Rusaro Nyinawumwami
ENG 331H1S
Prof. Matthew Sergi
April 1, 2014
REED Report, Option 2
On Queen Elizabeth’s Royal Visits to the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford: An Active Form of Propaganda
Abstract
The Oxford-Cambridge rivalry is a phenomenon that ultimately developed into a desire to outdo one another in academia however, the Records of Early English Drama confirm my speculation that it stemmed, in part, from both universities seeking recognition for their production of original plays from the 1550s to the 1560s. The most coveted form of recognition was Queen Elizabeth I’s visit to the university grounds which, I would argue, is a style of promoting the newly established Protestant monarchy following the fall of the Roman Catholic influence in the United Kingdom. Queen Elizabeth’s royal visit to Oxford in August 1566 set a new tone for academic plays. Cambridge University was the first college to receive a royal visit from Queen Elizabeth in 1564 and given the opportunity to showcase their theatrical labor, however, Oxford University was the first college to, as a corporate body, produce plays with the intention that they be performed only during the occasion of a royal visit. Original plays were demanded and provided by Oxford because the vice-chancellor of the university and his deputies selected the plays and oversaw their financing, furnishing, and mode of production. Elizabeth’s preferred genres of theatre were tragedy and comedy, and both universities made sure to compose productions that would appeal to her majesty. I will be discussing the logistics of the first royal visits to the University of Cambridge, on August 9, 1564, and the University of Oxford, on August 31, 1566. What I intend to illustrate through my compiled research is to what extent the Queen’s visits were an active form of propaganda related to the Protestant accession as well as a method of enforcing her principles on esteemed scholars that were likely to be integral in defining Britain’s future. In addition, I will be exploring how Elizabeth managed to assert her intellect and her curiosity despite being received by a male dominated environment.
Protestant Propaganda
On July 12, 1564, Vice-Chancellor Edward Hawford, the master of Christ Church College at Cambridge, receives a letter from Sir William Cecil suggesting that the university commence preparations for the Queen’s arrival and start putting thought into how they plan to keep her entertained,
“ / and consider what lodgynge shalbe metest for her maiestie & nexte what maner of [plaies] / plesures in lernyng may be presented to her maiestie / who hath knowledge to vnderstande / veray well in all comen sciences” (REED 129).
Cecil concludes his letter by insisting that two things define the University during her majesty’s stay; order and learning in the disciplines of religion and civil behaviour (REED 130). It was important for both Cambridge and Oxford to display support for the Protestant religion, being that the rejection of Catholicism defined Elizabeth’s reign. During her visit to Oxford, the Queen brought the Ambassador to Spain, Phillip II, as her guest. On September 1, 1566, Elizabeth I, Phillip II, and members of the nobility observed a latin play called Marcus Geminus which was produced and composed by Mr. Mathewe and starred students from Christ Church college. Christ Church was the college that received a significant amount of the university’s funds for the royal visit because they hosted the sovereign, their hall was the most spacious, and they housed the most talented actors (REED 147). The Queen invited Phillip II because her being in power would prove to be a problem for Phillip, who intended to eventually return Britain to Catholicism. Spain was forced to maintain a fragile alliance with England in order to diminish the Guise influence in Scotland and Elizabeth needed to build good relations with Phillip because the Vatican had declared her illegitimate and if this was considered to be true, the legal heir to the throne would be Mary, Queen of Scots. Therefore, Phillip being Elizabeth’s guest in Oxford was an effort to foster a reliable alliance between their states and would allow the Queen to ensure Phillip’s needed support for her accession.
Protestant Influence
The Queen also exercised her influence during her visit to Cambridge, so much so that the institution swapped their ideals in favour for those that were advocated by her majesty. After her visit to Cambridge, a letter from VC Robert Beaumont to Matthew Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury, reveals the Queen’s particular interest for “doctrines, rites, and apparell” (REED 247). Upon receiving this news, Beaumont became compelled to follow up with each college after the Queen’s visit and insist that each master of each college make these three interests central pillars within their communities that must be kept in good order (REED 247). He explains to the Archbishop that two or three members of Trinitie College consider it inappropriate for Christians to be involved in profane Tragedies and Comedies or for Christians to be present at such performances. He proceeds to assert, however, that religion has been “generally agreed upon” (REED 247), given the Protestant accession led by her majesty. Beaumont ensures the Archbishop that no other men shall be opposed to being a part of the production of these plays unless they are the two or three suspected papists who’s identity, he claims, will most likely be revealed sooner rather than later (REED 247). Beaumont asks all Cambridge colleges to keep him updated on the implementation of doctrines, rights and apparel as core values and if these points are being held in good order (REED 247).
Elizabeth I’s Reception
Stoky’s Book accounts of Cambridge’s preparations for the royal visit state that the Queen was thoroughly interested in forms of “scholastical exercises” with sermons in both English and Latin, disputations from all faculties of the university and tragedies performed in Latin and Greek (REED 237). It was requested by the VC that the Queen be exposed to all realms of academia during her stay. During her stay, Elizabeth desired to be exposed to disputations and plays in particular, and though she was the English monarch, this nevertheless startled certain scholars (REED 237). At the time, being fluent in both Latin and Greek meant that one was classically trained in literature. Having the ability to understand Latin and Greek dialects and engage in dialogue using these languages was telling of one’s social status, which consequentially revealed a person’s expected level of education.
Despite Elizabeth being an English monarch who would have only been exposed to a superior form of learning, almost every testimony about the Queen’s visit written by a Cambridge scholar emphasizes that she spoke Latin and Greek and was interested in disputations that were held in these classical dialects. One anonymous scholar wrote that it is rare for a woman to be “adorned with such all kinds of goode literature” (REED 232). Such emphasis on Elizabeth’s knowledge potentially derives from an embedded notion within the psyche of these male scholars that a woman who is an intellectual is abnormal, even if she happens to be the reigning monarch of the state. In the Stow, Chronicles (1570) of Oxford, the scholar is praising the Queen for expressing such excitement about theatre (REED 141), while an anonymous private letter written by a Cambridge scholar declares that he was impressed that the Queen “painfullie sett owt all disputacions & pleys & visited in her owne person all ye Colledges, & given of her favour et c. openlie in Lattin her selffe to be short all thinges here hathe passed verie well” (REED 236).
Conclusion
I conclude that the Queen’s royal visits to the University of Cambridge in 1564 and the University of Oxford in 1566 were efforts to solidify the newly implemented Protestant monarchy following the fall of the Roman Catholic influence in Britain. The royal visits to such highly regarded institutions allowed Elizabeth I to interact witness an array of plays and disputations while exercising her innate curiosity for various realms of academia and asserting herself as the new Protestant monarch of Britain.
Work Cited
Johnston, Alexandra F., and Margaret Rogerson. Records of Early English Drama. Toronto: University of Toronto, 1979. Print.
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