The Speeches at Prince Henry's Barriers, sometimes calledThe Lady of the Lake, is amasque or entertainment written byBen Jonson in honour ofHenry Frederick, Prince of Wales, the son and heir of KingJames I of England. The speeches were performed on 6 January1610 in conjunction with the ceremony known as Prince Henry's Barriers.[1]
Prince Henry's Barriers was a stylized martial combat, conducted on foot with swords and pikes; it was something like a joust without horses. The entertainment took place in theBanqueting House atWhitehall Palace.[2]
Though ceremonial in nature, the practice had some inherent risk (as jousting did), and the sixteen-year-old Prince Henry had to persuade his reluctant father to allow his participation. The ceremonial challenge that initiated the barriers occurred on 31 December 1609; Prince Henry then kept an "open table" atSt. James's Palace, which cost £100 per day.[3] The Prince was supported by a team of six nobles and gentlemen:Ludovic Stewart, 2nd Duke of Lennox;Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel;Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton;James Hay, 1st Earl of Carlisle;Sir Robert Gordon, andSir Thomas Somerset. The seven met fifty-eight challengers during the Barriers; "each bout consisted of two pushes with the pike and twelve sword-strokes, and the young prince gave or received that night thirty-two pushes and about 360 strokes."[4]
Thomas Chaloner, the Prince's chamberlain, obtained pikes and tiltstaves for the combat from Thomas Lincoln, yeoman of the armoury atGreenwich Palace.David Murray bought pearls for the Prince's costume.[5]
Barriers ceremonies were often lushly decorated and costumed. As with Jonson's other masques for the Court, the sets and costumes for Prince Henry's Barriers were designed byInigo Jones. Jones was given £150 in December 1609, for works at the barriers "agreeable to the Prince's disposition",[6] a part payment for the "works, which apperteineth to the Shewe".[7] Jonson's text for the speeches that preceded the combat involve figures ofArthurian legend. Henry was introduced as Meliades, a son of the Scottish queen by Meliadus ofLyonesse. The speeches prophesied a revival of British chivalry.[8]
TheLady of the Lake inaugurates the work, at the site of the tomb ofMerlin the Magician.Arthur participates in the form of a star above the scene. (Arthur represented James, who never took part directly in masques and entertainments.) Merlin rises from his tomb; he and the Lady condemn the contemporary decay ofchivalry, but predict its restoration under the new reign of theHouse of Stuart. (Jones's two sets supported this theme; one was a ruined House of Chivalry, and the other, St. George's Portico.[9]) The Lady and Merlin call forth "Meliadus, lord of the isles," (Henry). Merlin summarizes British history; then a personified spirit of Chivalry emerges, after which the barriers combat took place.
Jonson had to tread lightly between the King's well-known pacifism and the Prince's more martial frame of mind. He had the Lady of the Lake present the Prince with a shield, rather than the more usual and typical sword,[10] like the shield given byThetis toAchilles in theIliad. Merlin warns the young Prince to beware of militaristic urges. The name "Meliadus," or "Moeliades," applied to Henry in Jonson's text, is an anagram forMiles a Deo, "soldier of God." The Arthurian theme was the Prince's idea rather than Jonson's, who in fact disparaged Arthurian romance,[11] and preferred James's suspicion of militarism to Henry's enthusiasm.
Jonson's text was first published in thefirst folio collection of Jonson's works in1616, and was thereafter included in editions of his works.