Tethys' Festival

The tradition & historical record

Tethys' Festival was a masque produced on 5 June 1610 to celebrate the investiture of Prince Henry (1594–1612) as Prince of Wales. Prince Henry, the son of James VI and I and Anne of Denmark, was made Prince of Wales in June 1610. Among the formalities and festivities of the occasion, the masque Tethys' Festival was performed by courtiers at Whitehall Palace. The script was written by Samuel Daniel at the request of the queen, who appeared in person as Tethys, a goddess of the sea. Inigo Jones designed the staging and scenery. A narrative of the masque was printed and a courtier also wrote a description of the event. The City of London had staged their pageant London's Love to Prince Henry on the Thames on 31 May. During the performance Anne of Denmark gave Prince Henry an engraved sword, which may be the jewelled sword surviving in the Wallace Collection. The sword, set with diamonds, was supplied by the goldsmiths George Heriot and John Spilman, and described in inventories of the prince's jewels. ¹

The stage was set with a representation of Milford Haven, a Welsh port, with boats bobbing in the harbour, framed by giant statues of Neptune and Nereus. The setting evoked Henry's Tudor ancestry, as Henry VII had landed at Milford Haven. Perhaps as an heir to a Tudor Arthurian tradition, during the masque Henry was to be presented with a sword by his mother. ¹

First Prince Charles took the part of "Zephyrus", the messinger of spring, wearing fairy wings. He was flanked by two muscular "sea slaves" or Tritons, accompanied by eight young aristocratic women or naiads, to a song describing how Tethys brought blessings to the Ocean King, who was King James. Next one of the Tritons explained the idea of the masque to James and Prince Henry, while the other gave a sword to Prince Charles. Charles got up and gave the sword to Henry, which was understood to be a gift from Tethys or rather Anne of Denmark, and also the sword of Astraea, a goddess of justice associated with Queen Elizabeth. ¹

Henry also received a scarf of "Love and Amity" which represented the British Isles. James got a trident representing rule over the kingdoms of England, Scotland and Wales. In his speech the Triton explained the particular significance of Milford Haven as a harbour in Wales where Henry VII began his Union of York and Lancaster. After this gift exchange, Charles returned to his position while twelve maidens, "all of them daughters of earls and barons", danced around him. Next in the harbour appeared Anne of Denmark seated on a raised throne with a back made like a silver scallop shell draped with gold cloth, set around with lanterns that showed liked jewels. Princess Elizabeth, as the nymph of Thames, sat at the queen's feet. ¹

Prince Charles was Zephyrus. Anne of Denmark was Tethys. Princess Elizabeth appeared as the companion or daughter of Tethys, the "Nymph of Thames". King James was addressed as Oceanus, King of the seas. The account by a spectator and the 1610 publication name the other women who appeared in Milford Haven harbour as; Arbella Stuart the "Nymph of Trent"; the Countess of Arundel the "Nymph of Arun"; the Countess of Derby the "Nymph of Derwent"; the Countess of Essex the "Nymph of Lee"; the Countess of Dorset the "Nymph of Air"; the Countess of Montgomery the "Nymph of Severn"; the Countess of Haddington the "Nymph of Rother"; Elizabeth Grey the "Nymph of Medway". Four sisters, daughters of Edward Somerset, 4th Earl of Worcester danced as rivers of Monmouthshire; Lady Catherine Windsor the "Nymph of Usk"; Katherine Petre (1575–1624) the "Nymph of Olwy"; Elizabeth Guildford the "Nymph of Dulesse" (Dulas); and Mary Wintour the "Nymph of Wye". ¹

A handful of drawings by Inigo Jones for costumes survive. Daniel described the costumes in detail in his publication Tethys' Festival, or The Queen's Wake (1610). The river nymphs wore head-attire that appeared to be made from shells and coral, with veils attached. Their upper garments were of sky-blue taffeta embroidered with maritime motifs. They had half-skirts of silver cloth worked with gold (the groundwork cut-away), and longer underskirts called "bases" in the sky-blue taffeta. Around the hem of the skirt was a meander of lace like a river with sedge and seaweed banks in gold. At the shoulder was the same work as the half-skirts, with ruffed-out upper sleeves. The lower sleeves matched the bodice with maritime motifs. The satin shoes were embroidered like the short skirts. ¹

Some costume from Tethys' Festival appears in an inventory of Anne of Denmark's wardrobe now held in the library of the University of Cambridge, which lists:one maskeinge gowne of satten: the bo: [bodies] jagges and tagges of white sattine imbroydery verye riche with gold purle plaett and owes, the skertes of grasse greene satten imbroydery with silver owes alover cutt rounde belowe with peakes and scallops and edged with a silver frenge linde with greene sarsnett. Costume suppliers included Dorothy Speckard and the Queen's silkman Thomas Henshawe (died 1611). The embroiderer Christopher Shawe worked on the skirts and produced cobweb silver lace with veins of silver and sea green silk, stitched with silver "O" shapes or "oes", and embroidered gold "oes" on tiffany. He also embroidered a pair of sea green satin shoes with gold and silver. ¹

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Tethys' Festival”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. ¹

Tethys' Festival is masque, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ²

The source record links this tradition to 1 external register, which can be verified through the citation. ²