View source for Masque of Amazons, A

[[Anon.]] ([[1579]]) 
<br>
NB. This title has also been associated with 'A Masque of Knights'; see [[#Possible Narrative and Dramatic Sources or Analogues|'''Possible Narrative and Dramatic Sources or Analogues''']] below.
<br>
<br>
==Historical Records==
'A Maske of Amazons' is listed in the Revels accounts of 1578/9 as one of the masques performed 'before her maiestie the ffrench Imbassadour being presente the sonday night after Twelfdaie [11 January] whereof one was' ([https://archive.org/stream/DocumentsRelatingToTheOfficeOfThe/Documents_Relating_to_the_Office_of_the#page/n309/mode/2up Feuillerat, 286, 287]):

A Maske of Amasones in all Armore compleate parcell gilte gilded<br />
within this office with Counterfett Murryons silvered oner and parcell <br />
guylte (besides their head peecs belonging to their Armoure) and A <br />
crefcte on the toppe of every .6. of them having longe heare hanging <br />
downe behind them, their kirtles were of Crymson cloth of gold being <br />
indented at the skirte and Laied with silver Lace and frindge with <br />
pendaunts of golde Tassells gold knobbes and set on with Broches of <br />
golde plated vppon the skirte with plates of silver lawne with tassells <br />
of gold Laid vnder belowe in steed of pettdcots with white silver rich <br />
tincle fringed with golde fringe Buskins of oringe cullor velvet Antick <br />
ffawcheons and shields with A devise painted theron and Iavelinges <br />
in their handes one with A speach to the Quenes maiestie delivering A <br />
Table with writings vnto her highnes comyng in with musitions playing on <br />
Cornettes apparrelled in longe white taffeta sarcenett garments torche <br />
bearers with the troocheman wearing longe gownes of white taffeta with <br />
sleaves of the same and vppon them had longe crymson taffeta gownes <br />
without sleaves Indented at the skirte and frindged Laced and tasselled <br />
with silver, and gold tucked vpp with the girding almoste to the knee <br />
bowes in their hand^s and quivers of Arrowes at their girdles head peeces <br />
of gold Lawne and woemens heare wrethed verie faire and after the Ama- <br />
sons had dawnced with Lord^s in her majesties presence in came. <br />
<br />
An other Maske of knightes all likewise in Armoure compleate parcell <br />
guilte also guilte within this office with like counterfett Murryons vppon <br />
their head*s silvered and parcell guylte with plomes of ffeathers in the <br />
toppes of every of them, with bases of Rich gold Tyncell frindged with <br />
gold frindge garded with riche purple silver Tyncell Lardge Bawdrick^s <br />
about their neckes of black gold Tyncell having truncheons in their handes <br />
guylte and guylded sheild^s with A posey written on every of them their <br />
showes of gold Lawne tyncell and commyng in with one before them, with <br />
A speach vnto her highnes and delivering A table written their torch <br />
bearers being Rutters apparrelled in greene satten Ierkines panned Laid with <br />
silver Laice and drawne owte with Tincell sarcenet their hose being verie <br />
Longe paned of rased velvet ground ycalowe and rasing greene likewise <br />
Laid with silver Lace and drawne owte with tincell sarcenett, their hattes <br />
of crymson silk and sylver throwmed and wreythed bandars with ffeathers <br />
t he Amasons and the Knights after the Knightes had dawnced A while <br />
with Ladies before her matestie did then in her maiesties presence fight at <br /> 
Barriars. <br />
<br />
''Included in the margin to the left of this entry'':<br />
<br />
Maskes shewen <br />
before her maies- <br />
tie the ffrench Im- <br /> 
bassadour being <br />
presente the son- <br />
day night after <br />
Twelfdaie where- <br />
of one was. <br />
<br />
([https://archive.org/stream/DocumentsRelatingToTheOfficeOfThe/Documents_Relating_to_the_Office_of_the#page/n309/mode/2up Feuillerat, 286, 287])
<br />
<br />
<br />

==Theatrical Provenance==
English Court at Richmond.
<br>
<br>
<br>

==Probable Genre(s)==
Masque.
<br>
<br>
<br>

==Possible Narrative and Dramatic Sources or Analogues==
There were many references to Amazons in early to mid-Elizabethan culture. Histories from antiquity that included encounters with this fierce but intriguing land of woman warriors were frequently translated into English. The tales of the labours of Hercules and the conquests and rule of Theseus and, depending on the myth, their challenges and conquests involving Queen Hippolyta of the Amazons would have been well known to Elizabethan courtly audiences.  

The stories of conquests, either by or of Amazon warrior queens who eschewed marriage (and male heirs), also pointed to Queen Elizabeth, who was in attendance and who, according to Wiggins, was addressed directly at the beginning of the event (Wiggins, 657). This masque was staged when Elizabeth was being courted by Francis, Duke of Anjou (there is more speculation on the historical backdrop of this masque in the '''[[#For What It's Worth|'For What It's Worth']]''' below). 

The Amazon Masque appears to have been part of a double masque, performed simultaneously with 'A Masque of Knights' (listed as a separate play in LDP but redirected to this page). The medievalization of the Amazon myth, that is the coupling of ancient Amazons and Greek warriors with heroic medieval knights, implies Chaucerian influence (via Boccaccio). In Chaucer's 'The Knight's Tale,' Theseus and Ypolita, epic warriors from antiquity, find themselves drawn into the post-Boethian, high medieval world of knightly challenges, courtly love, and tragic romance. It is in Chaucer and Lydgate (both reprinted throughout the 16th century) that Theseus becomes 'Duke' of Athens.

