Graduate student contribution

Home > Encyclopedia > Topics

Tudor Royal Progresses

roseList documents mentioning Tudor Royal Progresses
Royal progresses or royal entries through the city of London were common during the Tudor period. These progresses were part of the magnificent display of royal power that came to be synonymous with Tudor kings and queens. Throughout much of English history, London has been the centre through which successive monarchs progressed as they took their place on the throne either by inherited right or by force. In the case of the Tudors, it was the first step on their way to legitimizing their accession process. This process involved progressing through London from the Tower of London, followed by the coronation procession at Westminster and then ending with the calling of Parliament.
London was chosen as the site to display royal power because its political supremacy sprang less from economic power than from the presence of royal residences, the lawcourts, government offices and the town houses of the great (Williams 9). Royal progresses occurred for the benefit not just of the monarchs but also of the subjects they ruled and the citizens of London. The first royal progress or royal entry dates back to the thirteenth century with Queen Eleanor, Henry III’s wife, in 1236 as she arrived at her new capital (Withington 616). This long-standing political and ceremonial relationship with London and the monarchy continues today.
A key note to discuss here is the difference between a royal progress and a royal procession. A royal progress usually saw the monarch and his or her retinue travel from one place to another. This could be to places throughout the kingdom or between the royal palaces within London. A royal procession was a more formalized movement from one location to another significant location usually a ceremonial location. A royal procession involved very specific ordering of the political ranks. The two are often intertwined and are not mutually exclusive: a royal progress could turn into a royal procession upon entry to a civic centre. With the Tudors, royal progresses contained extravagant displays of royal riches, pageantry, magnificence and grandeur.
The Tudors used royal progresses through the city of London to celebrate and highlight significant events. The first Tudor royal progress into London occurred in 1485 by Henry VII to celebrate and legitimize the establishment of a new royal house into London. After the Battle of Bosworth Field on 22 August, Henry Tudor claimed victory over the forces of the slain Richard III and became Henry VII of England. In response to this victory, London made rapid preparations for an official welcome and a proclamation by the Mayor, entered in the Journals of the Court of Alderman under the 26 August ordered that the city be cleansed of vagabundes and idill people (Anglo 9). This proclamation demonstrates that the leaders of the city of London wanted to make it fit for the new triumphant king.
Also during the reign of Henry VII, a huge pageant and a progress to and through the city of London took place for Henry’s elder son Prince Arthur in 1486 for the ceremony of his creation as Prince of Wales. He arrived from the south as he was coming from the ancient city of Winchester. But the greatest spectacle and most famous royal progress was that of Catherine of Aragon, to celebrate her arrival in England in 1501 to marry Prince Arthur. Preparations had begun well before her arrival and city officials were assigned to a special delegation to oversee the preparations in November 1499. She too came from the south and was met in Southwark with an entourage that escorted her through the city of London (Anglo 52-59). The event carried great importance because it signified not only the prestige of the royal arrival, but also the central role London played in England’s acceptance of the new princess.
Henry VIII’s first progress was that of his coronation in 1509 and his reign and coronation was opened with an extraordinary burst of spectacular entertainments—disguisings, maskings, plays, dances, tilts, tourneys, and foot combats (Anglo 108). It is interesting to note that there is very little evidence that provides details of Henry’s progress into London other than accounts of his coronation. This is significant given the formidable figure he was to become and the extensive royal progresses Henry took around the kingdom.
