Citation

Goldring E. Engl. Lit. Renaiss. 2008; 38(2): 245-269.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1475-6757.2008.00123.x

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The authorship of the Kenilworth Letter, an account of the festivities staged at Kenilworth Castle during Queen Elizabeth I's 1575 progress, has long been a matter of debate, with some scholars suggesting that the work was a pseudonymous hoax foisted upon an unwitting Robert Langham. New findings, together with a re-examination of the existing evidence, suggest the following: first, that the Letter began life as a bona fide missive from Langham to his fellow mercer Humphrey Martin, which, though envisioned for circulation in manuscript, was almost certainly not – in the first instance at least – intended for publication; and second, that William Patten, to whom the Letter sometimes has been attributed in the past, may have been instrumental in the initial efforts to print the work, albeit without Langham's knowledge or permission. Also considered is the wider context of Elizabethan mercery, with particular reference to the close (but often overlooked) political, economic, and cultural ties between the court and the City of London. In addition, this article explores the extent to which the Letter offers a reliable guide to the people, places, and events it describes.