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The Somerset Masque, written by Thomas Campion, was performed on 26 December 1613 at the old Banqueting House at Whitehall Palace, to celebrate the wedding of Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset and Frances Howard.

Masques for a wedding

Campion's masque was the first of a number of entertainments, including Ben Jonson's A Challenge at Tilt and The Irish Masque at Court, Thomas Middleton's lost Masque of Cupids, and The Masque of Flowers.

Error, Rumour, Curiousity and Credulity work their enchantments on a group of knights who arrive by sea. Their rescue is achieved by Eternity with Bel-Anna's golden tree, as Anne of Denmark and "only she, can all knotted spells untie". This theme, sung by Nicholas Lanier, credits the queen with facilitating the marriage of the king's favourite.

One performer, the courtier Henry Bowyer (a son of William Bowyer of Denham), died after over-exertion at the rehearsals. Twelve lords danced; they were the Duke of Lennox, Earl of Pembroke, Earl of Dorset, Earl of Salisbury, Earl of Montgomery, Lord Walden, Lord Scrope, Lord North, Lord Hay, Thomas Howard, Henry Howard, and Charles Howard.

Costume

The four continents were represented by women dancing in a "strange kind of confusions"; Europe was "in the habit of an Empress with an Imperial crown on her head", Asia wore "a Persian ladies habit with a crown on her head", Africa was "like a Queen of the Moors, with a crown", and America was personified with "a skin coat the colour of the juice of mulberries, on her head large round brims of many coloured feathers, and in the midst of it a small crown".

An ambassador from Savoy, Giovanni Battista Gabaleoni, wrote a description of the performance. He may not have fully understood the nuance of the language. He mentions a dance to the tune of violins of "twelve lords, principal gentlemen, clothed in a tunic just to the middle of the thigh, closely fitted to the body, with layers in the antique fashion of crimson satin all embroidered with gold and silver, crimson stockings all garnished with gold ribbons, socks of silk embroidered, the shoes and their roses loaded with diamonds".

A group of rejoicing mariners, described by Campion as "skippers with red caps", were "clothed in linen and red berets in the manner of slaves, and danced in a peasant fashion".

References

1. Barbara Ravelhofer, The Early Stuart Masque: Dance, Costume, and Music (Oxford University Press, 2006), p. 1: David Lindley, Thomas Campion (Brill, 1986), pp. 216–229.
2. David Lindley, Embarrassing Ben: The Masques For Frances Howard, English Literary Renaissance, 16:2 (Spring 1986), pp. 347–48: Norman Egbert McClure, Letters of John Chamberlain, vol. 1 (Philadelphia, 1939), pp. 495–98.
3. Masque of Cupids, Lost Plays Database
4. Clare McManus, Women on the Renaissance Stage: Anna of Denmark and Female Masquing in the Stuart Court, 1590–1618 (Manchester, 2002), pp. 176–177: Peter Holman, The Masque at the Earl of Somerset's Marriage, 1614 (Scholar Press, 1973).
5. Barbara Ravelhofer, The Early Stuart Masque: Dance, Costume, and Music (Oxford University Press, 2006), pp. 75–76.
6. Peter Holman, The Masque at the Earl of Somerset's Marriage, 1614 (Scholar Press, 1973).
7. Peter Holman, The Masque at the Earl of Somerset's Marriage, 1614 (Scholar Press, 1973), spelling modernised here.
8. Nandini Das, João Vicente Melo, Haig Z. Smith, Lauren Working, Blackamoor/Moor, Keywords of Identity, Race, and Human Mobility in Early Modern England. (Amsterdam, 2021), pp. 40–50.
9. Barbara Ravelhofer, The Early Stuart Masque: Dance, Costume, and Music (Oxford University Press, 2006), p. 2.
10. Barbara Ravelhofer, The Early Stuart Masque: Dance, Costume, and Music (Oxford University Press, 2006), pp. 1–3: John Orrell, "The Agent of Savoy at The Somerset Masque", Review of English Studies, 28 (1977), pp. 303–305: Thomas Campion, The Description of a Maske: Presented in the Banqueting Roome at Whitehall, on Saint Stephens Night Last (London, 1614).

• 1613 plays
• Court of James VI and I
• Masques