After the break from Rome and with the proper reinforcements in place, Henry married Anne Boleyn on 25 January 1533. The marriage was greatly contested and caused upset amongst the people of England. Yet Henry intended to have Anne crowned very publicly and in a grand display, albeit with the disapproval of his subjects (Erikson 156). However, the account of Anne’s coronation in May 1533 produced by the Tudor propaganda machine paints a slightly different picture: that of a very happy and loving people who held their new Queen in high esteem. Given the fact that there was an elaborate pageant and coronation for the Queen, there is some indication of the importance of the people’s approval. Unlike her predecessors that rode to the Tower of London, Queen Anne progressed by barge to the Tower and her arrival was not from the south of England, but rather from Hampton Court. It was described that Then at three o’clock, the Queen’s Grace came to her barge: and incontinent [immediately] all the citizens with that goodly company set forth towards London in good array Gap in transcription. Reason: (DN)[…] And so the Queen’s Grace, being in her rich barge among her nobles the citizens accompanied her to London, unto the Tower wharf (Arber 11-13).
When Edward VI succeeded his father in January 1547, he did not immediately go to London. He was first taken to Enfield from Ashridge, where his sister Elizabeth was and it was there that he was told that he was king. It was not until 31 January 1547 that Edward progressed to the Tower from Enfield (just north of London) (Hoak). Three weeks later on Saturday, 19 February 1547, Edward set out on the traditional ride, from the Tower to Westminster, through the city of London. The royal procession made its way through Mark Lane to Fenchurch Street where it was entertained by dyvers singing men and children synging and playing on the regales. The manner in which Edward was met during his progress is interesting: Here two children greeted the King in conventional terms: he was the cheffe comforte of the commonalty; he was the redolent rose bringing the people great commodity (Anglo 283). This demonstrates the position within the process that the citizens of London and subjects of England had in welcoming and receiving their new monarch.
In July 1553, Edward died and for a brief moment the fate of the nation hung in the balance. Before his death, there was a plan to establish Edward’s cousin Jane Grey as the new ruler of England. Through the machinations of the Earl of Northumberland,1 who coerced Edward into drafting a succession bill, Jane Grey was to succeed and be the legitimate heir to the throne, therefore bypassing his own sisters, Mary and Elizabeth. However, not adhering to the process of sixteenth century government, the bill or Device as it became known was not ratified by Parliament and Jane was never legitimized. Still, Jane was brought to Syon House, the home of the Earl of Northumberland, near Richmond, where she was ceremoniously told that Edward had indeed nominated her to succeed him. Three days later, she made her progress by river to the Tower (Plowden).
It was nine days later in July 1553 when Jane Grey surrendered and Mary I succeeded to the throne. She was proclaimed Queen and there were belles rynging thrugh London, and bone-fyres, and tabuls in evere strett. There was more rejoicing on 3 August when Mary entered London in triumph from Suffolk. On the 28 September, Mary travelled from Whitehall to the Tower (Anglo 318-319). It would appear that London rejoiced at the succession of Mary, but in the years that followed, terror and discourse were evident.
Mary’s ceremonial and grand progress to London was not the only one during her reign. The progress of her husband, King Philip II of Spain would follow her just a year later. Mary married Philip at Winchester in July 1554 and they progressed together into London on the 18 August 1554. One important aspect of Philip’s entry was the placement of the Queen and King. The opposition and vocal disapproval of a foreign marriage required a visible display of the hierarchical superior place that Queen Mary had on the progress and procession, and thus they rode through London the queen of the right hande, and the king of the left (qtd. in Samson 763).
The last great Tudor royal progress or royal entry into the city of London was that of Queen Elizabeth I. Upon Mary’s death in November 1558, Elizabeth, on location at Hatfield House in Hertfordshire, was told she was Queen. She assembled her first accession council and by late December 1558 she made her way to London and stayed at Charterhouse. It was a few days later that the Queen progressed through the city of London. This brief delay was the intermission before:
the rising of a brilliant Sun to cheer the National chilled with the horror of more than inquisitorial cruelty, when the sight of Princess, whose accession forebode such a joyful change, must have had the same effect on every feeling heart as on that of the ancient citizen in Cheapside, who shed tears of joy. (Nichols xi)
It is clear from the exploration of royal progresses and processions into London by the Tudors, that the history between the two was intimate and served to enhance the splendor and prestige of both. One could not function or be discussed without the other.

