Queen's highly effective spy master.

The Essex Rebellion of 1601 has a dramatic element as just before the uprising, supporters of the Earl of Essex, among them Charles and Joscelyn Percy (younger brothers of the Earl of Northumberland), paid for a performance of Richard II at the Globe Theatre, apparently with the goal of stirring public ill will towards the monarchy.^[9] It was reported at the trial of Essex by Chamberlain's Men actor Augustine Phillips, the conspirators paid the company forty shillings "above the ordinary" (i. e., above their usual rate) to stage the play, which the players felt was too old and "out of use" to attract a large audience.^[9]

In the Bye Plot of 1603, two Catholic priests planned to kidnap King James and hold him in the Tower of London until he agreed to be more tolerant towards Catholics. Most dramatic was the 1605 Gunpowder Plot to blow up the House of Lords during the State Opening of Parliament. It was discovered in time with eight conspirators executed, including Guy Fawkes, who became the iconic evil traitor in English lore.^[10]

Royal Navy and defeat of the Armada[link]

While Henry VIII had launched the Royal Navy, Edward and Mary had ignored it and it was little more than a system of coastal defense. Elizabeth made naval strength a high priority.^[11] She risked war with Spain by supporting the "Sea Dogs," such as John Hawkins and Francis Drake, who preyed on the Spanish merchant ships carrying gold and silver from the New World. The Navy yards were leaders in technical innovation, and the captains devised new tactics. Parker (1996) argues that the full-rigged ship was one of the greatest technological advances of the century and permanently transformed naval warfare. In 1573 English shipwrights introduced designs, first demonstrated in the "Dreadnaught," that allowed the ships to sail faster and maneuver better and permitted heavier guns.^[12] Whereas before warships had tried to grapple with each other so that soldiers could board the enemy ship, now they stood off and fired broadsides that would sink the enemy vessel. When Spain finally decided to invade and conquer England it was a fiasco. Superior English ships and seamanship foiled the invasion and led to the destruction of the Spanish Armada in 1588, marking the high point of Elizabeth's reign. Technically, the Armada failed because Spain's over-complex strategy required coordination between the invasion fleet and the Spanish army on shore. Also, the poor design of the Spanish cannons meant they were much slower in reloading in a close-range battle. Spain and France still had stronger fleets, but England was catching up.^[13]

Parker has speculated on the dire consequences if the Spanish had landed their invasion army in 1588. He argues that the Spanish army was larger, more experienced, better-equipped, more confident, and had better financing. The English defenses, on the other hand, were thin and outdated; England had too few soldiers and they were at best only partially trained. Spain had chosen England's weakest link and probably could have captured London in a week. Parker adds that a Catholic uprising in the north and in Ireland could have brought total defeat.^[14]

Colonizing the New World[link]

The discoveries of Christopher Columbus electrified all of western Europe, especially maritime powers like England. King Henry VII commissioned John Cabot to lead a voyage to find a northern route to the Spice Islands of Asia; this began the search for the North West Passage. Cabot sailed in 1497 and reached Newfoundland.^[15] He led another voyage to the Americas the following year, but nothing was heard of him or his ships again.^[16]

In 1562 Elizabeth sent privateers Hawkins and Drake to seize booty from Spanish and Portuguese ships off the coast of West Africa.^[17] When the Anglo-Spanish Wars intensified after 1585, Elizabeth approved further raids against Spanish ports in the Americas and against shipping returning to Europe with treasure.^[18] Meanwhile, the influential writers Richard Hakluyt and John Dee were beginning to press for the establishment of England's own overseas empire. Spain was well established in the Americas, while little Portugal had an ambitious global empire in Africa, Asia and South America. France was exploring the North America.^[19] England was stimulated to create its own colonies. with an emphasis on the West Indies rather than in North America.

Martin Frobisher landed at Frobisher Bay on Baffin Island in August 1576; He returned in 1577, claiming it in Queen Elizabeth's name, and in a third voyage tried but failed to found a settlement in Frobisher Bay.^[20][21]

Sir Francis Drake

From 1577 to 1580, Sir Francis Drake circumnavigated the globe. Combined with his daring raids against the Spanish and his great victory over them at Cadiz in 1587, he became a famous hero^[22]--his exploits are still celebrated—but England did not follow up on his claims.^[23] In 1583, Humphrey Gilbert sailed to Newfoundland, taking possession of the harbour of St John's together with all land within two hundred leagues to the north and south of it.^[24]

In 1584, the queen granted Sir Walter Raleigh a charter for the colonization of Virginia; it was named in her honour. Raleigh and Elizabeth sought both immediate riches and a base for privateers to raid the Spanish treasure fleets. Raleigh sent others to found the Roanoke Colony; it remains a mystery why the settlers all disappeared.^[25] In 1600, the queen chartered the East India Company. It established trading posts, which in later centuries evolved into British India, on the coasts of what is now India and Bangladesh. Larger scale colonization began shortly after Elizabeth's death.^[26]

