The Death of Elizabeth I Elizabeth 1, the Death of Author Kate McPherson Copy Editor Leah Hamby Senior Encoder Leah Hamby Encoding and Metadata LEMDO Team Copyright Holder (Content) Kate McPherson Copyright Holder (XML and interface) University of Victoria Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Mitacs Globalink Research Internship Utah Valley University

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Early Modern England Encyclopedia

By Kate McPherson, inspired by Michael Best’s Shakespeare’s Life and Times, Internet Shakespeare Editions

Encoded in TEI P5 according to the LEMDO Customization and Encoding Guidelines

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 Published file. Updated metadata proofed swapped the desc and figDescs to be correct. added two figures and image citations. Added date, pubPlace, and publisher tags to sources Added Shakespeare’s Life and Times database to Best sources. Fixed mistakes Created File
Funeral Procession of Queen Elizabeth. The hand drawn image depicts a horse with velvet trappings led by two attendants, followed by the Sergeant of the Vestry, the Children of the Chapel Royal, and others. Drawing possibly by William Camden. Courtesy British Library. CC-BY.4.0.

On the 24th of March 1603, Queen Elizabeth I died after ruling England for 44 years. After several months of decline and eventual refusal to eat or speak, she died at Richmond Palace after a few days in a coma. She was 69 years old and, against the odds, had managed to rule England as a single female monarch for many decades. Her death affected the entire nation, the balance of power in Europe, but also the theater: Shakespeare and his company changed patrons from the Lord Chamberlain to the new King, and they changed the topics for new plays written after 1603.

The Funeral

The Queen’s funeral occurred about five weeks later, commencing on April 28th. It featured an enormous amount of pageantry, with more than 1,000 mourners walking behind the carriage transporting her body, which was sealed in a coffin. Many more thousands of citizens lined the streets.

Chronicler John Stowe records that her mourners raised such a general sighing, groaning and weeping as the like hath not been seen or known in the memory of man. Extensive drawings were made of the occasion, the some of the first ever of an English royal funeral. The drawing below shows some of the members of the procession, including Children of the Chapel Royal, who were some of the boy players whom Hamlet complains about as the aery of children (2.2.39) in Shakespeare’s play.

The depiction of the procession offers valuable insight into Elizabethan funeral practices. The mourners depicted include both noblemen and commoners, as well as the clothes they wore, the arms carried by the men, and the trappings of the horses. It also shows Elizabeth’s effigy (a waxen image of the monarch) atop a chariot drawn by four horses and accompanied by barons with heraldic flags.

Her wooden coffin was covered in purple velvet, carried on a chariot drawn by four grey horses with black drapery. A carved effigy in colored wood was placed atop the coffin, while her actual body was encased in lead inside.

A chariot drawn by four horses, carrying the coffin covered in purple velvet. Funeral Procession of Queen Elizabeth. The canopy is carried by six knights, with Gentlemen Pensioners (the Queen’s ceremonial bodyguard). c. 1603. Drawing possibly by William Camden. Courtesy British Library Add. 35324. CC-BY.4.0.
Shakespeare and the Queen

According to Ben Jonson, Shakespeare’s plays were admired by Elizabeth. He wrote in a dedicatory poem in the First Folio (1623): Sweet Swan of Avon! What a sight it were To see thee in our waters yet appear And make those flights upon the banks of Thames That so did take Eliza and our James. (On Shakespeare, lines 71–74) Scholars have no direct record of what Elizabeth I thought of Shakespeare’s plays, but the frequency of The Lord Chamberlain’s Men performing at court supports Jonson’s opinion. During the last ten years of Elizabeth’s reign, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men were clearly the company most favored by the court, performing at court 32 times, compared to 37 performances by all other companies combined.

Key Print Sources Doran, Susan. Queen Elizabeth I. New York UP, 2003. Woodward, Jennifer. The Theatre of Death: The Ritual Management of Royal Funerals in Renaissance England, 1570–1625. Boydell Press, 1997.
Key Online Sources Best, Michael. The Death of Elizabeth I. Shakespeare’s Life and Times.Internet Shakespeare Editions, https://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Library/SLT/life/maturity/elizabeth.html. Accessed 19 Feb. 2023. Collinson, Patrick. Elizabeth I (1533–1603). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 5 Jan. 2012, DOI doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/8636. Elizabeth I. Westminster Abbey, https://www.westminster-abbey.org/abbey-commemorations/royals/elizabeth-i. Accessed 19 Feb. 2023.
Image Sources Funeral Procession of Queen Elizabeth. 1603. The British Library. Shelfmark Add. 35324. https://www.imagesonline.bl.uk/asset/11780/. A Horse Trapped with Velvet, led by Two Attendants; the Sergeant of the Vestry and Children of the Chapel Royal. n.d. MS. The British Library.