LEMDO Peer Review Anthology: Tes Irenes Trophaea, or The Triumphs of Peace

Tes Irenes Trophaea, or The Triumphs of Peace

Tes Irenes Trophaea,

The Triumphs of Peace,

that celebrated the solemnity of the Right Honourable Sir Francis Jones,

Knight, at his inauguration into the mayoralty of London, on Monday being the 30th of October, 1620.

the particular cost and charge of the right worshipful and ancient Society of the Haberdashers

With explication of the several shows and devices by J.S.

Vir.

Parva sub ingenti matris

se subicit

umbra.

London: Printed by Nicholas Okes

, 1620.

To the Right Honourable and worthy Gentleman, Sir

Francis Jones, Knight, Lord Mayor of the City of London.

Honourable Sir,

I doubt it is my fortune to

hazard calumny in

the employment of my invention in your service, and not the thing, but the person incurs it, whose minority admits censure before trial; therefore I beseech your Honour seriously to supervise this slight labour

, scarce meriting your attention, and

the content you want in this, let it be but added to the pleasure (I hope)

your Honour will conceive at view of those real Triumphs (scarce admitting a second)

which your liberal society have so nobly bestowed on you, and

then I doubt not but to attempt that credit, which many will envy. Thus wishing that the Triumphs of Peace

may forever attend you, I remain,

Your Honourʼs servant, John Squire.

Tes Irenes Trophaea, or The Triumphs of Peace.

The first show, or presentment, on the water

was a chariot

, aptly contrived of two sea monsters argent, and drawn by two seahorses, set also off with pure silver;

on this chariot was one borne representing Oceanus,

his head wreathed with sedges, one hand grasping a sceptre of green reeds, to show his potent sway within his watery dominions,

and the other curbing the forward fierceness of his horses;

his azure locks

and beard, overgrown, hung like the careless emblem of a reverend age, disheveled

over his naked limbs, which were shadowed off with a mantle of sea green taffeta

, limned with waves and fishes. This first presentment ushered on a stately well built ship, bearing full sail, figuring the traffic or trade of the (worthy to be esteemed noble) company of the Haberdashers. Behind the ship sat Aeolus the god of winds

, filling their sails with prosperous gusts, and at each corner of the ship sat (upon small islands) the four parts of the world

, Asia, Africa, America, and Europa, each of them inviting their trade unto their coasts. Asia was attired in an antique habit

of peach coloured satin

, and buskins

of the same, a coronet

on her head, and a censer in her hand reeking with Panchaian spices

;

Africa a blackmoor

in a naked shape

, adorned with beads, and in her hand the branch of a nutmeg tree

;

America a tawny moor

, upon her head a crown of feathers

, and bases of the same,

at her back

a quiver of shafts, and in her hand a Parthian

bow;

Europa in a robe of crimson taffeta, on her head an imperial crown conferred on her by the other three as empress of the earth, and holding in her hand a cluster of grapes

, to signify her full swollen plenty. These meeting the Lord Mayor on the Thames at Three Cranes Wharf

, where he took water

, Oceanus made this speech.

The speech of Oceanus.

I that am styled the potent king of waves,

Oceanus, he that in a moment can

Curb the vast depth of sea when as it raves,

And level marble mountains that have ran,

To ruin earth and skies; I now am sent

From all the watery deities to attend

Thy stately triumphs, as an honour meant

To add unto thy greatness, which to th’end

And confines of our rule hath clapped his wings

;

For still the water nymphs, and gods of streams,

Running unto my bosom, each one brings

Report of thee; but my beloved Thames,

Full often when the cheerful lamp of day

Hath warmed my chilly bowels with his fires,

Hath ʼticed me from his comfort with a lay

Of what thou art; and then with prayers, desires,

And what else could attract me to consent,

Hath yielded to my convey thy large ships

To traffic through my wide vast continent

And now with a desire that outstrips

Imagination, I am come to see,

And wonder at the state which I now find,

For to attend thy brotherhood and thee.

And now with you this league I will combind

That while the influence of the forked moon

Appoints my curled billows,

ebbs, and tides,

While that the shipman throws to heaven his boon

For safe return, and while that stella

rides,

With sparkling glory o’er

my wrinkled face,

My care shall be forever to attend

Your wealthy bottoms to your coasts apace;

And this my promise will I never end,

Nor break, until your wealth and states surmount

Tagusʼ unvalued sands

in the account.

The speech of Aeolus.