Distinctions[link]

England in this era had some positive aspects that set it apart from contemporaneous continental European societies. Torture was rare, since the English legal system reserved torture only for capital crimes like treason^[27]—though forms of corporal punishment, some of them extreme, were practised. The persecution of witches began in 1563, and hundreds were executed, although there was nothing like the frenzy on the Continent^[28] Mary had tried her hand at an aggressive anti-Protestant Inquisition and was hated for it; it was not to be repeated.^[29]

Religion[link]

It was an age of intense religious passions, which Elizabeth managed to tone down in contrast to previous and succeeding eras of religious violence.^[30]

Elizabeth said "I have no desire to make windows into mens' souls". Her desire to moderate the religious persecutions of previous Tudor reigns — the persecution of Catholics under Edward VI, and of Protestants under Mary I — appears to have had a moderating effect on English society. Elizabeth reinstated the Protestant bible and English Mass, yet for a number of years refrained from persecuting Catholics.

The pope in 1570 declared Elizabeth a heretic who was not the legitimate Queen and her subjects no longer owed her obedience. The pope sent Jesuits and seminarians to secretly evangelize and support Catholics. After several plots to overthrow her, Catholic clergy were mostly considered to be traitors, and were pursued aggressively in England. Often priests were tortured or executed after capture unless they cooperated with the English authorities. People who publicly supported Catholicism were excluded from the professions, sometimes fined or imprisoned.^[31]

Science, technology and exploration[link]

Lacking a dominant genius or a formal structure for research (the following century had both Sir Isaac Newton and the Royal Society), the Elizabethan era nonetheless saw significant scientific progress. The astronomers Thomas Digges and Thomas Harriot made important contributions; William Gilbert published his seminal study of magnetism, De Magnete, in 1600. Substantial advancements were made in the fields of cartography and surveying. The eccentric but influential John Dee also merits mention.

Much of this scientific and technological progress related to the practical skill of navigation. English achievements in exploration were noteworthy in the Elizabethan era. Sir Francis Drake circumnavigated the globe between 1577 and 1581, and Martin Frobisher explored the Arctic. The first attempt at English settlement of the eastern seaboard of North America occurred in this era—the abortive colony at Roanoke Island in 1587.

While Elizabethan England is not thought of as an age of technological innovation, some progress did occur. In 1564 Guilliam Boonen came from the Netherlands to be Queen Elizabeth's first coach-builder —thus introducing the new European invention of the spring-suspension coach to England, as a replacement for the litters and carts of an earlier transportation mode. Coaches quickly became as fashionable as sports cars in a later century; social critics, especially Puritan commentators, noted the "diverse great ladies" who rode "up and down the countryside" in their new coaches.^[32]

Education[link]

Education would begin at home, where children were taught the basic etiquette of proper manners and respecting others.^[33] It was necessary for boys to attend grammar school, but girls were rarely allowed in any place of education other than petty schools, and then only with a restricted curriculum.^[33] Petty schools were for all children aged from 5 to 7 years of age. Only the most wealthy people allowed their daughters to be taught, and only at home. During this time, endowed schooling became available. This meant that even boys of very poor families were able to attend school if they were not needed to work at home, but only in a few localities were funds available to provide support as well as the necessary education scholarship.^[34] Boys from families of nobility would often be taught at home by a private tutor. ^[35]

Gender[link]

While the Tudor era presents an abundance of material on the women of the nobility—especially royal wives and queens—historians have recovered scant documentation about the average lives of women. There has, however, been extensive statistical analysis of demographic and population data which includes women, especially in their childbearing roles.^[36][37]

The role of women in society was, for the historical era, relatively unconstrained; Spanish and Italian visitors to England commented regularly, and sometimes caustically, on the freedom that women enjoyed in England, in contrast to their home cultures. England had more well-educated upper class women than was common anywhere in Europe.^[38][39]

The Queen's marital status was a major political and diplomatic topic. It also entered into the popular culture. Elizabeth's unmarried status inspired a cult of virginity. In poetry and portraiture, she was depicted as a virgin or a goddess or both, not as a normal woman.^[40] Elizabeth made a virtue of her virginity: in 1559, she told the Commons, "And, in the end, this shall be for me sufficient, that a marble stone shall declare that a queen, having reigned such a time, lived and died a virgin".^[41] Public tributes to the Virgin by 1578 acted as a coded assertion of opposition to the queen's marriage negotiations with the Duc d'Alençon.^[42]

In contrast to her father's emphasis on masculinity and physical prowess, Elizabeth emphasized the maternalism theme, saying often that she was married to her kingdom and subjects. She explained "I keep the good will of all my husbands — my good people — for if they did not rest assured of some special love towards them, they would not readily yield me such good obedience,"^[43] and promised in 1563 they would never have a more natural mother than she.^[44] Coch (1996) argues that her figurative motherhood played a central role in her complex self-representation, shaping and legitimating the personal rule of a divinely appointed female prince.^[45]

