Elizabeth and the Arts (AQA A-Level History): Revision Notes
Elizabeth and the Arts
The arts experienced remarkable growth during Elizabeth's reign. While she cannot claim sole credit for this phenomenon, Elizabeth was a selective supporter of artistic endeavours, demonstrating enthusiasm in her encouragement of art, music, literature and theatre. Her courtiers received favour when they showed interest in these cultural pursuits. Court life mirrored these interests.
Patronage refers to the financial and political support given by wealthy or powerful individuals to artists, writers, musicians and other creative figures. This system was essential for the flourishing of the arts during the Elizabethan period.
Noblemen, who in previous reigns might have remained in their localities nursing grievances, were now encouraged to come to the capital. By 1590, approximately half of the English peers maintained town houses in London, primarily on the Strand or nearby areas. Many more rented houses that they occupied during some of the winter months.
Physical activities and outdoor entertainment
Elizabeth demonstrated enthusiasm for outdoor events, including hunting and shooting. Tournaments took place regularly, and from 1572 onwards an annual tournament was held to commemorate the day when Elizabeth succeeded to the throne. She maintained her love of horse riding and continued to ride at considerable speed until the final years of her reign. She could compete in riding with the excellent horseman Robert Dudley, her Master of Horse during the early part of her reign.
Music and musical performance
Elizabeth possessed accomplished musical skills and could play several instruments, including the virginals (an early keyboard) and the lute. She spent money lavishly on music, providing encouragement to musicians and composers. The renowned Elizabethan composers William Byrd and Thomas Tallis were employed at the Chapel Royal. She allocated over £1,500 each year to music.
The Chapel Royal included gentlemen and children who sang at services, along with over 60 instrumentalists, including seventeen trumpeters. This substantial musical establishment reflected Elizabeth's commitment to the arts and the importance of music in court life.
Dance
Elizabeth showed particular enthusiasm for dancing, especially the galliard and the volta. These were both energetic dances that helped maintain her fitness until she could no longer perform them. The pavane proved less energetic and gained greater favour with Elizabeth later in her reign.
Theatre and dramatic performances
During evenings at court, entertainments took place. Elizabeth enjoyed watching plays, masques and other dramatic performances.
Masques were elaborate theatrical productions that had evolved from masked dances with miming into something resembling modern ballet. These performances featured elaborate costumes and scenery created by the Master of the Queen's Revels. The performance was interspersed with songs and poems. Staging employed themes that enhanced the image of the Queen and were often designed to impress foreign visitors to court.
Elizabeth maintained her own company of actors, The Queen's Players. Robert Dudley also operated his own company and would arrange for them to perform before the Queen.
Near the end of her reign, Elizabeth demonstrated interest in William Shakespeare, an emerging playwright in the 1590s. His company of players, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, performed Twelfth Night at court one Christmas. Shakespeare allegedly wrote The Merry Wives of Windsor because Elizabeth had expressed that she would like to see Falstaff in love.
Attitudes towards Elizabethan theatres
Elizabeth's patronage of the theatre carried particular importance because the Puritans in London during the 1590s were conducting a propaganda campaign against what they perceived as the evils of the London theatres that had developed since the 1570s.
Opposition to theatres
The Lord Mayor of London sent a letter to the Privy Council in July 1597 expressing concerns about theatres as gathering places for undesirable elements. This represented the Puritan view that playhouses were morally corrupting and dangerous to public order.
The Lord Mayor's letter stated:
'Plays give opportunities to the ungodly people that are within this city to assemble themselves. They are places for vagrant persons, masterless men, thieves, horse-stealers, whoremongers and other idle and dangerous persons to meet together. They also draw apprentices from their ordinary work to the great hindrance of trade. In time of sickness it is found by experience that many, having sores but not yet sick, take occasion for recreation by hearing a play, whereby others are infected.'
Defence of theatre
Reflecting the Queen's own interest in drama, the Privy Council in 1600 agreed that plays should be encouraged, with necessary precautions taken:
'It is considered that the use of such plays, not being evil in itself, may with good order and moderation be suffered in a well-governed state. As Her Majesty is pleased at some times to take delight and recreation in the sight and sharing of them.'
Noble patronage and propaganda
Some of the leading nobles, perhaps following the Queen's example, also promoted the theatre. Shakespeare relied on patronage from members of the nobility. It was the nobility, more than anyone else, who helped create the Tudor propaganda picture of stable and successful rule.
