Breaking Bread with the Bedchamber

2021 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 250-281
Author(s):  
Jennifer S. Ng
Keyword(s):  
English Court ◽  
Royal Household

Abstract This article examines the institution of the Bedchamber of James I of England (1603–1625) through the practice of feasting. Originally comprising James VI’s Scottish entourage, the Bedchamber was a novel introduction to the English royal household in the Jacobean period: as such, this group of attendants came to represent both a body with unparalleled royal access, and a Scottish barrier between James I and his English court. By approaching the Bedchamber through its social and cultural obligations, the institution emerges as a mediating, rather than restrictive, body, serving to enact reconciliation between the king, the Court, and foreign states. Moreover, the Bedchamber’s feasting calendar indicates a broad basis of reward, circulating around several Bedchamber Gentlemen rather than a single favorite. Patterns of Bedchamber feasting ultimately reflected a Court that was largely accessible, not significantly structured by ethnic divisions, and conducive to the proliferation of culture and favor.

scholarly journals “When the King Goeth a Procession”: Chapel Ceremonies and Services, the Ritual Year, and Religious Reforms at the Early Tudor Court, 1485–1547

2001 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fiona Kisby
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Early Modern Period ◽  
Religious Culture ◽  
Henry Viii ◽  
English Court ◽  
Modern Period ◽  
Fundamental Fact ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Royal Household

There is general agreement now that the court of Henry VIII and his father wasthecenter of politics, patronage, and power in England. It is also well understood how access to the king—the sole font of that power—and the ability to catch “either his ear or his eye” headed, to a large extent, the agenda of any ambitious courtier. Patronage is a theme that has accordingly dominated the historiography of the Tudor royal household, and indeed this is one of the two major concerns of court historians of the early modern period in general. Ceremony is the second, and the Tudor court has been the focus of study in this respect too, as the work of Jennifer Loach and Sidney Anglo attests. Yet while the occasional ceremonies of state (funerals, coronations, royal entries) and of “spectacles” (revels, pageants, and plays) have been the subject of detailed investigation, those that took place on a regular basis exclusively within the physical confines of the royal houses have received very little attention. Consequently historians have failed to notice a fundamental fact of which all courtiers were aware: that, by the early Tudor period and quite probably well before, the weekly routine of ceremony at the English court was structured by the liturgical calendar and thus dominated by religious culture.It is possible that this historiographical lacuna has arisen because the history of the chief organ of religious ceremonial in the royal household—the chapel royal—has largely been neglected.

Job descriptions, nepotism, and part-time work: the minstrels and trumpeters of the court of Edward IV of England (1461–83)

2003 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 165-177
Author(s):  
Helen Marsh Jeffries
Keyword(s):  
Job Descriptions ◽  
English Court ◽  
Time Work ◽  
Part Time ◽  
Working Practices ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Court Life ◽  
Part Time Work ◽  
Royal Household

The role of the minstrels of the English court has been relatively neglected compared to the attention devoted to the Chapel Royal, and the importance of the reign of Edward IV has been long overlooked. The minstrels disappeared from court life, and we have no modern comparison that might help us to understand their role. The fact that they did not have a prescribed set of daily rituals to perform, as the chapel did, also complicates discussion. Study of the instrumentalists employed by Edward IV reveals information about working practices that can illuminate our view not only of them, but also of the whole royal household. It also helps to clarify the difference between ‘King's Minstrels’ and ‘King's Trumpeters’, a distinction that has been hitherto ignored.

Chrétien and the English Court

Romania ◽  
1972 ◽  
Vol 93 (369) ◽  
pp. 85-87
Author(s):  
Helen C. R. Laurie
Keyword(s):  
English Court

A Foothold in Paris

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison Forrestal
Keyword(s):  
Early Career ◽  
The Other ◽  
South West ◽  
University Level ◽  
Royal Household

This introductory chapter examines the early career of Vincent de Paul between 1581 and 1611, moving from his birth and education to his arrival in Paris in 1608, and his immersion in the dévot environment there. It begins with a summary of his birth in south-west France and his years of education to university level. It then outlines his appointment as an almoner in the royal household of Marguerite de Valois in early 1610, after he had taken up residence in Paris two years earlier. It concludes with an analysis of the other aspects of his material livelihood during these years, including his acquisition of the abbey of Saint-Léonard-de-Chaumes in western France.

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