Food[link]

England's food supply was plentiful throughout most of the reign; there were no famines. Bad harvests caused distress, but they were usually localized. The most widespread came in 1555-57 and 1596-98.^[46] In the towns the price of staples was fixed by law; in hard times the size of the loaf of bread sold by the baker was smaller.^[47]

The poor consumed a diet largely of bread, cheese, milk, and beer, with small portions of meat, fish and vegetables, and occasionally some fruit. Potatoes were just arriving at the end of the period, and became increasingly important. The typical poor farmer sold his best products on the market, keeping the cheap food for the family. Stale bread could be used to make bread puddings, and bread crumbs served to thicken soups, stews, and sauces.^[48] At a somewhat higher social level families ate an enormous variety of meats, especially beef, mutton, veal, lamb, and pork, as well as chickens, and ducks. The holiday goose was a special treat. Many rural folk and some townspeople tended a small garden which produced vegetables such as asparagus, cucumbers, spinach, lettuce, beans, cabbage, carrots, leeks, and peas, as well as medicinal and flavoring herbs. Some raised their own apricots, grapes, berries, apples, pears, plums, currants, and cherries. Families without a garden could trade with their neighbors to obtain vegetables and fruits at low cost.^[49]

England was exposed to new foods (such as the potato imported from South America), and developed new tastes during the era. The more prosperous enjoyed a wide variety of food and drink, including exotic new drinks such as tea, coffee, and chocolate. French and Italian chefs appeared in the country houses and palaces bringing new standards of food preparation and taste. For example, the English developed a taste for acidic foods—such as oranges for the upper class—and started to use vinegar heavily. The gentry paid increasing attention to their gardens, with new fruits, vegetables and herbs; pasta, pastries, and dried mustard balls first appeared on the table. The apricot was a special treat at fancy banquets. Roast beef remained a staple for those who could afford it. The rest ate a great deal of bread and fish. Every class had a taste for beer and rum.^[50]

At the rich end of the scale the manor houses and palaces were awash with large, elaborately prepared meals, usually for many people and often accompanied by entertainment. Often celebrated religious festivals, weddings, alliances and the whims of her majesty. Feasts were commonly used to commemorate the "procession" of the crowned heads of state in the summer months, when the king or queen would travel through a circuit of other nobles' lands both to avoid the plague season of London, and alleviate the royal coffers, often drained through the winter to provide for the needs of the royal family and court. This would include a few days or even a week of feasting in each noble's home, who depending on his or her production and display of fashion, generosity and entertainment, could have his way made in court and elevate his or her status for months or even years.

Special courses after a feast or dinner which often involved a special room or outdoor gazebo (sometimes known as a folly) with a central table set with dainties of "medicinal" value to help with digestion. These would include wafers, comfits of sugar-spun anise or other spices, jellies and marmalades (a firmer variety than we are used to, these would be more similar to our gelatin jigglers), candied fruits, spiced nuts and other such niceties. These would be eaten while standing and drinking warm, spiced wines (known as hypocras) or other drinks known to aid in digestion. One must remember that sugar in the Middle Ages or Early Modern Period was often considered medicinal, and used heavily in such things. This was not a course of pleasure, though it could be as everything was a treat, but one of healthful eating and abetting the digestive capabilities of the body. It also, of course, allowed those standing to show off their gorgeous new clothes and the holders of the dinner and banquet to show off the wealth of their estate, what with having a special room just for banquetting.

High culture[link]

Theatre[link]

A reconstruction of the Globe Theatre in London, originally built in 1599 and used by Shakespeare

With William Shakespeare at his peak, as well as Christopher Marlowe and many other playwrights, actors and theatres constantly busy, the high culture of the Elizabethan Renaissance was best expressed in its theatre. Historical topics were especially popular, not to mention the usual comedies and tragedies.^[51]

Music[link]

Traveling musicians were in great demand at Court, in churches, at country houses, and at local festivals. Important composers included William Byrd (1543–1623), John Dowland (1563–1626) Thomas Campion (1567–1620), and Robert Johnson (c. 1583–c. 1634). The composers were commissioned by church and Court, and deployed two main styles, madrigal and ayre.^[52] The popular culture showed a strong interest in folk songs and ballads (folk songs that tell a story). It became the fashion in the late 19th century to collect and sing the old songs.^[53]

Fine arts[link]

It has often been said that the Renaissance came late to England, in contrast to Italy and the other states of continental Europe; the fine arts in England during the Tudor and Stuart eras were dominated by foreign and imported talent—from Hans Holbein the Younger under Henry VIII to Anthony van Dyck under Charles I. Yet within this general trend, a native school of painting was developing. In Elizabeth's reign, Nicholas Hilliard, the Queen's "limner and goldsmith," is the most widely recognized figure in this native development; but George Gower has begun to attract greater notice and appreciation as knowledge of him and his art and career has improved.^[54]

Popular culture[link]

Sports and entertainment[link]

There were many different types of Elizabethan sports and entertainment:

Fairs 

The Annual Summer Fair and other seasonal fairs such as May Day were often bawdy affairs.