An immediate, accessible, and popular rendering of the Amazon history was the [http://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A08840.0001.001/1:6.1?c=eebo;c=eebo2;g=eebogroup;rgn=div2;view=fulltext;xc=1;q1=Palace+of+Pleasure story of the Amazons] in the Second Tome of William Painter's [http://name.umdl.umich.edu/A08840.0001.001 Palace of Pleasure] (1567). Amazons would remain in the popular imagination, of course, well beyond this event, appearing in such popular Englished editions as Thomas North's Plutarch (1579), and in the fourth of the ''Ten Tragedies'' of Seneca (1581). When Shakespeare set ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' in the Athens of Theseus and Hippolyta, he was using characters that had been well known for a long time to court and public audiences from a variety of popular print sources.
<br>
<br>
<br>

==References to the Play==
In a letter dated 15 January 1579, Bernadino de Mendoza, the Spanish ambassador in London, writes to Gabriel de Zayas about a series of state issues and international intrigues. Mendoza mentions in passing a recent grand ball at court during which there was 'an entertainment in imitation of a tournament, between six ladies and a like number of gentlemen, who surrendered to them' (see '[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-state-papers/simancas/vol2/pp626-642 Simancas: January 1579]', in ''Calendar of State Papers, Spain''). Collaborated with evidence from the Revels Office that there were indeed six actors for both groups of masquers and given the reference to Simier in the same letter, this was a direct reference to the ''A Masque of Amazons and A Masque of Knights''.


Feuillerat,<br>
<br>
<br>

==Critical Commentary==
The play was performed for the French ambassador. Sibley notes that the resident French ambassador was Mauvissiere, but also points to [https://archive.org/stream/DocumentsRelatingToTheOfficeOfThe/Documents_Relating_to_the_Office_of_the#page/n493/mode/2up/search/Simier Feuillerat's belief (n287, 4)] that the reference was to Simier, the Duke of Alençon's envoy ([https://archive.org/stream/lostplaysmasques00sibl#page/182/mode/2up Sibley 183]).

Chambers is more straightforward, holding that this double masque was in fact staged 'for the entertainment of the French ambassador, M. de Simier,' who had come as an envoy concerning Alençon's marriage to Elizabeth (1.166).

The double masque involved the Amazons arriving at court to dance with the lords, followed by the knights, who danced with the ladies. The Amazons and the knights then stage a fight at barriers. The knights surrender (Wiggins, 657). The Revels Office records for this event are quite detailed and are enlightening to students of the elaborate staging, props, and costumes (in this case, gilded costumes) of court masques and also those interested in the details of how the Office of the Revels organized such an event (see Wiggins's detailed description of how the drama was staged, 657).
<br>
<br>
<br>

==For What It's Worth==
The following points may be of more significance to historians of the Elizabethan crown than to historians of lost plays, and indeed they may have been noticed already, but this masque event, the 'Masque of the Amazons' and the 'Masque of the Knights', happened during a critical time, one during which history may have been changed completely. 

For years Elizabeth and Leicester (Dudley) had danced about a potential engagement, one discouraged by Elizabeth’s ministers. By 1578, what was done was done, and Elizabeth had offers from other potential suitors, at that specific time the Duke of Anjou. 

In September of 1578, Simier, Anjou’s envoy, revealed to the Queen that Leicester had secretly married Lettice Knollys without the Queen’s permission and Leicester became persona non grata (Loades, 210). It may be of significant (or of no significance at all) that Leicester’s Men performed '''[[A Greek Maid|'Greek Maid, A']]''' at Richmond seven days in advance of the double masque.

A marriage to Anjou at that time was probably still a real possibility, as Simier’s assumed presence indicates. Although Anjou was seemingly rejected in November of 1578, nothing had quite yet been resolved publicly about a potential marriage (Loades, 213). 

This Masque seems to mark more than a pleasant diversion. The symbolism of a female queen, for years obstinate to marriage, coupled with the popular lore of the obstinate and fierce Amazonians and presumably their queens also, was too present to regard this masque, plotless though it may seem, as just a pleasant diversion.

Moving to dramatic history proper, it should be added that John Jowett connects this court masque with the masque scene in ''Timon of Athens'', specifically the possible emblematic motifs suggested by the stage directions in ''Timon'' (13). The Masque's connection with ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is obvious, and leads one to yearn for more information about how Shakespeare connected a marital theme with an Amazon queen in a venue which may have been attended by the same queen well over a decade later. The answer to this question may lie in the records of the Office of the Revels.
<br>
<br>
<br>

==Works Cited==

<div style="padding-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em">Jowett, John. 'Introduction' to ''Timon of Athens.'' ed. John Jowett (Oxford: OUP, 2004). Print.</div>

<div style="padding-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em">Loades, David. ''Elizabeth I'' (London: Hambledon and London, 2003). Print.</div>

<div style="padding-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em">Sibley, Gertrude Marian. ''The Lost Plays and Masques: 1500-1642'' (Ithaca: Cornell UP, 1933). [https://archive.org/details/lostplaysmasques00sibl Internet Archive].</div>

<div style="padding-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em">
'Simancas: January 1579', in ''Calendar of State Papers, Spain (Simancas), Volume 2, 1568-1579'', ed. Martin A S Hume (London, 1894), pp. 626-642. [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-state-papers/simancas/vol2/pp626-642 British History Online] [accessed 30 September 2016].</div>
[[category:masque]]
<br>
<br>
<br>
Site created and maintained by [[Thomas Dabbs]], Aoyama Gakuin University, Tokyo; updated 5 December 2016.
[[category:all]][[category:Thomas Dabbs]]