Note 481 — IV PAGEANTRY

Cf. ch. xxiv. The date at which the annual tilt began is not clear. It cannot be earlier than the institution of Queen's Day itself (1570? cf. p. 18), but as that is said to have originated at Oxford, hard by Woodstock, the two may have come into existence together. Segar, who compares Lee's enterprise to 'the Knighthood della Banda in Spaine' assigns it to the beginning of the reign. On the other hand, I have not found any actual evidence for a tilt on 17 Nov. before 1581, although there is plenty afterwards. The references to the matter on Lee's tombstone and in the fragments of the Ferrers MS. do not help, unless fragment (iv) belongs to the Woodstock entertainment of 1575, in which case the vow 'not far from hence' must be before that date. Is it possible that the tilting at first took place at Oxford or Woodstock itself and was transferred to Whitehall about 1581? In 1593, perhaps owing to the plague, it was held at Windsor.