Plays 

Started as plays enacted in town squares followed by the actors using the courtyards of taverns or inns (referred to as Inn-yards) followed by the first theatres (great open air amphitheatres and then the introduction of indoor theatres called Playhouses.

Miracle Plays 

Re-enactments of stories from the Bible. These are derived from the ancient Briton custom of Mystery Plays, in which stories and fables were enacted to teach lessons or educate about life in general. Miracle plays included stories from all ecclesiastic literature, from the Bible to the everyday psaltery or prayerbook. They influenced Shakespeare.^[55]

Festivals 

were popular seasonal entertainments^[56]

Jousts / Tournaments 

A series of tilted matches warriors on horseback. They raced racing toward each other in full armor trying to use their lance to knock the other off his horse. It was a violent sport--King Henry II of France was killed in a tournament in 1559, as were many lesser men. King Henry VIII was a champion; he finally retired from the lists after a hard fall left him unconscious for hours.^[57]

Games and Sports 

Sports and games which included archery, bowling, cards, dice, hammer-throwing, quarter-staff contests, troco, quoits, skittles, wrestling and mob football.

Card Games 

Cards appeared in Spain and Italy about 1370, but they probably came from Egypt. They began to spread throughout Europe and came into England around 1460. By the time of Elizabeth’s reign, gambling was a common sport. Cards were not played only by the upper class. Many of the lower classes had access to playing cards. The card suits tended to change over time. The first Italian and Spanish decks had the same suits: Swords, Batons/ Clubs, Cups, and Coins. The suits often changed from country to country. England probably followed the Latin version, initially using cards imported from Spain but later relying on more convenient supplies from France.^[58] Most of the decks that have survived use the French Suit: Spades, Hearts, Clubs, and Diamonds. Yet even before Elizabeth had begun to reign, the number of cards had been standardized to 52 cards per deck. Interestingly, the lowest court subject in England was called the “knave.” The lowest court card was therefore called the knave until later when the term “Jack” became more common. Popular card games during the Elizabethan Rule: Maw, One and Thirty, Bone-ace. (These are all games for small group players.) Ruff and Honors (This one is a team game.) For further research check out http://elizabethan.org/sites.html

Animal Sports 

Included Bear and Bull baiting, Dog fighting and Cock fighting.

Hunting 

Sport followed by the nobility often using packs of dogs and hounds. They hunted a variety of animals.

Hawking 

Sport followed by the nobility with hawks (otherwise known as falconry).

Festivals, holidays and celebrations[link]

A wedding feast, c. 1569.

During the Elizabethan era, people looked forward to holidays because opportunities for leisure were limited, with time away from hard work being restricted to periods after church on Sundays. For the most part, leisure and festivities took place on a public church holy day. Every month had its own holiday, some of which are listed below:

• The first Monday after Twelfth Night of January (any time between 7 January and 14 January) was Plough Monday. It celebrated returning to work after the Christmas celebrations and the New Year.
• 2 February: Candlemas. Although often still very cold, Candlemas was celebrated as the first day of spring. All Christmas decorations were burned on this day, in candlelight and torchlight processions.
• 14 February: Valentine's Day.
• Between 3 March and 9 March: Shrove Tuesday (known as Mardi Gras or Carnival on the Continent). On this day, apprentices were allowed to run amok in the city in mobs, wreaking havoc, because it supposedly cleansed the city of vices before Lent.
  The day after Shrove Tuesday was Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent when all were to abstain from eating and drinking certain things.
  24 March: Lady Day or the feast of the Annunciation, the first of the Quarter Days on which rents and salaries were due and payable. It was a legal New Year when courts of law convened after a winter break, and it marked the supposed moment when the Angel Gabriel came to announce to the Virgin Mary that she would bear a child.
• 1 May: May Day, celebrated as the first day of summer. This was one of the few Celtic festivals with no connection to Christianity and patterned on Beltane. It featured crowning a May Queen, a Green Man and dancing around a maypole.
• 21 June: Midsummer, (Christianized as the feast of John the Baptist) and another Quarter Day.
• 1 August: Lammastide, or Lammas Day. Traditionally, the first day of August, in which it was customary to bring a loaf of bread to the church.
• 29 September: Michaelmas. Another Quarter Day. Michaelmas celebrated the beginning of autumn, and Michael the Archangel.
• 25 October: St. Crispin's Day. Bonfires, revels, and an elected 'King Crispin' were all featured in this celebration. Dramatized by Shakespeare in Henry V.
  28 October: The Lord Mayor's Show, which still takes place today in London.
  31 October: All Hallows Eve or Halloween. The beginning celebration of the days of the dead.
• 1 November: All Hallows or All Saints' Day, followed by All Souls' Day.
• 17 November: Accession Day or Queen's Day, the anniversary of Queen Elizabeth's accession to the throne, celebrated with lavish court festivities featuring jousting during her lifetime and as a national holiday for dozens of years after her death.^[59]
• 24 December: The Twelve days of Christmas started at sundown and lasted until Epiphany on 6 January. Christmas was the last of the Quarter Days for the year.

