A friend of mine recently wrote to me to share some information he’d read about Anne Boleyn in a book by Trea Martyn, called Elizabeth in the Garden. The book tells the story of how two of the most powerful men in Elizabethan England (Dudley and Cecil) used garden designs to woo their queen.
Here is the synopsis:
Taking a fresh and original approach to the life and reign of Queen Elizabeth I, this book tells the incredible story of her great passion for gardens, and how the two most powerful men in England during her reign fought a decade-long duel for their queen’s affections by creating lavish gardens for her. It chronicles how, in their quest to woo the queen and outdo each other, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, and William Cecil, Baron of Burghley, competed for Elizabeth’s favor by laying out innovative and extravagant pleasure grounds at their palaces for when she came to visit. As she played one off against the other, they created gorgeous palaces and landscapes that amazed the world. The book also describes how others in England and abroad followed Dudley’s and Cecil’s leads and how the queen’s love of plants made gardeners of courtiers, statesmen, and soldiers. This meticulously researched account reveals how Elizabeth’s enthusiasm for horticulture changed the world, encouraging gardeners and designers to create landscapes inspired by the spirit of the Elizabethan garden.
What caught my friend’s attention, and subsequently mine, was a piece of information included in a discussion about Elizabeth’s coronation procession through London:
“Extravagant sets had been built for the pageants, in which all of the parts were played by children. In the first pageant, a triumphal arch garlanded with roses towered over a three-tiered stage which stretched the width of the street. On the lowest level, there was the figure of Henry VII, in the center of a vast red rose, hand in hand with Elizabeth of York, inside a white rose, representing the union of the House of Lancaster with the House of York and the ending of the War of the Roses. On the next stage, Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn sat inside a giant Tudor rose. Two roses stretched up and above them, joining in a single stem to reach Elizabeth, enthroned at the top of the pyramid. It was the first time in nearly thirty years that Anne’s image had appeared in public. Her memory had until now brought disgrace- in the aftermath of her execution in 1536, Elizabeth had been exiled from court.” (Pg. 16)
Continue reading here.
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