And here the god of winds his promise plights,

That whilst the boisterous north, and gentle west,

The south, and nipping east wind, days and nights,

Begirt the desert

ocean, ready pressed,

To execute my will, with prosperous gales,

I will send home your ships, and take delight

To play with gentle murmurs on your sails.

Thus since both seas and winds

themselves unite

Unto your good, I wish all powers divine

Might unto you

their love and aids incline.

The second and last presentment on the water

was Parnassus

mount, whereon the nine muses sat; Clio

the first suited in a gown of purple taffeta, and studiously employed in turning over books, she being the historical muse; Melpomene was attired in a black taffeta robe, her head decked with cypress, and playing on a theorbo

; Thalia the comic muse in a light changeable taffeta robe, and playing on a viol

; Euterpe the muse that first invented wind instruments, was richly apparelled, and played on a flute recorder; Terpsichore on the lute; and the geometrical muse, Erato,

with a scale and compass in her hand. The heroical muse Calliope was shaped in a tawny silk robe, and her temples girt with bays

;

the heavenly muse Urania,

that invented astrology, was decked in a robe of azure taffeta semined

with stars; on her head she wore a coronet of stars, and her right hand supported a sphere; Polymneia, the inventress of rhetoric, assumed her place nearest to Apollo, who sat on the top of the mount in a robe of cloth of gold

, under a laurel tree, playing on a harp, alluding to that of Virgil: In medio residens complectitur omnia Phœbus

. And on the backside of the mount stood Mercury listening to their harmonious strains. This accompanied the Lord Mayor up to Westminster

with variety of music, where while his Honour was taking the oath, it returned back and met him in Paulʼs Churchyard

, where Euterpe and Terpsichore

entertained him with this song

Song.

Muses of the pleasant hill, that bathe within the Thespian spring,

That did direct the Greciansʼ quill, who of old Peleusʼ

son

did sing.

We that Amphion

did inspire, with admired strains and lays,

And did infuse a sacred fire

, in both these to gain the bays.

We Apolloʼs handmaids nine, come to meet thee on the way,

That unto thy honourʼs shrine, we might dedicate this day.

And his deity

us among, so curiously shall wrest thy glory.

That the envious ʼmongst this throng, shall confess it merits story.

The third presentment was a quadrangle

that mounted by ascents to the form of an Egyptian pyramid, whereon in a well wrought landscape,

were

figured the several shires of England; on the top sat a princely majesty accoutred in a robe of purple velvet furred with ermines, on his head he wore an imperial crown

, and in his right hand a sceptre; over his head were fixed the arms of England, and at his feet a lion couchant

, which did demonstrate his power in reconciling fierceness vnto a willing servitude; under him sat two dukes,

two marquises,

two earls, and two barons, in Parliament robes of purple velvet

; about their necks they wore collars of esses

, and on their heads the apt cognizance of each oneʼs honour

; at the four corners of this pyramid

stood two lions

, and two unicorns argent

, supporting four streamers, wherein were escutchoned

the arms of our four kingdoms, England, Scotland, France and Ireland;

before it was charactered in a scroll, Respublica Beata

and round about it ran the Ocean. This pyramid was supported by four silver Corinthian

columns, the bases and capitals

fine gold. Within these columns sat four persons, that seemed as it were to underprop the ponderous burden of the pyramid; the first was the City, presented in a scarlet gown guarded

with black velvet, like a lady mayoress,

and in her hand two golden keys; the other the Country in a rustic habit; the third the Law, habited like a judge, and a scroll in his hand; the fourth Religion in a rochet

like a bishop, and in his hand a book. At the four corners of this under square stood two lions or, and two goats

argent, which are the supporters of the companyʼs arms, bearing four large streamers, in which were the arms of the city, and of the company; and in the front stood the crest of the Lord Mayor, a lion supporting an azure anchor, and on it was fixed his coat of arms, which was a chief

or, with a lion or, upon a field azure, between three crossed forms

or.

The fourth presentment, being the main pageant, was a mount, where on the top under a canopy limned with stars

was seated Catherine

, the saint of the company, whom antique stories report to be the daughter of Costus, King of Alexandria

; she was attired in a snow white satin gown;

in one hand she held a book, and in the other a sword with the point downward,

it being the instrument that in death sealed her the fruition of immortal rest; her head circled with a crown of gold, which did intimate her princely descent; and at her feet lay a broken wheel. Round

about sat her attendants,

twelve maids of honour gorgeously attired, each one bearing in her hand a silver shield, upon which were portrayed Catherine Wheels

, and within them the motto to the companyʼs arms, Serve and Obey. Under these sat her servants at work, some carding

wool,

some spinning,

others knitting caps; with her feltmakers,

one bowed

one basoned

and another blocked

; and behind the mount sat a shepherd keeping his sheep, each

of which industrious faculties have reference to the support of this worshipful society.

