until 12 January 1619, when it was destroyed by fire, and in its place arose the stately edifice of Inigo Jones, which still glorifies Whitehall.[1] A supplementary room of more temporary character was put up for the Princess Elizabeth's wedding in 1613.[2]
The mediaeval court had been largely an ambulatory one. The principal feasts, at which the King wore his crown, were generally kept in one of the great cities—Westminster, Winchester, Gloucester; and for the rest of the year the household passed by short 'removes' from castle to castle and manor to manor throughout the realm. For this there were economic as well as political reasons. Many mouths had to be fed, and it was easier and less onerous upon the country to devour one local storehouse after another, than to organize an effective transport from the various sources of supply to a single capital. But with the new political stability and the enhanced royal wealth, which followed the coming of the Tudors, a more settled order of things prevailed. Henceforward the greater part of the year was spent at one or other of the 'standing houses' within reach of the administrative head-quarters on the Thames, and the wanderings were confined to a 'progress' of one or two summer months, during which the sovereign took the air, and hunted, and made his presence familiar to his outlying subjects. Under Elizabeth the year may be said to have begun in the middle of November, when she returned to London, generally by road from one of the Surrey palaces through Chelsea. The event, at any rate during the later years of the reign, almost took rank as a ceremony of state. The Queen came by night, with the Master of the Horse leading her palfrey by the bridle and a great noble carrying the sword. Ambassadors were invited to be present, and the Lord Mayor and citizens were called
- ↑ Chamberlain to Carleton (Birch, ii. 124): 'One of the greatest losses spoken of is the burning of all or most of the writings and papers belonging to the offices of the Signet, Privy Seal, and Council Chamber, which were under it'; cf. Reyher, 342; Goodman, ii. 175, 187.
- ↑ V. P. xii. 533; Stowe, 916; Birch, i. 229; Finett, 11; cf. p. 14.
vivialis de novo construitur apud Whitehall'; Stowe, Annales, 688, 892, 910, 'the beautiful room at Whitehall'; Devon, 44, 302, 'James Acheson . . . hath, by our direction, formed a model for the roof of our Banqueting-house at Whitehall'; V. P. xi. 86, 'At the close of the ceremony [mask of Jan. 1608] he said to me that he intended this function to consecrate the birth of the Great Hall which his predecessors had left him built merely in wood, but which he had converted into stone'. But James had been displeased with the building when he first saw it about 16 Sept. 1607 (S. P. D. xxviii. 51). Goodman, ii. 176, says that the City had to bear the cost in return for the transfer to them of Blackfriars, Whitefriars, and other liberties (cf. ch. xvii, s.v. Blackfriars).
