ABSTRACT
The lavish New Year celebrations of 1603 [04] held at Hampton court by James I (James VI of Scotland) and his queen celebrated the successful installation of the Stuart dynasty upon the throne of England (and Wales). The masques communicated the confi dence of the new court both to the countries joined under the rule of James as well as Europe at large. Dudley Carleton, a witness to the events, records the rivalry between the Spanish and French ambassadors at the performance of Samuel Daniel’s Vision of the Twelve Queens as they attempted to position themselves advantageously within the court.2 He also describes the way in which the court attempted to position itself in relation to the previous court of Elizabeth. In a symbolic “dis-robing” of the old regime, the female masquers appropriated Elizabeth I’s clothing, redesigning the dead Queen’s gowns for their own particular uses.3 The masque also pulls out of the iconographical “closet” of the old regime the eponymous Sibyl seen in so many of the court and progress entertainments designed for Elizabeth.
