Christmas: Its Origin and Associations Part 12

[41] Introduction to "Christmas Carols."

[42] Hall's "Chronicle."

[43] Baker's "Chronicle."

[44] Hall's "Chronicle."

[45] Peter Bayne, LL. D.

[46] Wood's "Athenae Oxonienses."

[47] "History of English Poetry."

[48] Dugdale, "Origines Juridiciales."

_CHAPTER VII._

CHRISTMAS UNDER EDWARD VI., MARY, AND ELIZABETH.

(1547-1603.)

CHRISTMAS UNDER KING EDWARD VI.--GEORGE FERRERS "MASTER OF THE KING'S PASTIMES."

During the short reign of the youthful monarch Edward the Sixth (1547-1553), the splendour of the Royal Christmases somewhat abated, though they were still continued; and the King being much grieved at the condemnation of the Duke of Somerset, his uncle and Protector, it was thought expedient to divert his mind by additional pastimes at the Christmas festival, 1551-2. "It was devised," says Holinshed, "that the feast of Christ's nativitie, commonlie called Christma.s.se, then at hand, should be solemnlie kept at Greenwich, with open houshold, and franke resort to Court (which is called keeping of the hall), what time of old ordinarie course there is alwaise one appointed to make sport in the court, commonlie Lord of Misrule; whose office is not unknown to such as have been brought up in n.o.blemen's houses, and among great housekeepers, who use liberall feasting in that season.

There was therefore by order of the Councell, a wise gentleman, and learned, named George Ferrers, appointed to that office for this yeare; who, being of better credit and estimation than comonlie his predecessors had been before, received all his commissions and warrants by the name of the maister of the King's pastimes. Which gentleman so well supplied his office, both in show of sundry sights and devices of rare inventions, and in act of diverse interludes, and matters of pastime plaied by persons, as not onlie satisfied the common sort, but also were verie well liked and allowed by the Councell, and other of skill in the like pastimes; but best of all by the young King himselfe, as appeered by his princelie liberalitie in rewarding that service." The old chronicler quaintly adds, that "Christmas being thus pa.s.sed with much mirth and pastime, it was thought now good to proceed to the execution of the judgment against the Duke of Somerset." The day of execution was the 22nd of January, 1552, six weeks after the pa.s.sing of the sentence.

King Edward took part in some of the Christmas masques performed at his Court, with other youths of his age and stature, all the performers being suitably attired in costly garments. Will Somers also figured in some of these masques. The young King seems to have found more amus.e.m.e.nt in the pageants superintended by Master Ferrers than he had gained from some of the solemnities of the state in which he had been obliged to play a prominent part; but none of the diversions restored him to good health. Large sums of money were expended on these Christmas entertainments, and the King handsomely rewarded the Master of his pastimes.

George Ferrers, who was a lawyer, a poet, and an historian, was certainly well qualified for his task, and well supplied with the means of making sport, as "Master of the King's Pastimes." He complained to Sir Thomas Cawarden that the dresses provided for his a.s.sistants were not sufficient, and immediately an order was given for better provision. He provided clowns, jugglers, tumblers, men to dance the fool's dance, besides being a.s.sisted by the "Court Fool" of the time--John Smyth. This man was newly supplied for the occasion, having a long fool's coat of yellow cloth of gold, fringed all over with white, red, and green velvet, containing 7 yards at 2 per yard, guarded with plain yellow cloth of gold, 4 yards at 33s. 4d. per yard; with a hood and a pair of buskins of the same figured gold containing 2 yards at 5, and a girdle of yellow sa.r.s.enet containing one quarter 16d., the whole value of "the fool's dress" being 26 14s. 8d.

Ferrers, as the "Lord of Misrule" wore a robe of rich stuff made of silk and golden thread containing 9 yards at 16s. a yard, guarded with embroidered cloth of gold, wrought in knots, 14 yards at 11s. 4d. a yard; having fur of red feathers, with a cape of camlet thrum. A coat of flat silver, fine with works, 5 yards at 50s., with an embroidered garb of leaves of gold and coloured silk, containing 15 yards at 20s.

a yard. He wore a cap of maintenance, hose buskins, panticles of Bruges satin, a girdle of yellow sa.r.s.enet with various decorations, the cost of his dress being 52 8s. 8d., which, considering the relative value of money, must be considered a very costly dress.

The office which George Ferrers so ably filled had been too often held by those who possessed neither the wit nor the genius it required; but, originally, persons of high rank and ability had been chosen to perform these somewhat difficult duties. Ferrers received 100 for the charges of his office; and afterwards the Lord Mayor, who probably had been at the Royal festival, entertained him in London. The cost of the Royal festivities exceeded 700.

