[MR] Research Resource: the wardrobe warrants of Queen Elizabeth I

[Marie Stewart]

Drea Leed has finished her republishing of the inventories of Queen
Elizabeth. She just released her work on the wardrobe warrants of Queen
Elizabeth I, and has published them in their entirety, in a searchable
website!!

http://www.elizabethancostume.net/qewu.html

>From the MEDTC Discussion list --
"The Warrants: MS Egerton 2806 (1568-1588)

Few monarchs of the past are as iconographically powerful as Queen Elizabeth
I. Gloriana. The Virgin Queen. With her halo of red hair, ropes of jewelry
and parade of fabulous gowns, she is defined by her clothing and accessories
to a greater extent than almost any other English ruler.
A fascination with her costume, and the dress of her era, has remained
through the 18th century, Victorian times, and to this very day. Many books
have been written about it, including the comprehensive and detailed
masterwork by Janet Arnold, Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlock'd.

This book was based, in part, upon the extensive analysis of Queen
Elizabeth's wardrobe accounts, specifically upon the manuscript MS Egerton
2806 held by the British Library. Unfortunately, though Arnold had
transcribed the manuscript for her own use, it has never been
published...until now.

Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Uploaded holds the transcribed contents of MS
Egerton 2806: The complete record of what Queen Elizabeth's tailors made,
altered and bought between the years 1568 and 1588. I have spent the last
several years transcribing the manuscript from microfilm, proofing it, and
building a web database application that I have loaded it into, to
facilitate searching and browsing.

After much consideration, I have decided to make the manuscript freely
available online to other researchers, rather than publishing it in
hardbound form. My hope is to encourage and help others, across a wide range
of disciplines, who are doing research on the dress and material culture of
this area by making the text of these warrants available in easily
searchable and browsable form.

Areas of the site are still being improved. The glossary is being expanded
and fleshed out. Synonym searching, which makes it easier to search the
whimsically spelled accounts of 400 years ago, is being improved. In
addition I am currently working on transcribing additional wardrobe accounts
from 1588-1603, which I plan to add as they are finished."

Franchesca

Happy Hunting.
Bridgette