The fifth and last invention

was a chariot painted full with hourglasses

and sundials;

the fore-wheels were two globes, and the hinder wheels were like two church dials

; within it aged Time was drawn, seated upon an hourglass that was supported on the shoulders of a giant, representing the Iron Age

; in one hand he held a sickle, in the other a crutch,

and in the chariot with him were drawn the four elements, Ignis, Aer, Aqua, and Terra. Ignis, fire,

was attired in a flame coloured taffeta robe, leaning on a salamander, and in his hand three-tined

lightning; Aer, air,

in a robe limned with clouds and several shapes of birds, and in his hand a dove; Aqua, water,

in a robe limned with waves and fishes, her azure tresses decked with sedges

, and in her hand a vessel full of live fishes; Terra, earth,

in a robe on which grass and flowers

sprang as it were naturally; on her head stood green corn, and in her hand she bore

a silver spade. This chariot was drawn by the four seasons of the year, Ver the spring, Aestas the summer, Autumn, and Hiems winter. Ver was suited in greene taffeta, a chaplet of flowers on her head, a bow in her hand and a quiver at her back like a huntress; Aestas in a yellow taffeta robe, and her brows like Ceres, decked with ripe corn, and a cornucopia in her hand; Autumn

in a naked shape like Bacchus, his temples wreathed with vines, and in his hand a cluster of grapes; Hiems Winter in a furred gown, and in his hand a pan of burning coals. This chariot, in the evening when the Lord Mayor came to Paulʼs, at the Upper Conduit in Cheapside

, Time made this speech.

Time

Methinks

I see amazement pierce each eye

That views me representing my weak state,

Who sated with my dull variety,

Turn back their heads.

I do not imitate,

But show the spacious world

the age I bear.

For when command of the immortal powers

Had given me being, when I first did rear

My nimble essence on the winged hours,

I went forth like the spring, and did behold,

And wear out manʼs first days,

the Age of Gold;

Then rose the Silver Age, and that decayed,

Successively another ʼgan to reign,

Called the Brazen Age; when

that did fade,

This last prop of the world that doth sustain,

My ponderous glass and me, the Iron Age,

Sprung up to be my Atlas

; were he gone,

These elements attending would with rage

Turn feeble Time to desolation.

But now do you not wonder much to see

Me as I am ayed,

a solemnity,

Like to a victor borne triumphantly?

Oh honoured lord, it is to show the love

I bear to thee and thy society,

Whose bounteous entertainments are above

All that I ever found. Now in return

I promise this, if that with honoured care

Thou execute thy charge, then shall thy urn

Be reverenced, and thither shall repair

A blessed memory that never dies,

To blazon

it unto posterities.

Under this pyramid sat

sacred Peace, that changed her celestial mansion

to make us happy with the sweet pleasures of a quiet state; on her head she wore a wreath of olives, in her right hand a palm;

her robe was of white taffeta, limned with the map of England;

in her lap she bore the model of London, and on her left arm a shield, whereon was undae

argent and azure upon a bend gules

a lion passant guardant

or, the arms of the society; at her feet lay War in complete arms upon spears, lances, folded ensigns

; and leaning on an unbraced drum; this show passed along till the Lord Mayor came to Saint Laurence Lane

end, where Peace began to speak thus.

The speech of Peace.

A welcome honoured praetor

I do give,

Free and unbounded

as my wish to live,

And to retain the blessed styles

are given

Me, with applause of nations and of heaven,

From whence I boast my lineage; I am Peace

That my long pilgrimage did never cease,

From the first minute of the aged world

Until I found this island; for,

being hurled

Out of each region by rebellious War

(Which now lies bound my vassal) like a star

Whose unfixed glory glides from sphere

to sphere,

I wandered up and down;

and not a tear

I shed, but with it went a sigh that I

Might be so favoured of the deity,

To be recalled from earth, which when they saw

Me, from the world besides they did withdraw

To this (then troubled) state, which did embrace

Me with such joy

that nobles flocked apace

To entertain me, and the poor did stand,

To crave my blessing, to oʼerflow

their land;

And jointly all of them delivered War,

Fettered in chains to be my prisoner.

