Ringing in the Elizabethan New Year 1582 with Sparkle and a Hanky
- Jan 1, 2025
- 5 min read
Updated: May 18
Queen Elizabeth I, the Duke of Alençon, and the New Year’s Gift Drama That Inspired A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Part II of VI, Stage-craft as State-craft
On New Year’s Day 1582, Queen Elizabeth I rejected her young French suitor, accepted a small fortune in jewels from him, handed him her handkerchief as he burst into tears, and then danced with him at court as if nothing had happened.
The suitor was Hercule François, Duke of Alençon, brother of the King of France and the most controversial marriage candidate of Elizabeth’s reign. He was twenty-five. She was forty-eight. Their long and highly theatrical courtship had captivated Europe.
What unfolded at Whitehall that winter had everything: romance, political brinkmanship, wounded pride, extravagant gifts, and a queen who turned personal drama into public spectacle.
In other words, it was pure Elizabethan theater.
Elizabethan Holiday Traditions
Elizabethan holiday tradition included exchanging gifts, not on Christmas, as we do today, but on January 1, marking the year’s fresh start. Tokens of friendship and loyalty could be as simple as a pomander: a clove-studded orange worn on a chain to sweeten stale air in crowded rooms. But for Queen Elizabeth I, New Year’s Day was an opportunity to collect extravagant treasures from her courtiers and diplomats, as her gift rolls attest. If she reciprocated, her return gift’s value revealed the recipient’s place in the hierarchy of her favor.
On New Year's Day 1582, at Whitehall, the court itself became a stage. The high-stakes politics behind that year’s royal gift giving played out in front of everyone there through theatrics worthy not only of Shakespeare, but of modern soap operas. Let’s join the assembled courtiers and see what happens!
🌬️ Act I, Scene I: Contrary Winds
As Christmas 1581 approached, the King of France’s younger brother, Hercule (“Er-cles”) Francois, Duke of Anjou and Alencon, nicknamed her “Frog” by the Queen, had been preparing to leave London with hopes to win her affection and the English throne by leading an army against the Spanish in the Netherlands. Strong winds, however, kept him and his barges stranded in the Thames. Although his face had been scarred by smallpox and his spine twisted by scoliosis, the Duke was heir presumptive to the throne of France.
Just before New Year’s Day, still delayed, the Duke received some devastating news. Despite years of courtship and many public declarations of affection, including kissing him on the lips in church, Elizabeth had decided she would never marry him, though it would make her “empress of all the world”. She instructed William Cecil, Lord Burghley to beg the Duke to accept her as “a friend and sister, without thinking of her as a wife.”
Had the royal Anglo-French flirtation reached its final curtain?
🎭 Act I, Scene II: The Dramatic Unfolding of the Hanky
When Elizabeth’s decision was made public in court a few days after Christmas, Alencon’s response was nothing short of dramatic. He rose to the occasion with Gallic fervor and ego, proclaiming that he would rather lose his life now than leave England without marrying her.
As sharp-tongued as ever, (See: Did Queen Elizabeth I Use Swear Words? ) she asked if he meant to threaten a poor old woman in her own country. She was 48 and he was 25, so “old” wasn’t far from the truth, but “poor” was a tactical retort and a major clue to their conversation’s subtext. She cautioned him not to lose the best friends he had with such words.
The Duke’s operatic reply: “No, no, Madam! I would rather tear myself to bits with my own hands than lose the hope of marrying you and become the derision of the whole world!” He then burst into manly tears.
Shakespeare couldn't resist this moment, even playing on the Duke's first name "Hercule" with a French accent that drops the "H" to "Ercles":
“BOTTOM: That will ask some tears in the true performing of it.
If I do it, let the audience look to their eyes.
I will move storms! I will condole in some measure.
To the rest, my chief humor is for a tyrant.
I could play Ercles rarely.”
A Midsummer Night’s Dream I.ii
Elizabeth’s response to this display of emotion by her rejected suitor? She handed him her handkerchief.
Can you imagine Alencon making his exit, stage left, one hand held to his forehead, the other clutching the Queen’s hanky over his heart? For more on his theatrical talents that caught the attention of Shakespeare, see: How Shakespeare Encoded History, French Diplomacy and the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre into Love’s Labour’s Lost.
💎 Act I, Scene III: A Queen’s Ransom
Despite his outburst, the Duke didn’t let rejection stop him from presenting spectacular and expensive New Year’s gifts. On New Year’s Day, he offered Elizabeth this array of dazzling treasures:
A gold-edged ship, glittering with diamonds and rubies
A bouquet of four small jeweled roses and one large white rose with a sapphire and rubies, a diamond daisy and a fluttering ruby-studded butterfly
A golden flower encrusted with rubies and diamonds, featuring a hind and two pearl pendants
A gold chain engraved with the words “Serviet eternum dulcis quem torquet Eliza” (May he whom sweet Eliza torments serve her forever.)
A lock of gold.
Talk about gifts certain to catch a woman’s attention!
🥀 Act I, Scene IV: Any Awkward Moments There?
True to his word, Alencon refused to depart the English court. He entered the New Year’s joust that lasted until 1:00 am on a chariot, and danced with Elizabeth at the Twelfth Night festivities, as if nothing had changed.
What did they talk about while they were dancing?
This saga is far from over. There are several more acts to come! Click here: Stage-craft as State-craft: Queen Elizabeth I and the Alencon Affair to find out more in Act II when the politics masquerading as a love story are revealed.
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