Temples of Dynastic Memory in the Seventeenth Century: Valladolid and London

Abstract

Ambassador Cornwallis arrived in Valladolid in 1605 to ratify the peace treaty between James I of England and Philip III of Spain, an event which coincided with the birth of a new prince. The British envoys witnessed a masque that celebrated the prince’s christening. This masque was held at a new addition to the royal palace which was exclusively built for the occasion. Considering Nora’s concept of “site of memory” and Roach’s concept of “vortex of behavior,” the author regards the place of the performance and the spectacle that it contained as a display of symbols (by means of the architecture, painting, sculpture, music, poetry, tapestries, etiquette, stage design, and choreography) that recreated the memory of a divinely ordained imperial dynasty. The spectacle was a political tool for the positioning of the Spanish crown in the context of its international relations. This example may have influenced the way in which both James I’s theories of divine kingship and the Stuart dynastic memory were displayed. The banqueting house at Whitehall Palace in London, and the masques that the Stuarts regularly held, resembled the environment of Valladolid in 1605.