theladyelizabeth: Tudor Week Day 7: Favourite Tudor Historical EventThe Kenilworth Festivities of 15
theladyelizabeth: Tudor Week Day 7: Favourite Tudor Historical EventThe Kenilworth Festivities of 1575Kenilworth Castle was granted to Robert Dudley by Queen Elizabeth I in 1563, a year before he was to be made Earl of Leicester. Leicester spent lavishly to expand the castle and turn it from a Medieval fortress to a Renaissance pleasure palace, complete with sumptuous gardens for Elizabeth’s use. In 1575, Leicester invited the Queen to his castle for a sumptuous 19-day celebration of its completed renovation. Leicester had gone all out; there was music, feasts, dances, hunts, plays and pageants, acrobats and awe-inspiring fireworks - some were shaped like dragons and others could dive into the water and shoot back out, still burning. It was considered by some to be one of the most spectacular events of the century. Most tellingly, many of the entertainments were centred around the theme of marriage. Some historians claim that this was Leicester’s grand, last attempt at a marriage proposal to the Queen, a sort of courtly swan song. Other argue that the heavy overtures of marriage are actually Leicester subtly asking the Queen to let him marry someone else since he wed Lettice Knollys soon afterwards. Whatever his true intention, the Kenilworth festivities went down as one of the most magnificent fêtes in English history. -- source link