‎Marie-Claude Canova-Green, Sara Wolfson (eds)‎
‎Wedding of Charles I and Henrietta Maria, 1625. Celebrations and Controversy‎

‎, Brepols, 2020 Hardback, 365 pages, Size:178 x 254 mm, Illustrations:15 b/w, 18 col., Language: English. ISBN 9782503585321.‎

Reference : 65602

‎Summary On 11 May 1625 Charles I married Henrietta Maria, the youngest sister of Louis XIII of France. The match signalled Britain's firm alignment with France against Habsburg Spain and promised well for future relations between the two countries. However, the union between a Protestant king and a Catholic princess was controversial from the start and the marriage celebrations were fraught with tensions. They were further disrupted by the sudden death of James I and an outbreak of the plague, which prevented large-scale public celebrations in London. The British weather also played its part. In fact, unlike other state occasions, the celebrations exposed weaknesses in the display of royal grandeur and national superiority. To a large extent they also failed to hide the tensions in the Stuart-Bourbon alliance. Instead they revealed the conflicting expectations of the two countries, each convinced of its own superiority and intent on furthering its own national interests. Less than two years later Britain was effectively in a state of war against France. In this volume, leading scholars from a variety of disciplines explore for the first time the marriage celebrations of 1625, with a view to uncovering the differences and misunderstandings beneath the outward celebration of union and concord. By taking into account the ceremonial, political, religious and international dimensions of the event, the collection paints a rounded portrait of a union that would become personally successful, but complicated by the various tensions played out in the marriage celebrations and discussed here. Contributors: R. Malcolm Smuts, Lucinda H. S. Dean, J. R. (Ronnie) Mulryne, Karen Britland, Marie-Claude Canova-Green, Erin Griffey, Margaret Shewring, Sara J. Wolfson, Sara Trevisan, Kevin Laam, Sydney Anglo, Margaret M. McGowan, John Peacock, Gordon Higgott, Ella Hawkins . TABLE OF CONTENTS Contents, List of Illustrations, Contributors, Foreword, Note from the Editors R. Malcolm Smuts Introduction. Festivals, Dynastic Alliances, and Political History: Notes on the History and Historiography of Royal Weddings Lucinda H. S. Dean Chapter 1. 'Keeping Your Friends Close, But Your Enemies Closer'? The Anglo-Franco-Scottish Marital Triangle, c. 1200 to c. 1625 J. R. (Ronnie) Mulryne Chapter 2. Paradoxical Princes: Charles Stuart and Henrietta Maria, Personality and Politics (1600-1625) Karen Britland Chapter 3. A Ring of Roses: Henrietta Maria, Pierre de B rulle, and the Plague of 1625-1626 Marie-Claude Canova-Green Chapter 4. Love, Politics, and Religion: Henrietta Maria's Progress through France and the Entry into Amiens Erin Griffey Chapter 5. 'All Rich as Invention Can Frame, or Art Fashion': Dressing and Decorating for the Wedding Celebrations of 1625 Margaret Shewring Chapter 6. Divergent Discourses: Multiple Voices in Festival Accounts of the Marriage of Charles I and Henrietta Maria Sara J. Wolfson Chapter 7. The Welcoming Journey of Queen Henrietta Maria and Stuart-Bourbon Relations, 1625-1626 Sara Trevisan Chapter 8. Nebuchadnezzar, Charlemagne, and Aeneas: John Finch's Speech for the King and Queen at Canterbury Kevin Laam Chapter 9. Robert Herrick, Clipsby Crew, and the Politics of the English Epithalamium in 1625 Sydney Anglo Chapter 10. The Festivities that Never Were: 1625-1626 Margaret M. McGowan Chapter 11. 'A French Antique': The Forms of Court Ballets in France, 1621-1627 John Peacock Chapter 12. Inigo Jones between a Spanish Princess and a French Queen Gordon Higgott Chapter 13. 'Mutual Fruitfulness': A Nuptial Allegory on Queen Henrietta Maria's Bedchamber Ceiling at the Queen's House, Greenwich Ella Hawkins (Transcribed and annotated) Appendix 1: A True Discourse of All the Royal Passages, Tryumphs and Ceremonies, observed at the Contract and Mariage of the High and Mighty Charles, King of Britain: The Principal English Festival Book of the 1625 Wedding, Including Two Addresses at Canterbury by John Finch Margaret Shewring (Transcribed and annotated) Appendix 2. A Relation of the Glorious Triumphs and Order of the Ceremonies: An English-Language Version of the French Festival Book Index‎