Periods and eras in English history

Anglo-Saxon period	(927–1066)
Norman period	(1066–1154)
Plantagenet period	(1154–1485)
Tudor period	(1485–1603)
Elizabethan era	(1558–1603)
Stuart period	(1603–1714)
Jacobean era	(1603–1625)
Caroline era	(1625–1649)
The Interregnum	(1649–1660)
Restoration era	(1660–1688)
Georgian era	(1714–1830)
Victorian era	(1837–1901)
Edwardian era	(1901–1910)
World War I	(1914–1918)
Interwar Period	(1918–1939)
World War II	(1939–1945)
Modern Britain	(1945–Present)
v t e

See also[link]

• Tudor England
• English Renaissance
• Elizabethan theatre
• Elizabethan architecture
• Elizabethan government
• Music in Elizabethan Era
• Tudor architecture
• Tudor Revival architecture (Tudorbethan)
• Nine Years' War (Ireland)
• 1550–1600 in fashion
• Health and diet in Elizabethan England
• Artists of the Tudor court
• Accession Day tilt
• Jacobethan (Revival architecture)

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Arnold, Janet: Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlock'd (W S Maney and Son Ltd, Leeds, 1988) ISBN 0-901286-20-6
• Ashelford, Jane. The Visual History of Costume: The Sixteenth Century. 1983 edition (ISBN 0-89676-076-6)
• Bergeron, David, English Civic Pageantry, 1558-1642 (2003)
• Black, J. B. The Reign of Elizabeth: 1558-1603 (2nd ed. 1958) survey by leading scholar online edition
• Digby, George Wingfield. Elizabethan Embroidery. New York: Thomas Yoseloff, 1964.
• Emmison, F. G. Elizabethan Life: Home, Work and Land (v. 3 1976)
• Guy, John. Tudor England (1988), 582pp; a standard scholarly survey
• Hartley, Dorothy, and Elliot Margaret M. Life and Work of the People of England. A pictorial record from contemporary sources. The Sixteenth Century. (1926).
• Hutton, Ronald:The Rise and Fall of Merry England: The Ritual Year, 1400–1700, 2001. ISBN 0-19-285447-X
• Morrill, John, ed. The Oxford Illustrated History of Tudor and Stuart Britain (2001), survey essays by leading scholars; heavily illustrated
• Palliser, D. M. The Age of Elizabeth: England Under the Later Tudors, 1547-1603 (2nd ed. 1992) social and economic history
• Shakespeare's England. An Account of the Life and Manners of his Age (2 vol. 1916); essays by experts on social history and customs
• Singman, Jeffrey L. Daily Life in Elizabethan England (1995) online edition
• Strong, Roy: The Cult of Elizabeth, The Harvill Press, 1999. ISBN 0-7126-6493-9
• Wagner, John A. Historical Dictionary of the Elizabethan World: Britain, Ireland, Europe, and America (1999) online edition
• Wilson, Jean. Entertainments for Elizabeth I (Studies in Elizabethan and Renaissance Culture) (2007)
• Wright Louis B. Middle-Class Culture in Elizabethan England (1935) online edition
• Yates, Frances A. The Occult Philosophy in the Elizabethan Age. London, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1979.
• Yates, Frances A. Theatre of the World. Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1969.

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Ronald Binge (15 July 1910 – 6 September 1979) was a British composer and arranger of light music.

Biography[link]

He was born in a working-class neighbourhood in Derby in the English Midlands. In his childhood he was a chorister at Saint Andrews Church (CofE), London Road, Derby - 'the railwaymen's church' (demolished 1970). Early in his career he was a cinema organist and later started working in summer orchestras in British seaside resorts (including Blackpool and Great Yarmouth), for which he learned to play the piano accordion. His skill as a cinema organist was put to good use, and he played the organ in Mantovani's first band, the Tipica Orchestra. During the Second World War, Binge served in the Royal Air Force, during which time he was much in demand organising camp entertainment.

After the end of the war, Mantovani offered him the job of arranging and composing for his new orchestra. In 1951, his arrangement of Charmaine gave him and Mantovani worldwide success and recognition. However, he later tired of writing arrangements and turned to composing original works and film scores. He died in Ringwood, Hampshire, of liver cancer in 1979, aged 69.

Compositions[link]

Binge was interested in the technicalities of composition and was most famous as the inventor of the "cascading strings" effect that is the signature sound of the Mantovani orchestra, much used in their arrangements of popular music. It was originally created to capture the essence of the echo properties of a building such as a cathedral, although it later became particularly associated with easy listening music.

