Masque at the baptism of Prince Henry

Prince Henry was carried from the Queen's Audience Chamber or Inner Hall to the Chapel Royal by Robert Radclyffe, 5th Earl of Sussex.

A masque was held at the baptism of Prince Henry on 30 August 1594 at Stirling Castle. It was written by the Scottish poet William Fowler and Patrick Leslie, 1st Lord Lindores.[1]

Prince Henry, born 19 February 1594, was the first child of James VI of Scotland and Anne of Denmark. He was heir apparent to the throne of Scotland and potentially in line to the throne of England.[2] William Fowler composed the masque and wrote an account of the celebrations in A True Reportarie of the Baptisme of the Prince of Scotland (1594) printed in Edinburgh and London.[3] An English spectator also made a report of the events.[4] The programme owed much to French Valois court festival, while some aspects were attuned to please English audiences and readers of Fowler's book. There was a tournament in exotic costume and a masque during which desserts were served, while Latin mottoes were displayed and verses sung to music. A maritime theme involving a ship laden with fish made of sugar represented the safe sea crossing made in 1590 by Anne of Denmark and James, the North Star,[5] despite the "conspiracies of witches".[6][7] The ship was said to be the king's "own invention".[8] James VI was celebrated as a "new Jason", and by analogy, Anne of Denmark was Medea and also both the Golden Fleece and the embodiment of her dowry.[9] The event was delayed by waiting for the completion of the new Chapel Royal designed by William Schaw and described as the new Temple of Solomon,[10] and the arrival of the English ambassador's party.[11]

  1. ^ Clare McManus, Women on the Renaissance Stage: Anna of Denmark and Female Masquing in the Stuart Court 1590–1618 (Manchester, 2002), p. 83.
  2. ^ Michael Bath, 'Rare Shewes, the Stirling Baptism of Prince Henry' in Journal of the Northern Renaissance, no. 4 (2012).
  3. ^ Henry Meikle, The Works of William Fowler, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1936), pp. 169–95.
  4. ^ Thomas Rymer, Foedera, vol. 16 (London, 1715), pp. 263–4.
  5. ^ Jamie Reid Baxter, 'Scotland will be the Ending of all Empires', Steve Boardman & Julian Goodare, Kings, Lords and Men in Scotland and Britain (Edinburgh, 2014), pp. 332-4.
  6. ^ Martin Wiggins & Catherine Richardson, British Drama 1533–1642: A Catalogue: 1590–1597, vol. 3 (Oxford, 2013), pp. 245–7.
  7. ^ Liv Helene Willumsen, 'Witchcraft against Royal Danish Ships in 1589 and the Transnational Transfer of Ideas', IRSS, 45 (2020), pp. 54-99
  8. ^ Graham Parry, The Golden Age Restor'd: The Culture of the Stuart Court (Manchester, 1981), 65.
  9. ^ Clare McManus, Women on the Renaissance Stage: Anna of Denmark and Female Masquing in the Stuart Court, 1590-1619 (Manchester, 2002), p. 88.
  10. ^ Miles Glendinning & Aonghus McKechnie, Scottish Architecture (Thames & Hudson, 2004), p. 61: Ian Campbell & Aonghus Mackechnie, 'The ‘Great Temple of Solomon’ at Stirling Castle', Architectural History, vol. 54 (2011), pp. 91–118.
  11. ^ Clare McManus, Women on the Renaissance Stage: Anna of Denmark and female masquing in the Stuart Court (Manchester, 2002), p. 79.