Now honoured lord,

since that you find and see,

Peace placed here by a divine decree

Within this commonwealth, and chiefly here

Within this City, where for one whole year

Thy mandates are obeyed, then have a care

To see me safely kept; and since you bear

That powerful sway about you

that attends

The execution of your will

and ends,

Employ’t so nobly that my general state

May say thou leadʼst the way to imitate.

After the Sermon at St Paulʼs Church was ended, the Lord Mayor returned back by torch light to his house, attended by the whole body of the solemnity, where being come to his gate, War from out the Pageant called the Commonwealth

made this speech.

War

It is decreed, nor can my power resist

This most inevitable doom of fate;

I have forgot my nature, and consist

Of something more than lenity;

my state

At first was sovereignty,

and that same sway

That curbed dominions;

for I, mounted

The back of horror, bathed in blood, could fray

Peace from their coasts, then desolation

I could command to raise my statues there,

That nations far remote with mourning eyes

Should not rehearse the story without fear,

Lest I might so close up their obsequies.

I taught the Romans to immortalize

Their names by their great acts, and to refine

Their mean creation by the sacrifice

Of their own blood to War, and

to my shrine

They offered mighty spoils, but now I bear

Captivity about me; yet

like one

That renders servitude for love, nor fear

Employing his devotion to be shown,

As free as if his mind could captivate

His will, I yield to sacred Peace and you,

That this day have with a triumphant state

Entered your charge

and office, which the due

Of Time admits you to, and should it chance

That any foreign arms from out this throne

Strive to enforce her, I will then advance

My ensigns to her aid,

and make it known

That this is her inheritance

and place,

Which heaven hath pointed out to be her rest;

And therefore worthy lord follow the trace

Of noble presidents

, and in thy breast,

Resolve of future hazards,

and prepare

Me such provisions that if times should cease

To be unto this land as now they are,

War might restore again the palm to Peace.

This speech being ended, Peace and War dismounted from under the pyramid, Peace conducted the lord mayor into his house,

and War stood with fire and sword to defend his gates.

And thus the solemnity dissolved.

The credit of this workmanship (curiously exceeding many former shows, and far more rich than any, in regard no metal was used to adorn it but gold and silver)

I impose on Francis Tipsley

Citizen and Haberdasher of London.

FINIS.

Notes

Annotations

Sir Francis Jones

Sir Francis Jones (1559-1622), the Lord Mayor of London and the subject of Squireʼs show.

Society of the Haberdashers

The Worshipful Company of Haberdashers, one of Londonʼs Great Twelve City Livery Companies. The Haberdashersʼ Company was associated with fine (usually imported) fabrics like silk and velvet, while the Drapersʼ Company, claimed jurisdiction over wool and other types of domestically-produced cloth.

John Squire

John Squire, vicar of St Leonardʼs parish in Shoreditch, London.

Squire was best known in this period for several published sermons; this mayoral show appears to be his only dramatic work. That fact makes him relatively unusual among pageant book authors, most of whom (like Anthony Munday and Thomas Middleton) were established playwrights. The attribution of this show to Squire is discussed at greater length in the General and Textual Introductions to this edition.

Virgil

The ancient Roman poet Virgil, author of works like The Aeneid and The Georgics (the latter of which is the source of this epigraph).

Parva sub ingenti matris se subicit umbra

This epigraph is taken from the opening to Book 2 of The Georgics and is translated in the Loeb edition as [the laurel of Parnassus, too,] springs up, a tiny plant, beneath its mother’s mighty shade(2.137).

Taken together with the showʼs dedicatory epistle, the image conveyed by this epigraph suggests Squireʼs keen awareness that he was a relatively green dramatic author among his pageant-writing peers.

Nicholas Okes

Nicholas Okes, printer and member of the Stationersʼ Company.

Okes was responsible for printing the pageant books of many of the mayoral shows included in this anthology.

this slight labour

Squire here deploys the rhetorical device of the humility topos, a common feature of dedicatory epistles in which authors knowingly minimize their own skills and achievements in order to temper the expectations of readers or patrons. Its use here seems especially appropriate given Squireʼs apparently genuine lack of prior experience and reputation as a dramatist.

those real Triumphs (scarce admitting a second)

This phrase highlights the complex relationship between mayoral show pageant books and the performances they describe. Squire suggests that the true Triumphs of Peace are those displayed in the physical procession through London, while his own pageant book account is merely a secondary reporting of them. On the other hand, the epistle as a whole implicitly makes the case for this printed record as an important means by which that performance (and Francis Jonesʼ own reputation) are recorded for posterity.

Triumphs of Peace

I have retained the pageant bookʼs capitalization here in order to preserve Squireʼs winking reference to the title of the show.

