had livery allowances added on to them. The process of commutation can still be traced. But liveries were issued in kind to the yeomen, messengers, grooms, pages, and stable footmen. These seem to have been of two kinds; 'watching' liveries issued from the Wardrobe in the winter, and 'summer' liveries, for which payment was made direct from the Exchequer.[1] The latter were gorgeous and costly, of scarlet cloth, with spangles and embroidery of Venice gold, taking the shape of a rose and crown and the letters 'E. R.', with some distinction between yeomen and grooms. The present costume of the Yeomen of the Guard, or 'beef-eaters', is a later modification of this livery.[2] In their capacity as Grooms of the Chamber the royal players were entitled to wear the Queen's 'coat'.[3] The officers of the standing offices had livery or livery allowance, if it was appropriate to their rank. They did not have diet or 'bouche of court'. But they were in some cases entitled to supplement their fees by charging 'wages' for actual days of service in the accounts which their Masters annually rendered to the Exchequer.[4] 'Extraordinary' officers probably got no salaries or allowances of any kind, unless they were called up for special duty. But it must be added that all royal servants, whatever their office, and whether 'ordinary' or 'extraordinary', received a customary allowance of red cloth at the coronation and of black cloth at a royal funeral, and that the schedules of recipients on these occasions form the most complete establishment lists available.
The accession of James did not materially alter the general structure of the Household. The chief changes were in the Privy Chamber. The Wardrobe of Robes was placed under a Gentleman, afterwards called a Master. The Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber were increased in number, reduced to quarterly terms of waiting, and deprived of salary.[5] The salaries of the Lord Chamberlain, Gentlemen Ushers, and
- [Footnote: required Lords, Knights, Squires of the Body, and others within the
household to wear 'a colour of the kings livery about their nekkes'.]
- ↑ Cheyney, i. 32; Devon, 24, 43, 67, 83; Abstract, 8; Pegge, iii. 27; Nichols, James, ii. 125; V. P. vii. 12; Hentzner, Itinerarium (quoted App. F); Addl. MS. 5750, f. 114; Lord Chamberlain's Records, v. 90, 91. The 'watchyng clothing' is as old as Edward IV (H. O. 38, 41). It seems to have been 4 yards of medley colour at 5s. a yard (Sullivan, 253). The sovereigns seem to have made some use of personal colours as distinct from the royal scarlet. Those of Edward VI were green and white (Von Raumer, ii. 71); those of Elizabeth black and white; cf. pp. 142, 161 (1559, 1560, 1564).
- ↑ Pegge, iii. 92.
- ↑ Cf. ch. xiii (Queen's).
- ↑ Cf. ch. iii.
- ↑ Carlisle, 90, with a list of many of James's Gentlemen.