Binge's best known composition is probably Elizabethan Serenade (1951), which was used by the British Broadcasting Corporation as the theme for the popular 1950s series, "Music Tapestry," and as the play-out for the British Forces Network radio station, and for which he won an Ivor Novello Award. It was later turned into a vocal version called Where the Gentle Avon Flows, with lyrics by the poet Christopher Hassall. A reggae version of the tune, "Elizabethan Reggae", was performed by Boris Gardiner in 1970. Binge is also known for Sailing By (1963), the BBC Radio 4 Shipping Forecast theme. Other well-known pieces include Miss Melanie, Like Old Times, The Watermill (1958) for oboe and strings, and his Concerto for Alto Saxophone in E-flat major (1956). His largest, longest and most ambitious work is the four-movement Symphony in C ("Saturday Symphony") which was written during his retirement c. 1970 and performed in England and Germany.

Less well-known is a piano piece known as "Vice Versa", a musical palindrome which was not only a front-to-back palindrome, but also exploited the two staves used for writing for piano. The music reads the same whichever way it is turned. He later extended this theme, composing a piece known as "Upside/Downside" for his son, who was learning to play the recorder at Downside School. This musical palindrome was for piano, recorder and cello and again was universally reversible - two players could play from the same sheet of music reading from opposite ends.

External links[link]

• Biography at the Robert Farnon Society

William Alwyn, CBE, born William Alwyn Smith^[1] (7 November 1905 – 11 September 1985)^[2] was an English composer, conductor, and music teacher.

Life and music[link]

William Alwyn was born in Northampton, where he showed an early interest in music and began to learn to play the piccolo. At age 15 he entered the Royal Academy of Music in London where he studied flute and composition. He was a virtuoso flautist and for a time was a flautist with the London Symphony Orchestra.^[3] Alwyn served as professor of composition at the Royal Academy of Music from 1926 to 1955.^[4]

William Alwyn had a remarkable range of talents. He was a distinguished polyglot, poet, and artist, as well as musician.^[4]

His compositional output was varied and large and included five symphonies, four operas, several concertos and string quartets.

Alwyn wrote over 70 film scores from 1941 to 1962. His classic film scores included Odd Man Out, Desert Victory, Fires Were Started, The History of Mr. Polly, The Fallen Idol, The Black Tent and The Crimson Pirate. Some of the scores have been lost, although many scores and sketches are now in the William Alwyn Archive at Cambridge University Library. In recent years CD recordings have been made. Some works, for which only fragmentary sketches remained, were reconstructed by Philip Lane or Christopher Palmer from the film soundtracks themselves.^[5]

Alwyn relished dissonance, and devised his own alternative to twelve-tone serialism. In his third symphony, eight notes of the possible twelve are used in the first movement, with the remaining four (D, E, F, and A-flat) constituting the middle movement, and all twelve being combined for the finale. The work was premièred by Sir Thomas Beecham.

Alwyn's concerto for harp and string orchestra, Lyra Angelica, became popularly known when figure skater Michelle Kwan performed to it at the 1998 Winter Olympics.^[6]

William Alwyn lived at Lark Rise, Dunwich Road, Blythburgh, Suffolk,^[7] and died in Southwold, Suffolk, England, in 1985. He was survived by his second wife, the composer Doreen Carwithen.

Selected works[link]

• The Fairy Fiddler, opera (1922)
• Five Preludes for Orchestra (1927)
• Piano Concerto No. 1 (1930)^[8]
• Tragic interlude for 2 horns, timpani and string orchestra (1936)
• Violin Concerto (1938)^[9]
• Pastoral fantasia for viola and string orchestra (1939)
• Concerto grosso No. 1 in B flat major (1943)
• Score for Country Town (1943)
• Concerto for oboe, harp and strings (1945)
• Symphony No. 1 (1949)
• The Magic Island, symphonic prelude (1952)
• Symphony No. 2 (1953)^[10]
• Autumn legend for cor anglais and string orchestra (1954)^[11]
• Lyra angelica, concerto for harp and string orchestra (1954)^[12]
• Farewell Companions, radio opera (1955)
• Symphony No. 3 (1956)^[13]
• Elizabethan Dances (1957)
• Symphony No. 4 (1959)^[14]
• Derby Day, overture (1960)
• Piano Concerto No. 2 (1960)^[15]
• Concerto grosso No. 3 (1964)
• Sinfonietta for strings (1970)
• Juan, or The Libertine, opera (1971)
• Symphony No. 5 'Hydriotaphia' (1973)^[16]
• Miss Julie, opera (1977)

References[link]

