Introduction

Summary

IN 1593 the poet Michael Drayton pictured Queen Elizabeth I of England (1558– 1603) as the nymph Beta being entertained in state on the banks of the Thames in honour of her Accession Day (17 November):

How merrily the Muses sing,

That all the flowery meadows ring,

And Beta sits upon the bank, in purple and in pall,

And she the Queen of Muses is, and wears the coronal.

Courtly revels are translated into an idealised pastoral English countryside. Courtiers become nymphs and shepherds; Muses and birds form choirs; swans serve for a guard of honour; Apollo's laurel and a coronet of flowers become the royal crown. In short, Drayton's poetic tableau resembles many of the reallife entertainments presented to Elizabeth at noble houses during her summer progresses, where she was entertained by a cast of sea and wood nymphs, fairies, ploughmen, and shepherds.

For Drayton, Elizabeth was ‘Queen of Muses’: the prime spectator of the revels and receiver of the nymphs’ and Muses’ tributes. This epithet evoked Elizabeth's dual role: as Queen over the Muses she was their ruler, akin to Apollo and a wise and noble patron of the arts; as Queen among Muses she was the inspiration of her courtiers and poets, who were driven to celebrate her in elaborate musical and poetic entertainments. For Richard Mulcaster, Headmaster of the Merchant Taylors’ School, the epithet also captured her personal qualities:

It is for our most worthy Princess, to have the presidency over nine men, the paragons of virtue: and yet to be so familiarly acquainted with the nine Muses, as they are in strife who may love her best, for being best learned.

Elizabeth's intelligence, eloquence, and musicality made her the best of the Muses. Moreover, by contrasting the female Muses with an evocation of the male Nine Worthies – an assembly of Pagan, Jewish, and Christian warrior-kings formed in the medieval period – Mulcaster attributed to Elizabeth the twin virtues of just leadership and learned eloquence. The political significance of music within the Elizabethan court relied on all these aspects of Elizabeth's image as ‘Queen of Muses’: her personal talents, her role as patron, and her position as inspiration for music, theatre, and poetry.