by Lucy E. Zahnle

Created on: September 19, 2009   Last Updated: September 20, 2009

The Musings of Robert Harcott, An Elizabethan Londoner, Upon That Great City's Pursuit of Leisure, Past & Present

As a Londoner under the kindly rule of Gloriana, Her Great Majesty, Elizabeth, Queen of England, in this year of Our Lord, 1599, I work very hard at my trade, as do my fellows in the shops, the stockyards, the great houses, and the docks. I rarely get a day free to pursue London's merriment and relaxation, but when I do, I have a plethora of diversions from which to choose.

As unlikely as it seems, the church and the state offer me the best sorts of entertainment and they are free. Whether it be ecclesiastical processions, religious festivals on great holy days like Christmas, Easter, Midsummer, or Mayday, grand spectacles in honor of royal celebrations like military victories, weddings, birthdays, funerals, or even public hangings, pence for pence, my betters offer me the best entertainment bargain in London and have for centuries.

Those of a mind to seek out history can still see remnants of pageants past scattered about the City. In Cheapside and Charing, the stone crosses that Edward I erected in 1290 upon the occasion of the death of Eleanor, his queen, do yet stand as mourning sentinels to mark the passing of her late majesty's funeral procession.

Handed down from father to son, other tales echo through the taverns, of the great festivals past. After the Battle of Poitiers in 1356, so they say, the captured King of France, splendidly garbed in royal purple and mounted on a milk-white horse, was paraded through London's gaily bedecked streets as part of Edward the Black Prince's victorious return.

Only forty years later, in 1396, seven people died on London Bridge during a great state occasion. A large crowd had gathered on the bridge to see seven year old Princess Isabelle of France as she passed by on her journey to join her betrothed, King Richard II. The mob surged forward to catch a glimpse of her, pressing seven hapless souls to death in their eagerness to view greatness.

The tale-tellers also say that in 1415, during King Henry V's proud procession through London to celebrate his triumph at Agincourt, the water conduits in Cheapside ran with wine.

Since Cheapside is the widest street in London, great tournaments are often held there for the amusement and edification of all. King Edward III held just such a tournament there in 1331. I heard that it lasted for three days and that the stone pavement was covered with sand to

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