Three Cranes Wharf

Three Cranes Wharf, one of several wharves on the north bank of the Thames that played a central role in Londonʼs shipping industry.

show, or presentment, on the water

Squireʼs show belongs to a thriving contemporary tradition of water pageants that took place on the Thames and other similar sites within and beyond London (Shewring and Briggs)

chariot

Waterborne chariots also appear in several other mayoral shows from the period, including Thomas Middletonʼs Londonʼs Tempe.

a mantle of sea green taffeta

Taffeta is a crisp, airy fabric traditionally woven from silk and now imitated by nylon, rayon, and related materials. The word likely entered English from the Persian language via French or Latin (OED taffeta, n.1).

Squireʼs descriptions often provide an unusually high degree of detail about the materiality and texture of costumes like these. As Finlayson notes in her edition, this emphasis seems especially appropriate given that the performance was sponsored by the Haberdashersʼ Company, which traditionally exercised jurisdiction over silk merchants (85). Moreover, because the silk used to weave taffeta was at this time not produced domestically within England (or, indeed, most of Europe), the specific reference to this fabric heightens the unfamiliar and exotic nature of the showʼs spectacle.

combind

A contemporary form of combine, meaning to bind together (OED combind, v.).

stella

Star (Latin).

Aeolus the god of winds

Aeolusʼs appropriately placid appearance here contrasts sharply with his role in works like The Odyssey, where he represents the unpredictability of the winds and their capacity to blow mariners off course.

the four parts of the world

The showʼs explicit ambition to encompass the entire globe reflects a contemporary trend in cartography, literature, and other forms of cultural production that comparative literature scholar Ayesha Ramachandran has referred to as worldmaking (7-10).

an antique habit

The appearance of the personification of Asia, as described by Squire, seems designed to invoke a general impression of the continentʼs ancient civilizations rather than to accurately represent the garments of any particular culture or people, past or present.

peach coloured satin

The term satin describes not a material but a method of weaving, and satin garments were historically made exclusively from silk. They were thus associated with China as the origin point of the Silk Road by which these materials were historically transported to Europe.

coronet

The diminutive term coronet may be intended to suggest that Asia, though possessing some degree of nobility (in keeping with the continentʼs history as the home of many empires and kingdoms), is nevertheless subordinate to Europa (who, by contrast, wears a full-sized imperial crown).

buskins

A calf-high or knee-high boot or covering for the foot and leg, typically made from cloth or leather; a half-boot (OED buskin, n.1.a).

Panchaian spices

Panchaia is an island described in the works of the ancient Greek historians Eusebius and Diodorus Siculus. According to these sources, it is located in the Indian Ocean and possesses a utopian social structure in which society is led by its wisest and most reasonable members.

Squireʼs identification of the (possibly fictional) Panchaia as the origin of these spices reflects other dramatic works of the period; it serves a similar function in a 1604 court masque by Ben Jonson and in James Shirleyʼs 1646 The Triumph of Beauty. By 1620, the inter-imperial European rivalry over access to spice markets in South and Southeast Asia had been ongoing for decades, with early ventures by the Portuguese and Dutch in locations like the Maluku Islands (in modern Indonesia) and Indiaʼs Malabar Coast facing new competition from English, French, and Spanish merchants. For the most part, the show lacks explicit references to such current events, instead favouring more literary and pseudo-historical allusions like this one. It is nevertheless structured on a deeper level by contemporary ideas about colonization and racialization, as this pageant in particular makes evident. These topics are discussed further in the General Introduction to this edition.

blackmoor

A common early modern variant of the now somewhat more familiar word blackamoor, meaning A black person, esp. an African or any dark-skinned person (OED blackamoor, n.).

I have silently dropped Squireʼs terminal e (blackmoore in the original) but otherwise maintain his spelling as an accepted one from the period, especially because it contains a different number of syllables than the more typical blackamoor.

