Accession Day tilt facts for kids
The Accession Day tilts were big, fancy parties held every year at the court of Elizabeth I of England. They celebrated her Accession Day on November 17th, also called Queen's Day. These events mixed play-acting with jousting. Jousting is when knights on horseback fight with long poles called lances.
During these tilts, Elizabeth's courtiers (people who worked for the Queen) tried to impress her. They wore amazing symbolic armour and costumes. They also wrote poetry and put on grand shows. All of this was done to praise the Queen and her country, England.
The last Accession Day tilt for Queen Elizabeth happened in November 1602. She passed away the next spring. These tilts continued for King James I until 1624.
Contents
How the Tilts Started
Sir Henry Lee of Ditchley, who was the Queen's Champion (her best knight), created the Accession Day tilts. These became the most important court festival during the Elizabethan era from the 1580s. The celebrations probably began in a simpler way in the early 1570s.
By 1581, the Queen's Day tilts had become a huge public show. Thousands of people came to watch. The public could even get in for a small fee. Sir Henry Lee managed these yearly events until he retired in 1590. He then passed his role to George Clifford, 3rd Earl of Cumberland.
After Lee retired, the Earl of Worcester and the Queen's favorite, the Earl of Essex, helped organize the tilts. However, Lee still helped out as a Master of Ceremonies because the Queen asked him to.
The shows took place at the tiltyard at the Palace of Whitehall. The royal family watched from a special viewing area called the Tiltyard Gallery. A platform was built below the gallery. This made it easier for people to present things to the Queen.
Who Took Part?
Knights in the Tilts
Records of the Accession Day tilts still exist today. These show that most of the knights who jousted were from the Queen's Gentlemen Pensioners. These were special guards or attendants to the Queen. Important members of the court also took part. These included the Earl of Bedford and the Earl of Oxford. Other famous participants were the Earl of Southampton and Lord Howard of Effingham. The Earl of Essex also joined in.
Many of these knights had fought in real battles. But the tilts were more about romance and entertainment. They were not serious military training. Sir James Scudamore, a knight from the 1595 tournament, became famous. He was called "Sir Scudamour" in the poem The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser.
Knights would enter the show in fancy carriages or on horseback. They dressed up as heroes, romantic figures, or symbolic characters. Their servants also wore special costumes that matched the theme. A squire (a knight's assistant) would show the Queen a special shield. This shield had a symbol or impresa on it. The squire would then explain the knight's costume in a speech or poem.
The knights spent a lot of money on these events. They designed themes and ordered special armour and costumes for their followers. Some even hired poets or actors to help with their performances.
The themes often came from Classical stories, country life, or Arthurian legends. These stories usually praised the Queen. But sometimes, knights used the tilts to send a serious message. They might apologize to the Queen if they had upset her. Or they might ask for her favor. For example, in the painting, the Earl of Essex wears black armour. He wore this for his entrance in the 1590 tilts. At this event, Essex entered as if he were in a funeral procession. This was his way of saying sorry for failing in Ireland. But Queen Elizabeth was not impressed and did not forgive him easily.
Poets and Their Role
Poets who were close to the court wrote special poems for the knights' presentations. These poets included John Davies and Edward de Vere. Philip Sidney and a young Francis Bacon also helped. Bacon wrote speeches and helped stage shows for his patron, the Earl of Essex.
Sidney was both a poet and a knight. He truly showed the brave and noble themes of the tilts. A tribute to Sidney was part of the 1586 tilt program, the year after he died. Sidney's friend, Sir James Scudamore, carried Sidney's flag at the age of eighteen. Scudamore later became a top competitor in the 1595 Accession Day tilt. Edmund Spenser wrote about The Faerie Queene. This famous poem uses the Accession Day festivities as its main structure. He wrote that the Faery Queen held her yearly feast for twelve days. On each of these days, a new adventure happened. Twelve different knights took on these adventures, which are told in twelve different books of the poem.
A Visitor Describes the Tilts
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We have a very clear description of a tilt from Lupold von Wedel. He was a German traveler who saw the 1584 celebrations. He wrote:
The day for the tournament, November 17, was coming. Around noon, the Queen and her ladies sat at windows in a long room. This was at Whitehall Palace, near Westminster. It was across from where the tournament would be held. A wide staircase led down from this room. Stands were set up around the jousting area. Anyone could get a spot by paying 12 pence. Many thousands of people, men, women, and girls, found places. And many more were inside the barrier for free.
During the whole tournament, people who wanted to fight entered the list in pairs. Trumpets and other music played. The fighters had servants dressed in different colors. The servants did not enter the main area. They stood on both sides. Some servants dressed like wild people or Irishmen. Their hair hung down like women's. Others had horses dressed like elephants. Some carriages were pulled by men. Others seemed to move by themselves. All the carriages looked very strange. Some gentlemen had their horses with them. They put on their full armour right from the carriage. Some showed great skill with their horses and wore beautiful clothes. Each fighter had planned their combat style before entering. These events cost thousands of pounds for each person.
When a gentleman and his servants came near the barrier, on horseback or in a carriage, he stopped. This was at the bottom of the stairs leading to the Queen's room. One of his servants, dressed in a fancy costume, went up the steps. He spoke to the Queen in well-written poems or a funny speech. This made her and her ladies laugh. When the speech ended, he gave the Queen a valuable gift from his lord. Then, two by two, knights rode against each other, breaking lances. The celebration lasted until five in the afternoon.
See Also
- Artists of the Tudor court
- Elizabethan era
- English Renaissance theatre
- The Speeches at Prince Henry's Barriers
- Jousting