1. ^ Ian Johnson, William Alwyn: The Art of Film Music (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2005), ISBN 1-84383-159-7.
2. ^ "Alwyn, William". Who Was Who in America, 1993-1996, vol. 11. New Providence, N.J.: Marquis Who's Who. 1996. p. 5. ISBN 0-8379-0225-8. 
3. ^ William Alwyn, Winged Chariot Composing in words (London: Toccata Press, 2009) ISBN 978-0-907689-71-3
4. ^ ^{a b} Mervyn Cooke, "Alwyn, William", The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell (New York: Grove's Dictionaries, 2001).
5. ^ Philip Lane, "Reconstructing Film Scores", William Alwyn Society Newsletter (December 1997).
6. ^ Michelle Kwan at the 1998 Olympics. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZEfmMOpQGk&feature=related
7. ^ Correspondence in the William Alwyn Archive, Cambridge University Library
8. ^ Available on YouTube
9. ^ Available on YouTube
10. ^ Available on YouTube
11. ^ Available on YouTube
12. ^ Available on YouTube
13. ^ Available on YouTube
14. ^ Available on YouTube
15. ^ Available on YouTube
16. ^ Available on YouTube

External links[link]

• William Alwyn at MusicWeb International
• William Alwyn Archive at Cambridge University Library
• Philip Lane on reconstructing Alwyn's film scores
• William Alwyn at the Internet Movie Database
• William Alwyn at Allmusic
• The Innumerable Dance: The Life and Work of William Alwyn by Adrian Wright, the first full biography published by the Boydell Press in 2008.
• Composing in words: William Alwyn on his art edited by Andrew Palmer, includes many of Alwyn's autobiographical writings, and other writings on music published by Toccata Press, 2009.
• [1] William Alwyn on Facebook.

Boris Gardiner (born 13 January 1943, Kingston, Jamaica^[1]) is a Jamaican singer, songwriter and bass guitarist.

Career[link]

Gardiner performed on the tourist circuit for much of the 1960s and was a member of Carlos Malcolm & the Afro Caribs and Byron Lee's Dragonaires.^[1] In the late 1960s and 1970s he worked extensively as a session musician as a member of the Now Generation, The Upsetters, The Aggrovators, and The Crystallites.^[1][2]

As a solo artist, Gardiner had a hit with the song "Elizabethan Reggae" in 1970, a version of Ronald Binge's "Elizabethan Serenade".^[1] When the single was released in the United Kingdom, the first copies were printed with the label incorrectly identifying Byron Lee (not Gardiner) as the performer. Rather than performing on it, Lee produced the track. The UK Singles Chart printed this error for the first chart entry and the first four weeks of its re-entry into the charts. After 28 February 1970, all printings gave Gardiner credit.^[3]

His debut album, Reggae Happening, was also released in 1970 and (although it did not chart). Music journalist Ian McCann said that the album "sold respectably for a reggae LP" in the UK. Although Gardiner continued to be successful in Jamaica, he had no more hits in the UK during that decade.

In 1986, Gardiner recorded the single "I Want to Wake Up with You", which became a surprise number 1 in the UK. It spent two months in the top ten. The accompanying album, Everything to Me also included the follow-up hit, "You're Everything to Me", which peaked at number 11). The single "The Meaning of Christmas" was also released later that year.^[3]

Later, Gardiner signed to RCA Records.

In 2002, a 22-track anthology, The Very Best of Boris Gardiner, was issued on CD by Music Club.

Selected album discography[link]

• Let's Take a Holiday - (1992) - (VP Records)
• Next to You - (1992) - (VP)
• Reggae Happening - (1996) - (Jamaican Gold)
• The Very Best of Boris Gardiner - (2002) - (Music Club Records)
• I Want to Wake Up With You: The Best Of Boris Gardiner - (2004) - (Sanctuary/Trojan)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Trinidad Guardian biography
• Reggae Train biography
• "I Want to Wake Up With You" story

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (February 2011)

Roger Whittaker
Roger Whittaker playing live
Background information
Born	(1936-03-22) 22 March 1936 (age 76) Nairobi, Kenya, British Empire
Genres	Easy listening, pop
Occupations	Musician, singer-songwriter, teacher
Instruments	Guitar
Years active	1962–present
Website	www.rogerwhittaker.com

Roger Whittaker (born 22 March 1936) is an Anglo-Kenyan singer-songwriter and musician. His music can be described as easy listening. He is best known for his baritone singing voice and trademark whistling ability. American audiences are most familiar with his 1970 hit "New World in the Morning" and his 1975 hit "The Last Farewell," the latter of which is his only single to hit the Billboard Hot 100 (it made the Top 20) and also hit #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart.

Childhood and beginning[link]

Whittaker's parents, Edward and Viola, were originally from Staffordshire, England, where they owned and operated a grocery shop. His father had a motorcycle accident and the family moved to a farm near Thika, Kenya because of the warmer climate. His grandfather sang in various clubs and his father played the violin. Roger learned to play the guitar.

Whittaker was drafted into national service and spent two years in the Kenya Regiment. In 1956 he was demobilized and decided on a career in medicine. He enrolled at the University of Cape Town in South Africa.

He left the university after 18 months and joined the civil service education department to try teaching.