The Richard II incident
Historical Example: The Richard II Performance and Essex's Revolt
One notable example that allegedly reflected the powerful influence of the theatre occurred in 1601. The Lord Chamberlain's Men were persuaded to stage a performance of Shakespeare's Richard II just before the Earl of Essex staged his infamous and doomed revolt.
The staging of the play, involving the deposing of Richard II, failed to rouse the London mob against their Queen. Essex paid the price for his rebellion. This incident demonstrated both the perceived power of theatre as a propaganda tool and its limitations in actually influencing public action.
Dramatists' propaganda
The dramatists also engaged in their own propaganda. Thomas Nashe wrote in 1592:
'When people argue that plays corrupt common people, that's false, for no play they have encourageth any man to tumults or rebellion, but lays before such the gallows, or praiseth or approveth pride, lust, whoredom, drunkenness, but beats them down utterly. Men that are their own masters (such as gentlemen of the court) spend their leisure time in the afternoons on gaming, harlots, drinking or seeing a play. Is it not then better they should choose the least evil, that is plays?'
Development of London theatres
The first theatre, named The Theatre, was built in 1576. This was followed by the Curtain, the Rose and the Swan, before the most famous, The Globe, opened in 1599. The flourishing of theatres in London reflected both official encouragement from the court and the growing interest in the Renaissance.
Many of the courtiers and government officials were highly literate and had studied Greek and Roman writers. Elizabethan authors referred to these classical sources and Italian writers frequently, assuming that their readership would understand the references.
Wider cultural context
In other flourishing aspects of the arts such as architecture and painting, considerable use was made of achievements and attitudes from the Ancient Classical period. Writings also demonstrated the influence of the wider world, both helped by widening horizons through the development of printing and the discovery of new land and civilisations beyond Europe.
Intellectual and educational developments under Elizabeth
Renaissance thinking and writing flourished under Elizabeth. Printing continued to expand rapidly, with 2,760 books published in Elizabeth's reign up to 1579 and 4,370 from 1580 onwards.
Literacy and education
The extent of printing's influence depended on the ability to read. Literacy levels have been subject to considerable debate among historians. Many people could read but not write (fewer than 20% of the population could sign their name). There were, nonetheless, more opportunities to learn to read in Elizabethan England, and the printed word provided a powerful incentive to do so.
The Reformation provided another important incentive for literacy. During Elizabeth's reign, Catholics and Protestants relied equally on the printed word to spread their religious messages and engage in theological debates.
The number of schools founded per decade in Elizabeth's reign was fewer than in the 1550s. However, the combined effects of these developments provided opportunities, especially for families who were just below the privileged classes. The opportunities declined somewhat towards the end of the century, with less charitable giving to found or maintain schools as a result of the economic depressions of 1586-87 and 1594-98. This may have led to a lowering of literacy rates in the 1590s. Nevertheless, the trend towards higher rates of literacy continued upward, especially in the city of London where many printing presses were centred.
Renaissance humanism and classical influences
Many of the books published reflected the humanist background of the Renaissance from earlier in the century. English writers referred frequently to Greek and Roman authors as well as publications from Italy. Works by Plato and Aristotle were used to argue for virtue in public life and for virtuous men to seek public office.
More works by Classical Roman scholars were translated into English. The educated could read the major writings of Tacitus, such as the Histories and Life of Agricola (published 1591) and the Annals and Description of Germany (published 1598).
Elizabeth therefore had at her court many of the finest trained minds available in England, and as a consequence the court was the centre of substantial philosophical debate stemming from Classical and Renaissance literature.
Key Points to Remember:
- Elizabeth used the arts strategically to enhance her image and consolidate her power, encouraging courtiers to favour art, music, literature and theatre.
- The Queen was personally accomplished in the arts, playing the virginals and lute, enjoying dance and commissioning elaborate masques that portrayed her magnificently.
- Theatre faced opposition from Puritans who viewed playhouses as gathering places for undesirable elements, but Elizabeth and the Privy Council defended drama as legitimate recreation.
- Elizabethan England experienced substantial intellectual development, with printing expanding dramatically (2,760 books by 1579, 4,370 by 1586) and literacy rates gradually increasing.
- The court became a centre of Renaissance learning, with educated courtiers and officials studying Classical Greek and Roman texts, creating an environment of philosophical debate and cultural sophistication.