“Warlike pastimes” and the “sottell Snaek” of Rebellion: Bristol, Queen Elizabeth, and the Entertainments of 1574

Abstract

Though typically seen as occasions of royal performance, Elizabethan progresses were also performative occasions for the cities and towns that were visited by the queen and her retinue. This essay will look closely at the entertainments created for the queen’s 1574 visit to Bristol. Although Bristol was the realm’s third largest city (by both population and wealth), its city and diocesan charters were recent (1542) and its city corporation had endured repeated challenges to its authority; the bishops of Bristol, the surrounding landed gentry, the Council of the Marches, and the Court of Admirality had all impinged on the corporation’s jurisdiction—usually under the pretense of stabilizing this potentially volatile region. I argue that these recent challenges helped determine the form and content of Bristol’s 1574 pageants. Though the purpose of these performances was ostensibly to entertain the queen, the city officials created distinctively martial pageants in order to highlight the military prowess of Bristol’s citizen militia and to underscore the city’s ability to prevent rebellion in the West. In doing so, these “shows” make a calculated argument for affirming the authority of the city corporation.