This term is only the most overt manifestation of a larger pattern in Squireʼs show by which racial categories and hierarchies are reinforced through technologies of performance. Recent work in the field of Premodern Critical Race Studies (PCRS) has illuminated how drama, literature, and other forms of cultural production from premodern Europe both responded to existing racial stereotypes and created and sustained new ones. I discuss this phenomenon further in the General Introduction to this edition.

a naked shape

This phrase suggests that the performer in the role of Africa wore a garment designed to imitate the appearance of nudity. Given the earlier reference to the figure as a blackmoor, it also seems likely that this garment would have been black or dark in colour. Although blackface achieved through face painting or other cosmetics is the most familiar form of what Ian Smith describes as [r]acial prosthetics in this period, Farah Karim-Cooper observes that dark fabric was also used in many cases to achieve a similar effect (Smith 34; Karim-Cooper 17-29). In this case, as Smith argues of Shakespeareʼs Othello, the staged black body is bare, clothing being redundant; it is dressed in black (35).

nutmeg tree

Squireʼs association between nutmeg and the figure of Africa is unusual, since during this period the spice was cultivated exclusively in the Banda Islands of modern Indonesia. As with several other details of this pageant, the emphasis here seems to be less on geographical or economic accuracy and more on creating a broad-strokes impression of the diverse trade goods that underpinned Londonʼs wealth and power.

tawny moor

A name given to tawny or brown-skinned peoples, probably originally to peoples of northern Africa (OED tawny-moor, n.)

The distinction (if any) established through makeup or costuming between the blackmoor representing Africa and this figure is unclear. As Mathieu Chapman has recently noted, the language of racial difference in this period involved many, often overlapping terms that signal aesthetic difference, but such terms were also deployed in highly inconsistent (or even mutually contradictory) ways without necessarily undermining their intellectual and social force (61).

crown of feathers

The practice of creating elaborate feathered garments was noted among the Aztecs and other Mesoamerican groups in early European colonial sources, but it would ultimately be attributed to virtually all Indigenous peoples of the Americas in dramatic works from the period, as seems to be the case here (Berdan and Anawalt xi, 39; Kuhn).

Parthian

The Parthians were ancient inhabitants of what is now Iran.

Americaʼs bearing of a Parthian bow reflects a broader tendency in European discourses of this period to draw connections betwen Indigenous people and practices of the Americas and those of the ancient Eurasian world. Compare, for example, the association of the Amazons of ancient Greek mythology and history (typically believed to be from Asia Minor) with the groups of warrior women allegedly encountered by explorers like Sir Walter Raleigh in Central and South America (Schwarz 49-78).

cluster of grapes

This aspect of Europaʼs appearance recalls the cornucopia or horn of plenty, a basket overflowing with produce that was a common symbol of abundance in antiquity. A literal cornucopia also appears later in the show, where it is borne by the figure of Autumn.

my curled billows, ebbs, and tides

Much of the Thames is affected by the tides, including the section (known colloquially as the Pool of London) where shipping vessels docked during this period. Oceanusʼs promise to ensure safe, predictable conditions for travel and trade is therefore especially valuable.

Tagusʼ unvalued sands

The Tagus river flows through the Iberian peninsula, beginning in Spain and feeding into the Atlantic in Lisbon, Portugal.

Oceanus suggests that the wealth and prosperity of London (and England as a whole) will excel that of their imperial rival, Spain, through his support.

desert

Here meaning uninhabited or forsaken.

Parnassus

The traditional home of the Muses in ancient Greek mythology.

Clio

The appearances and attributes of Clio and the other muses in Squireʼs description are all fairly conventional for the period.

theorbo

A long-necked string instrument that is played by plucking (similar to a lute).

semined

A heraldic term roughly synonymous with powdered, meaning [d]ecorated or ornamented with many spots, small figures, or heraldic devices; spangled (OED powdered, adj.2.a; semined, adj.; Wheeler-Holohan 290, 299).

In medio residens complectitur omnia Phœbus

This Latin passage is now attributed to Ausonius, a Roman poet who (like numerous others) had some of his works attributed to Virgil by commentators in medieval and early modern Europe. It translates as seated in the centre, [Phoebus, i.e., Apollo] embraces all. In a 1564 emblem book that may have served as partial inspiration for Squire, these lines are found alongside a woodcut emblem that roughly resembles the pageant display described here (Sambucus sig. H4v-H5r).

Westminster

Westminster Palace, where the incumbent Lord Mayor would typically swear an oath of loyalty to the king as part of the larger procession and show.

Paulʼs Churchyard

St. Paulʼs Churchyard, a space for shops and public gatherings near the cathedral of the same name.

son

Achilles, Greek hero of the Trojan War who figures prominently in The Iliad.

Peleus

Peleus, mythical king of Phthia in ancient Greece; husband to the nymph Thetis and father to the demigod Achilles.

Thespian spring

The Hippocrene, a spring on Mount Helicon (near the ancient Greek city-state of Thespiae) that was sacred to the Muses.