Stowe, in his "Annals," thus refers to the celebration: "The King kept his Christma.s.se with open houshold at Greenwich, George Ferrers, Gentleman of Lincolnes Inne, being Lord of the merry Disports all the 12 dayes, who so pleasantly and wisely behaved himselfe, that the King had great delight in his pastimes. On Monday the fourth of January, the said Lord of Merry Disports came by water to London, and landed at the Tower-wharfe, entered the Tower, and then rode through the Tower-streete, where he was received by Sergeant Vawce, Lord of Misrule to John Mainard, one of the Sheriffes of London, and so conducted through the Citie with a great company of young Lords and gentlemen, to the house of Sir George Barne, Lord Maior; where he, with the chiefe of his company dined, and after had a great banquet; and, at his departure, the Lord Maior gave him a standing cup, with a cover of silver and gilt, of the value of ten pounds, for a reward; and also set a hogs-head of wine, and a barrell of beere, at his gate, for his traine that followed him; the residue of his gentlemen and servants dined at other Aldermen's houses, and with the sheriffes, and so departed to the Tower wharfe againe, and to the Court by water, to the great commendation of the Maior and Aldermen, and highly accepted of the King and Councell."

RELIGIOUS MATTERS

occupied public attention throughout the reign of Edward VI.

The young king was willing to support the reforming projects of Archbishop Cranmer, and a.s.sented to the publication of the new Liturgy in the Prayer Book of 1549, and the Act of Uniformity. And with the sanction of the sovereign, Cranmer, in 1552, issued a revised Liturgy, known as the Second Prayer Book of King Edward VI., and the Forty-two Articles, which were markedly Protestant in tendency. On his health failing, the King, acting on the advice of the Duke of Northumberland, altered the settlement of the crown as arranged in the will of Henry VIII., and made a will excluding Mary and Elizabeth from the succession in favour of Lady Jane Grey, daughter-in-law of Northumberland, which was sanctioned by Archbishop Cranmer and the Privy Council. Although Cranmer had sanctioned this act with great reluctance, and on the a.s.surance of the judges, it sufficed to secure his condemnation for high treason on Mary's accession. Edward sank rapidly and died on July 6, 1553.

The Duke of Northumberland then

PROCLAIMED LADY JANE GREY QUEEN,

but the people refused to recognise the usurpation. After a brief reign of eleven days,

THE CROWN WAS TRANSFERRED TO MARY,

daughter of Henry VIII. and Catherine of Arragon, and Lady Jane Grey and her husband were sent to the Tower, and subsequently condemned to death. They were kept in captivity for some time, and were not executed until after Wyatt's rebellion in 1554.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Virgin & Child, Chirbury.]

Mary was a firm Roman Catholic, and she looked to her uncle, Charles V. of Spain, for a.s.sistance and support. In January, 1554, much to the disappointment of her subjects, she concluded a treaty of marriage with Philip of Spain, son of Charles V. Afterwards her reign was disturbed by insurrections, and also by the persecution of Protestants by Cardinal Pole, who came over to England to push forward the Roman Catholic reaction.

THIS TROUBLED REIGN

was not congenial to Christmas festivities, though they were still kept up in different parts of the country. During the Christmas festival (January 2, 1554) a splendid emba.s.sy, sent by the Emperor, Charles the Fifth, headed by the Counts Egmont and Lalain, the Lord of Courrieres, and the Sieur de Nigry, landed in Kent, to arrange the marriage between Queen Mary and Philip. The unpopularity of the proceeding was immediately manifested, for the men of Kent, taking Egmont for Philip, rose in fury and would have killed him if they could have got at him. Although an attempt was made to allay the fears of the English, within a few days three insurrections broke out in different parts of the kingdom, the most formidable being that under Sir Thomas Wyatt, who fixed his headquarters at Rochester. In city and court alike panic prevailed. The lawyers in Westminster Hall pleaded in suits of armour hidden under their robes, and Dr. Weston preached before the Queen in Whitehall Chapel, on Candlemas Day, in armour under his clerical vestments. Mary alone seemed calm and self-possessed. She mounted her horse, and, attended by her ladies and her Council, rode into the City, where, summoning Sir Thomas White, Lord Mayor, and the Aldermen, who all came clad in armour under their civic livery, she ascended a chair of State, and with her sceptre in her hand addressed them, declaring she would never marry except with the leave of her Parliament. Her courage gained the day. The rebellion was speedily quelled and the ringleaders put to death; and the following July the marriage took place. Mary's subsequent reign was a "reign of terror, a time of fire and blood, such as has no parallel in the history of England."[49]

CHRISTMAS DIVERSIONS OF QUEEN MARY.

During her "reign of terror" Queen Mary was diverted by Christmas plays and pageants, and she showed some interest in the amus.e.m.e.nts of the people. Strutt's "Sports and Pastimes," in an article on the "Antiquity of Tumbling," says: "It would seem that these artists were really famous mirth-makers; for one of them had the address to excite the merriment of that solemn bigot Queen Mary. 'After her Majesty,'

observes Strype, 'had reviewed the royal pensioners in Greenwich Park, there came a tumbler, and played many pretty feats, the Queen and Cardinal Pole looking on; whereat she was observed to laugh heartily.'" Strutt also mentions that "when Mary visited her sister, the Princess Elizabeth, during her confinement at Hatfield House, the next morning, after ma.s.s, a grand exhibition of bear-baiting was made for their amus.e.m.e.nt, with which, it is said, 'their highnesses were right well content.'" The idle pageantry of the Boy-bishop, which had been formally abrogated by proclamation from the King, in the thirty-third year of Henry VIII., was revived by his daughter Mary.