Notes

  1. I.e., Henry Percy. (KL)↑

References

  • Citation

    Anglo, Sydney. Spectacle, Pageantry and Early Tudor Policy. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1969. Print.

    This item is cited in the following documents:

  • Citation

    Edward Arber. The Coronation of Anne Boelyn. Tudor Tracts, 1532-1588. Westminster: Archibald Constable and Co., 1903. 11-13. Print.

    This item is cited in the following documents:

  • Citation

    Erickson, Carolly. The Royal Panoply. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2003. Print.

    This item is cited in the following documents:

  • Citation

    Hoak, Dale. Edward VI. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Ed. H.C.G. Matthew, Brian Harrison, Lawrence Goldman, and David Cannadine. Oxford UP. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/8522.

    This item is cited in the following documents:

  • Citation

    Nichols, John. The Progresses and Public Processions of Queen Elizabeth. London: John Nichols & Son, 1823. Remediated by Google Books.

    This item is cited in the following documents:

  • Citation

    Plowden, Alison. Grey, Lady Jane (1537-1554). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Ed. H.C.G. Matthew, Brian Harrison, Lawrence Goldman, and David Cannadine. Oxford UP. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/8154.

    This item is cited in the following documents:

  • Citation

    Samson, Alexander. Changing Places: The Marriage & Royal Entry of Philip, Prince of Austria, & Mary Tudor, July-August 1554. The Sixteenth Century Journal 36.3 (2005): 761-784. doi:10.2307/20477489.

    This item is cited in the following documents:

  • Citation

    Williams, Penry. The Tudor Regime. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1979. Print.

    This item is cited in the following documents:

  • Citation

    Withington, Robert. The Early Royal Entry. PMLA 32.4 (1917): 616-623. doi:10.2307/456943.

    This item is cited in the following documents:

Cite this page

MLA citation

Neighbors, Dustin. Tudor Royal Progresses. The Map of Early Modern London, Edition 7.0, edited by Janelle Jenstad, U of Victoria, 05 May 2022, mapoflondon.uvic.ca/edition/7.0/ROYA5.htm.

Chicago citation

Neighbors, Dustin. Tudor Royal Progresses. The Map of Early Modern London, Edition 7.0. Ed. Janelle Jenstad. Victoria: University of Victoria. Accessed May 05, 2022. mapoflondon.uvic.ca/edition/7.0/ROYA5.htm.

APA citation

Neighbors, D. 2022. Tudor Royal Progresses. In J. Jenstad (Ed), The Map of Early Modern London (Edition 7.0). Victoria: University of Victoria. Retrieved from https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/editions/7.0/ROYA5.htm.

RIS file (for RefMan, RefWorks, EndNote etc.)

Provider: University of Victoria
Database: The Map of Early Modern London
Content: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

TY  - ELEC
A1  - Neighbors, Dustin
ED  - Jenstad, Janelle
T1  - Tudor Royal Progresses
T2  - The Map of Early Modern London
ET  - 7.0
PY  - 2022
DA  - 2022/05/05
CY  - Victoria
PB  - University of Victoria
LA  - English
UR  - https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/edition/7.0/ROYA5.htm
UR  - https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/edition/7.0/xml/standalone/ROYA5.xml
ER  -

TEI citation

<bibl type="mla"><author><name ref="#NEIG1"><surname>Neighbors</surname>, <forename>Dustin</forename></name></author>. <title level="a">Tudor Royal Progresses</title>. <title level="m">The Map of Early Modern London</title>, Edition <edition>7.0</edition>, edited by <editor><name ref="#JENS1"><forename>Janelle</forename> <surname>Jenstad</surname></name></editor>, <publisher>U of Victoria</publisher>, <date when="2022-05-05">05 May 2022</date>, <ref target="https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/edition/7.0/ROYA5.htm">mapoflondon.uvic.ca/edition/7.0/ROYA5.htm</ref>.</bibl>

Personography

Locations

Organizations