Amphion

Amphion, a legendary ancient Greek musician.

bays

A crown of bay or laurel leaves was a given as a prize to celebrated poets in ancient Greece.

cloth of gold

A tissue consisting of threads, wires or strips of gold, generally interwoven with silk or wool; also applied to gilded cloth (OED cloth, n.II.9.c).

As is the case elsewhere in the pageant book, Squire dwells at length on the quality and presumed expense of fabrics like this one as a way of highlighting the prosperity that the Haberdashers bring to London.

collars of esses

Livery collars or chains of office, which often resembled a chain composed of repeated forms of the letter S.

a sacred fire

Perhaps a reference to the holy flame of Hestia, Greek goddess of the hearth (analogous to the Roman Vesta, famously attended by the Vestal Virgins).

landscape

This term entered English from the Dutch language as a technical term of painters, referring to [a] picture representing natural inland scenery, as distinguished from a sea picture, a portrait, etc. (OED landscape, n.1.a).

imperial crown

This costuming creates a parallel with the earlier appearance of Europa, who wore a similar imperial crown to signify her dominance over the other continents and peoples of the earth.

couchant

One of several terms to describe the attitude or position of a heraldic figure. An animal couchant is lying down with its head raised (Wheeler-Holohan 240). This posture, combining calmness with attentiveness, is seemingly intended to reflect Squireʼs claim that Majesty submits fierceness to a willing servitude.

Parliament robes of purple velvet

Members of the House of Lords in the English Parliament have worn velvet robes since the medieval period.

the apt cognizance of each oneʼs honour

That is, the headwear worn by each figure appropriately corresponds to the descending ranks of nobility they occupy.

A heraldic term meaning gold (Wheeler-Holohan 283).

argent

A heraldic term meaning silver (Wheeler-Holohan 218).

escutcheoned

The heraldic term escutcheon refers to a shield bearing a coat of arms (Wheeler-Holohan 6).

Squireʼs verb-form phrasing indicates that these shields were depicted on the fabric streamers or banners mentioned here.

Respublica Beata

Blessed Republic

This use of the term republic should be taken in roughly the same sense as it bears in the political writer Sir Thomas Smithʼs De Republica Anglorum, where it refers relatively neutrally to the monarchical realm of England (as the full title has it) and not to the distinct model of republican government associated with ancient Rome during this period.

Corinthian

The most elaborate of the three orders of classical Greek and Roman architecture (along with the Doric and Ionic orders).

guarded

Adorned with one or more guards, referring to an ornamental border or trimming on a garment (OED guard, n.11.a).

rochet

An ecclesiastical vestment similar to a surplice, typically of white linen and chiefly worn by a bishop (OED rochet, n.1.a).

chief

A heraldic design feature (or ordinary) in which a contrasting band of colour extends horizontally across the top portion of a shield (Wheeler-Holohan 235).

crossed forms

A heraldic style of cross with flared arms of equal length, also known as a cross formée or cross pattée (Wheeler-Holohan 33-34).

Catherine

St. Catherine of Alexandria, whose martyrdom involved a failed attempt to break her limbs on the spokes of a wheel (in which the wheel itself miraculously broke at her touch) before she was beheaded. She thus appears here as the patron saint of craftspeople who work with wheels, like those used to spin yarn, and as the official patron saint of the Haberdashersʼ Company.

Costus

Costus, ancient governor of Alexandria and father of St. Catherine.

Catherine Wheels

A tool for torture and execution used in Europe from antiquity to the nineteenth century. Victims typically would be struck with the wheel to break their bones before having their limbs braided into its spokes, after which the wheel was sometimes erected on a pole as a public display.

carding

The process whereby masses of textile fibres are aligned parallel to one another to prepare them to be spun into yarn. In this period it was usually achieved by rubbing the fibres between two handheld paddles (OED card, v.1.a.i).

bowed

Bowing is another part of the felt-making process, in which a taut bow-string is covered with fibres and then plucked; the vibration of the string helps separate and align these fibres to prepare them for subsequent processing (OED bow, n.II.13).

basoned

To bason is [t]o harden the felt on the bason [i.e., the central depression, or basin, that will function as the crown] in hat-making (OED bow, v.).

blocked

To block is [t]o shape or reshape (a hat) on a block (OED bow, v.II.7.a).

church dials

Large clock faces displayed on the exterior walls of churches, where they could be viewed by members of the community (particularly useful at a time when private, domestic ownership of clocks was rare in Europe).

Iron Age

The last and most degraded of the eras of human history in ancient Greek and Roman mythology, especially as outlined by the poets Hesiod and Ovid. In Ovid, the preceding eras are the Golden Age, Silver Age, and Bronze Age (to which Hesiod also adds the Heroic Age), all of which are also mentioned later in the show.

