James. Somerset House was assigned to Queen Anne, and a not very successful attempt was made to re-name it Queen's Court. This appellation was revived when the creation of an Earl of Somerset in 1613 seemed suggestive of confusion, and then abandoned in favour of Denmark House.[1] Nonsuch, Havering, and Hatfield, with many other manors, were also assigned to Anne as part of her dowry. Hatfield was exchanged in 1607 with Lord Salisbury for Theobalds, to which James rather than Anne appears to have taken a fancy, and the transfer gave occasion for a characteristic entertainment by Ben Jonson. Oatlands was given to Anne in 1611 and Greenwich in 1613.[2] At the beginning of the reign Oatlands had been the royal nursery for Henry and Elizabeth, and it continued to be Henry's country home for some years.[3] Elizabeth, however, was soon placed in the charge of Lord Harington, first at Exton in Rutlandshire and then at Combe Abbey in Warwickshire. When she came to Court in 1608, a house was found for her at Kew. Both she and Henry sometimes resided at Hampton Court and at White
- ↑ Occasionally it was still used as a guesthouse. The Constable of Castile was lodged here in 1604, the Danish ambassador in 1605, Christian of Denmark in 1606 and 1614. Fuller, Church History, vii. 46, says that the name Denmark House was adopted by proclamation in honour of King Christian, but I can find no such proclamation. Arthur Wilson (Compleat Hist. ii. 685) dates the change c. 1610, and says that the new name 'continued her time among her people; but it was afterwards left out of the common calendar, like the dead Emperor's new-named month'. On the other hand I find Cecil dating from 'Queens Court' on 6 March 1605 (S. P. D. xiii. 15), Chamberlain writing in Feb. 1614 of the performance of Daniel's Hymen's Triumph that it was in a 'little square paved court' at 'Somerset House or Queens Court, as it must now be called' (W. W. Greg in M. L. Q. vi. 59, from Addl. MS. 4173, ff. 368, 371), and plays acted by Anne's men 'at Queenes Court' in 1615 (cf. App. B). The reason suggested in the text for the second attempt to change the name seems to me a plausible conjecture. Perhaps 'Denmark House' was tried at Christian's second visit in 1614. In any case, neither novelty permanently established itself. The first use of 'Denmark House' I have noticed is in 1615; that of 'Somerset House' was resumed under Charles I.
- ↑ Lodge, iii. 62; Birch, i. 279; Devon, 63, 176; V. P. x. 87; xiii. 81; S. P. D., Jac. I, xxvii. 31; lxv. 79, 80; V. H. Surrey, iii. 478; V. H. Herts. iii. 447; Goodman, i. 174; J. E. Cussans, Hist. of Herts., pts. ix, x. 209; Nichols, James ii. 127. Theobalds, in Cheshunt, had been often visited by Elizabeth; cf. App. A. James had already been there yearly in 1603-1606, and found it convenient for Waltham Forest.
- ↑ Green, 7; V. P. x. 71.
Footnote: keepers, or porters, 17 other houses, 11 forests, and 8 parks, together with the Fleet prison under a warden keeper, the Baths (at Bath) under a keeper, the Haven of the Duchy of Cornwall under a havenor, the Honour of Tutbury under a steward, and Paris Garden under the keepers of Bears and Mastiffs (cf. ch. xvi, s.v. Hope); in all 78.
