T

he King is bringing how many?

 

 

“Nothing save war was more disruptive to the orderly well-being of court life than a royal progress.”  I was unable to find the medieval historian who wrote these immortal words but I must say that in one sentence he summed up the definition of Royal Progress. 

From beginning to end, a mass of bodies, horses and wagons traveled in unison on hot dusty roads to stay with nobles who—for the most part—probably didn’t welcome their sovereign’s visit.  Don’t misunderstand… the honor was most welcome but the cost was indeed not.  Saying you were going to be away didn’t work.  Hiding the coffers and pleading broke didn’t help either.  You HAD to be there to entertain your King and his court.  The expense could—and would—empty your coffers. 

Travelling to the far reaches of one’s kingdom was a necessity if you wanted to get to know your people for they wouldn’t be coming to see you.  It also gave you the opportunity to show them what a great monarch you were—or thought you were. 

Henry VIII and his daughter, Elizabeth I, were well known for their Royal Progresses.  Edward Hall, English chronicler and lawyer, wrote in 1542 of Henry VIII’s Progress in 1510:

“From thence the whole Court to Windsor (the king) then beginning his progress, excising himself daily in shooting, singing, dancing, wrestling, casting of the bar, playing at the recorders…  And when he came to Woking, there were kept both jousts and tourneys: the rest of this progress was spent in hunting, hawking and shooting… The said progress finished, his grace, the Queen with all their whole train, in the month of October following, removed to Greenwich.”

Henry’s 1541 progress to York was in response to the Pilgrimage of Grace and the Wakefield Plot.  To protect himself and to show his power he took with him all but a few of his privy councilors, his royal household and an entourage of 4,000 or so knights.  Even thought he went to the city of York this time and not to a noble’s castle in the country, try housing and feeding that many people and their horses.

An account of Elizabeth I’s 1575 progress to Stafford was found in an early account book of Stafford Borough:

“Advance preparations included pointing houses, gravelling the streets, and repairing the old town cross. When she arrived she was met at the East Gate by the town bailiffs who presented her with a tall cup worth £30: "(Alas poor soul other towns give us of their wealth and you give us of your want)".She then progressed to the market place, where she "commended the situation of the town, and asked what was the cause of the decay of the same". The answer was partly the decay of capping, and partly the loss of the Stafford Assizes. "Her Majesty most lovingly answered that she would renew and establish better the said statute for Capping, and for the Assizes she gave her promise that the same should ever after be kept at Stafford."

"And so after many most sweet and gracious words to the great comfort of the poor inhabitants of Stafford she passed along through the market place, and so in at the Crabbery Lane to the Broad Eye and over at the new bridge where the bailiffs left her majesty, her highness going directly to Stafford Castle where she stayed to dinner and so parted thence.”

 

 

 

 

 

Sara Batty wrote in her Bachelors Thesis in History at Mills College, 1994:

“When the Queen went on progress "she was not content to be accompanied by a mere handful of courtiers and ladies-in-waiting; she took along a great multitude and a large train of luggage, furnishings, food, and other suplies". Burghley tried to get the queen to limit the number of people she took on progress, but she was unwilling to compromise on the matter. To maintain the level of magnificence expected of her, she expected both her courtiers and her household to behave as though they were in residence at one of her palaces. Among those she expected undiminished service from were the members of the household. They succeeded, but only by having "every department…trundling round the countryside on an assortment of wagons." As when she was in one of her own palaces, Elizabeth tended to let the household serve her without regard to how that service was accomplished. The household often had to do with very makeshift circumstances. It was the responsibility of each department to pack the necessary equipment to take with it when the court went on progress, and their baggage, and that of the rest of the court, could take up from three to five hundred carts.”

 

When on progress the sovereign expected—no demanded—that they be served with all the pomp and circumstance that they received in each of their own castles.  Probably more so while on progress because the entire purpose of the trip was to see and be seen by your people and to let them know that all was well within the kingdom.  Did it work to inspire awe in the people?  For some monarchs, yes.  For others, not so much. 

 Whatever the outcome of the progress it is probably safe to say that no one really enjoyed themselves.  Least of all the host.

 

royal_progress_pic

Imagine seeing this coming
up the road and through your drawbridge

 

Linda Abel is the publisher, editor and your faithful Scribe of The Medieval Chronicle. She is also co-published in mystery and self published in non-fiction with books on the medieval period.  She would love hearing from you.  Please contact her at Scribe@TheMedievalChronicle.com.

 

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