Strutt says that "in the second year of her reign an edict, dated November 13, 1554, was issued from the Bishop of London to all the clergy of his diocese, to have a Boy-bishop in procession. The year following, 'the child Bishop, of Paules Church, with his company,'

were admitted into the Queen's privy chamber, where he sang before her on Saint Nicholas Day, and upon Holy Innocents Day. After the death of Mary this silly mummery was totally discontinued."

The Christmas entertainments of Philip and Mary at Richmond are thus described by Folkstone Williams:[50] "The Queen strove to entertain her Royal husband with masques, notwithstanding that he had seen many fair and rich beyond the seas; and Nicholas Udall, the stern schoolmaster, was ordered to furnish the drama. An idea of these performances may be gathered from the properties of a masque of patrons of gallies like Venetian senators with galley-slaves for their torch-bearers, represented at Court in Christmas of the first and second years of Philip and Mary, with a Masque of six Venuses, or amorous ladies, with six Cupids, and as many torch-bearers. Among them were lions' heads, sixteen other headpieces, made in quaint fashion for the Turkish magistrates, as well as eight falchions for them, the sheaths covered with green velvet, and bullioned with copper. There were eight headpieces for women-masks, G.o.ddesses and huntresses. A masque of eight mariners, of cloth of gold and silver, and six pairs of chains for the galley slaves. Another mask of G.o.ddesses and huntresses, with Turks, was performed on the following Shrovetide; and one of six Hercules, or men of war, coming from the sea with six Mariners to their torch-bearers, was played a little later. Besides which, we find mention of a masque of covetous men with long noses--a masque of men like Argus--a masque of women Moors--a masque of Amazons--one of black and tawney tinsel, with baboons' faces--one of Polanders, and one of women with Diana hunting."

Nichols ("Progresses," vol. i. p. 18) says that in 1557 the Princess Elizabeth was present at a Royal Christmas kept with great solemnity by Queen Mary and King Philip at Hampton Court. "On Christmas Eve, the great hall of the palace was illuminated with a thousand lamps curiously disposed. The Princess supped at the same table in the hall with the King and Queen, next the cloth of state; and after supper, was served with a perfumed napkin and plates of confects by the Lord Paget. But she retired to her ladies before the revels, maskings, and disguisings began. On St. Stephen's day she heard mattins in the Queen's closet adjoining to the chapel, where she was attired in a robe of white sattin, strung all over with large pearls. On the 29th day of December she sate with their majesties and the n.o.bility at a grand spectacle of justing, when two hundred spears were broken. Half of the combatants were accoutred in the Almaine and half in the Spanish fashion. Thus our chronicler, who is fond of minute description. But these and other particularities, insignificant as they seem, which he has recorded so carefully, are a vindication of Queen Mary's character in the treatment of her sister; they prove that the Princess, during her residence at Hatfield, lived in splendour and affluence; that she was often admitted to the diversions of the Court; and that her present situation was by no means a state of oppression and imprisonment, as it has been represented by most of our historians."

[Ill.u.s.tration: Saints and angels.]

THE ROMISH PRIESTLY PRACTICES

on "Christma.s.s-daye," at this period, are referred to in the following translation from Naogeorgus, by Barnaby Googe:--

"Then comes the day wherein the Lorde did bring his birth to pa.s.se; Whereas at midnight up they rise, and every man to Ma.s.se, This time so holy counted is, that divers earnestly Do think the waters all to wine are chaunged sodainly; In that same houre that Christ Himselfe was borne, and came to light, And unto water streight againe transformde and altred quight.

There are beside that mindfully the money still do watch, That first to aultar commes, which then they privily do s.n.a.t.c.h.

The priestes, least other should it have, take oft the same away, Whereby they thinke throughout the yeare to have good lucke in play, And not to lose: then straight at game till day-light do they strive, To make some present proofe how well their hallowde pence wil thrive.

Three Ma.s.ses every priest doth singe upon that solemn day, With offrings unto every one, that so the more may play.

This done, a woodden childe in clowtes is on the aultar set, About the which both boyes and gyrles do daunce and trymly jet; And Carrols sing in prayse of Christ, and, for to helpe them heare, The organs aunswere every verse with sweete and solemne cheare.

The priestes do rore aloude; and round about the parentes stande To see the sport, and with their voyce do helpe them and their hande."

THE CHRISTMAS MUMMERS

played a prominent part in the festivities of this period, and the following ill.u.s.tration shows how they went a-mumming.

[Ill.u.s.tration: RIDING A-MUMMING AT CHRISTMASTIDE.]