Upper Conduit in Cheapside

Also known as the Little Conduit.

Atlas

Atlas, a Titan who bears the earth on his back in Greek mythology.

undae

Waves (Latin).

passant guardant

A heraldic term referring to a posture in which an animal figure is pictured walking with its head and one front leg raised (Wheeler-Holohan 286).

gules

A heraldic term meaning red (Wheeler-Holohan 263).

ensigns

Military flags or banners.

St Laurence Lane

St Laurence Lane, a street which passed from the Little Conduit to the Guildhall where this mayoral show, like many others of the period, concludes.

praetor

A high-ranking magistrate in ancient Rome.

styles

Honorific titles.

this song

took water

That is, took to the water or entered the water.

presidents

Squire may here be punning on precedents, creating a double reference to how Jones will preside over the city in the honourable manner of those who have preceded him in the office.

Francis Tipsley

Francis Tipsley was a member of the Haberdashersʼ Company who contributed to its sponsored performances on several occasions; as Tracey Hill notes, he had previously been paid £5 for painting two banners for the 1604 show, and he would later make similar contributions to the 1631 and 1632 shows (112).

his wings

Squireʼs description of Jonesʼs triumph as winged may be intended to associate it with the Greek goddess Nike (Roman Victoria) as a representation of victory. On the other hand, the gendering of the phrase (his wings) and the context of the speech as a whole may indicate an even stronger connection to the winged helmet and sandals of the messenger god Hermes (Roman Mercury), both as the protector of travelers and merchants and as a bearer of information.

my wide vast continent

As is the case today, the term continent in the early modern period typically referred to a contiguous land mass, making Oceanusʼs usage here somewhat unusual (OED continent, v.II). The speech may be intended to suggest that the ocean is itself the largest of all the other continents included in the pageant (that is, Africa, Asia, America, and Europe), as well as the one that links them all together.

Song.

Squireʼs is one of only two surviving mayoral shows to contain a musical score, which is printed directly above the following song lyrics in the quarto text. As J. Caitlin Finlayson observes in her edition, [t]he use of hyphenation on B1v-B2r indicates the number of notes over which a syllable should be sung (80). While I have silently modernized this punctuation in keeping with the editorial standards of the present anthology, these hyphens would have allowed readers of the pageant book to sing the lyrics in time with the melody, enabling the song to enjoy a continued life in performance (however amateur or ephemeral) beyond the confines of the show itself.

Finlayson astutely observes that because B1v and B2r, which contain the musical score, have no catchwords or running titles, the catchword The immediately preceding the song at the bottom of B1r (which does not match this first word in the lyrics) likely refers to the continuation of the show proper on B2v, after the song has concluded (80).

Collations

Adopted reading (This Edition):

Trophaea, or

Authority title	Tes Irenes Trophaea, or The Triumphs of Peace
Type of text	Primary Source Text
Publisher	The Map of Early Modern London and the University of Victoria on the Linked Early Modern Drama Online platform
Series	MoEML Mayoral Shows anthology
Source	This edition takes as its copytext the MoEML semi-diplomatic transcription of the EEBO surrogate of the sole extant copy of the pageant book, held by the Guildhall Library, London.
Editorial declaration	Prepared according to the MoMS Editorial Guidelines
Edition	Released with LEMDO Editions for Peer Review 0.1.4
Encoding description	Encoded in TEI P5 according to the LEMDO Customization and Encoding Guidelines
Document status	draft
Funder(s)	Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
License/availability	Intellectual copyright in this edition is held by the editor, Andrew S. Brown. The XML file of the modern text is licensed for reuse under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license, which means that it is freely downloadable without permission under the following conditions: (1) credit must be given to the editor, MoMS, and LEMDO in any subsequent use of the files and/or data; (2) derivatives (e.g., adapted scripts for performance) must be shared under the same CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license; and (3) commercial uses are not permitted without the knowledge and consent of the editor, MoMS, and LEMDO.

Tes Irenes Trophaea, or The Triumphs of Peace

With explication of the several shows and devices by J.S.

Tes Irenes Trophaea, or The Triumphs of Peace.

Notes

Annotations

Collations

Characters

Performers

Prosopography

Andrew S. Brown

Janelle Jenstad

John Squire

Mark Kaethler

Navarra Houldin

Bibliography

Orgography

LEMDO Team (LEMD1)

MoEML Mayoral Shows (MOMS1)

University of Victoria (UVIC1)

Witnesses

Metadata