John Nichols’s The Progresses and Public Processions of Queen Elizabeth I

A New Edition of the Early Modern Sources (5 vols)

Edited by Elizabeth Goldring, Faith Eales, Elizabeth Clarke, and Jayne Elisabeth Archer

John Nichols's The Progresses of Queen Elizabeth (1788-1823) has long been an indispensable reference tool for scholars working on Elizabethan court and culture - despite the serious limitations of an antiquarian edition now two centuries old. This old-spelling edition of the early modern materials contained in Nichols's Progresses is edited to high and consistent standards, and based on a critical re-examination of printed and manuscript sources. It is structured by a narrative of the two sets of annual progresses undertaken by Queen Elizabeth I: the 'summer progresses,' when Elizabeth travelled throughout southern England and the Midlands, visiting cities as far afield as Bristol, Coventry, Norwich, and Southampton; and the 'winter progresses,' when Elizabeth moved between her residences in and around London, including Richmond, Hampton Court, and Whitehall. New editions of the major progress entertainments - Kenilworth, Woodstock, Elvetham, Cowdray, Ditchley, and Harefield - are set alongside accounts of civic receptions, tilts and Accession Day entertainments, and non-dramatic texts, many of which have not been published since Nichols, including verses delivered by Eton scholars before the Queen (1563); John Lesley's Oratio (1574); Gabriel Harvey's Gratulationum Valdinensium (1578); and the Oxford and Cambridge verses on the death of Queen Elizabeth (1603). The editions are supported by translations of all non-English material, full scholarly annotation, illustrations, and maps. This will make John Nichols's The Progresses and Public Processions of Queen Elizabeth: A New Edition of the Early Modern Sources the most comprehensive collection of early modern texts pertaining to the court and culture of Queen Elizabeth.

Volume I covers the years from 1533 to 1571.
Volume II of the edition covers the years from 1572 to 1578.
Volume III covers the years from 1579 to 1595.
Volume IV covers the years from 1596 to 1603.
Volume V contains the appendices, bibliographies, and index.

Awards

Roland H. Bainton Prize for Reference from the Sixteenth Century Society and Conference, 2015

Modern Language Association ‘Prize for a Scholarly Edition’, 2015

Times Literary Supplement ‘Book of the Year’, 2015

Reviews

"Five sumptuous volumes, with over a hundred illustrations, some rare.... Years of research of the highest quality have produced an Elizabethan treasure trove." – Brian Vickers, The Times Literary Supplement

"[An] outstanding work.... The editorial team has reedited [Nichols'] texts, using well-established principles of textual editing.... This careful process results in Nichols revisited, plus reliable scholarly editing, copious commentary notes and glosses, and new material about which Nichols did not know. ... We owe an incalculable debt to the many scholars involved in this project and to the beneficence of Oxford University Press." – Renaissance Quarterly