Recording and performing career[link]

To further his teaching career, Whittaker moved to Britain in September 1959. For the next three years, he studied zoology, biochemistry, and marine biology at the Bangor University and received a B.Sc. degree. He continued to sing in local clubs and released some of his songs on flexi-discs included with the campus newspaper, the Bangor University Rag. Shortly afterwards, he was signed to Fontana Records who released his first professional single, "The Charge of The Light Brigade", in 1962.

In the summer of 1962, he appeared at a professional gig in Portrush, Northern Ireland. He landed his first major breakthrough when he was signed to appear on an Ulster Television show called This And That. His second single was a cover version of "Steel Men", released in June 1962.

Whittaker met Natalie O'Brien in the spring of 1964 and they married on 15 August of that year. They have five children: Emily (b. 28 May 1968), Lauren (b. 4 June 1970), Jessica (b. 14 February 1973), Guy (b. 15 November 1974), and Alexander (b. 7 April 1978). They now have nine grandchildren.

In 1966, Whittaker switched from Fontana to EMI's Columbia label. His fourth single for the imprint was "Durham Town (The Leavin')", which in 1969 became Whittaker's first UK Top 20 hit. Whittaker's US label, RCA Victor, released the uptempo "New World In The Morning" in 1970, where it became a Top 20 hit in Billboard magazine's Easy Listening chart.

In the early 70's Whittaker took interest in the Nordic Countries when he recorded the single "Where the Angels Tread (Änglagård)" to the music of Evert Taube in 1972. In 1974 he partook in the Finnish Eurovision qualifications. The song "The Finnish Whistler" he performed in the qualifications later became famous in Finland as it was used as a title music for the popular Finnish YLE TV cooking program "Patakakkonen".

1975 saw EMI release "The Last Farewell", a track from his 1971 New World in The Morning album. It became his biggest hit and a signature song, selling more than 11 million copies worldwide. In 1979, Whittaker wrote the song "Call My Name" which reached the final of the UK Eurovision selection, A Song For Europe, performed by Eleanor Keenan and coming third. Whittaker recorded the song himself and the single charted in several European countries. Whittaker also established himself in country music with "I Love You Because" getting "into the lower reaches of the country chart"^[1] in late 1983. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Whittaker had success in Germany, with German language songs produced by Nick Munro. Unable to speak German, Whittaker sang the songs phonetically. He appeared on German and Danish TV several times,^[2] and was on the UK Top Of The Pops show 10 times in the early to mid 1970s.

In 1986, he published his autobiography, So Far, So Good, co-written with his wife.

In March 2006, Whittaker announced on his website that a 2007 Germany tour would be his last, and that he will limit future performances to "occasional concerts". Now more fluent in German, he was seen singing and was interviewed in German on Danish TV in November 2008.

In recent years he has been living in Eyrecourt, County Galway, Ireland, close to the River Shannon.

Tours[link]

In 1976, Whittaker undertook his first tour of the United States.

In 2003 he again toured Germany. After recovering from heart problems at the end of 2004, he started touring in Germany in 2005, and then in UK from May to July.

Awards[link]

In his career to date, Whittaker has earned over 250 silver, gold and platinum albums.

He was part of a successful British team that won the annual Knokke music festival in Belgium, and won the Press Prize as the personality of the festival.

Ivor Novello awards (twice) for songwriting in 1971-72 and for "The Last Farewell" in 1975-76 (?) (unconfirmed - e-mail query pending)

He was awarded a 'Gold Badge Award', from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA) in 1988.^[3]

He earned a 'Golden Tuning Fork' (Goldene Stimmgabel in Germany) in 1986, based on record sales and TV viewer votes.

Discography[link]

Hit singles[link]

European albums[link]

a selection

• 1971 New World in the Morning
• 1979 Mein deutsches Album (in German)
• 1981 Zum Weinen ist immer noch Zeit
• 1982 Typisch Roger Whittaker
• 1983 Voyager
• 1984 Ein Glück, daß es Dich gibt
• 1987 Heut bin ich arm - Heut bin ich reich
• 1991 Frohe Weinacht - Die schonsten Weihnachtslieder
• 1991 Mein Herz schlägt nur für Dich
• 1992 Stimme des Herzens
• 1993 Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht
• 1994 Leben mit Dir
• 1994 Sehnsucht nach Liebe
• 1994 Geschenk des Himmels
• 1995 Ein schöner Tag mit Dir
• 1996 Alles Roger!
• 1996 Einfach leben
• 1997 Zurück zur Liebe
• 1999 Alles Roger 2
• 1999 Awakening
• 2000 Wunderbar geborgen
• 2002 Mehr denn je
• 2003 Alles Roger 3
• 2003 Der weihnachtliche Liedermarkt
• 2004 Live in Berlin
• 2004 Mein schönster Traum
• 2005 Moments in My Life
• 2007 The Danish collection

US albums[link]