As part of the blog tour for her forthcoming book Sex and Sexuality in Tudor England, Carol McGrath has joined us today talk about Tudor dancing which had a significant role in courtship.
Kathryn Howard, King Henry VIII’s fifth queen, loved to dance and was so adept that Anne of Cleves asked her for dance lessons during the short period when Kathryn was a maid of honour at Anne’s court. Henry VIII, when he was younger, was also a lover of music and dance, a desirable skill at court. Kathryn Howard first caught his eye, it is said, while dancing for him, an occasion set up by her Uncle Thomas, the Earl of Norfolk. She had, as was revealed later, permitted her dancing master privileges with her person when she was barely into her teens and living with her grandmother, the earl’s mother.
Dancing was one way for the sexes to meet each other; not surprising then that it has always been so popular throughout history. Young men wishing to socialise with prospective wives could easily do so through dancing. It allowed them to show off their grace and good health and to get physically close to someone of the opposite sex in a way unpermitted otherwise.
Whether poor or wealthy, most people enjoyed music and dance. Dancing steps varied between upper and lower classes. Tudor court dances were complicated and stately. They possessed intricate steps favoured by the nobility and wealthy whereas in towns and villages medieval English country dances were simpler and great traditional favourites, similar to country dances today.
Court dances were performed as couples. The dance named the Volt was the most suggestive of courtly dances and allowed couples to closely embrace. Other popular dances with the wealthy were the Pavan, Gilliard, the Gavotte, and the Almain, or variations of these. Tudor courtiers travelled abroad and returned with new dances from Spain, Italy and France, and since such dances all had to be learned, dancing masters were popular and easily gained employment. There’s a rather amusing and delightful YouTube video with Danny Dyer showing this (and, as an aside, selecting his codpiece for his venture into the ways of the Tudor Court). Dance manuals emphasised the social role of dance. One contemporary dance master wrote that dancing was practised to reveal whether lovers were in good health and limb, after which they were permitted to kiss their mistresses in order that they may touch one another to ascertain ‘if they are shapely or omit an unpleasant ordour of bad meat.’
Dancing was condemned in certain circles as encouraging immorality because of the link between dance and love. Most courtiers could point to how the Bible approved dancing (King David danced before the Ark). Others said it upheld the intellectual humanist theory that the harmonious movements of dance echoed the movements of the stars. Men and women dancing together represented perfect harmony since men’s fiercer natures were tempered and balanced by a woman’s gentler virtues. Arbeau, the above dance master, claimed women were not permitted the same freedom as men and therefore their opportunities for exercise were limited. It was acceptable for women to partner another woman. Anne of Cleves, for instance, danced with Queen Kathryn Howard at the Christmas festivities of 1540 when King Henry retired early. Dancing was connected to courtship and good dancing illuminated good breeding, so dancing masters taught deportment and etiquette as well as the moves to the dances listed below.
The Pavane was a stately processional dance. Tudor couples paraded around the hall lightly touching fingers. Pavane means ‘peacock’ so the dance title derives from the sight of women’s gowns trailing over the floor like a peacock’s tail. The aim of the Pavane was to demonstrate dancing skills, but in addition to show off fine clothes to the best advantage. The dance was made up of a pattern of five steps. Another name used for the Pavane was Cinque Pas. It was popular for court masques.
The Galliard was a lively dance that originated in the fifteenth century. It followed and complimented The Pavane. A similar dance that originated in France was the Satarella.
The Volt was another suggestive dance when women were lifted high by a male partner.
The Gavotte was basically an amusing kissing game associated with love. It originated as a French folk dance from the south east. The kissing was later replaced by the presentation of flowers. The Gavotte was stately with a lifting step. It was danced in a line or circle to music in double time with little springs and steps borrowed from the Galliard.
Love was a theme that permeated Tudor dance. Many court dances mixed a variety of steps based on the theme of love. The ups and downs of a courtly love affair were represented by movements with complicated floor patterns that were committed to memory. A good performance meant an impressive courtier. A poor performance suggested just the opposite.
In order to ask a lady to dance a man was expected to remove his hat with his left hand and offer his right hand to lead her out to dance. The right side during the sixteenth century was the side of honour. It was also bad manners to wear gloves while dancing. Ladies were allowed to ask men to dance in a quiet manner and to make it apparent whom they were asking. Moreover it was bad manners for a man to decline an invitation.
Dancing was something everyone could enjoy no matter their social status. Different dances were accompanied by appropriate forms of music. New musical instruments were invented during the sixteenth century. This opened up new sounds and in turn dance adaptations or new dances to go with the music. Upper-class dancers might dance to the lute, the guitar or the sound of louder instruments like shawns and sackbuts, which were hired to play at weddings. The poor, on the other hand, favoured less expensive, much-loved traditional instruments such as bagpipes and hurdy gurdies, along with pipes and tabours.
The Tudor age positively echoed with beautifully romantic music, ballads, song and dance.
Sex and Sexuality in the Tudor Era
Publisher : Pen & Sword History (28 Feb. 2022)
Language : English
Paperback : 232 pages
ISBN-10 : 1526769182
ISBN-13 : 978-1526769183
The Tudor period has long gripped our imaginations. Because we have consumed so many costume dramas on TV and film, read so many histories, factual or romanticised, we think we know how this society operated. We know they ‘did’ romance but how did they do sex? In this affectionate, informative and fascinating look at sex and sexuality in Tudor times, author Carol McGrath peeks beneath the bedsheets of late fifteenth and early sixteenth-century England to offer a genuine understanding of the romantic and sexual habits of our Tudor ancestors.
Find out the truth about ‘swiving’, ‘bawds’, ‘shaking the sheets’ and ‘the deed of darkness'. Discover the infamous indiscretions and scandals, feast day rituals, the Southwark Stews, and even city streets whose names indicated their use for sexual pleasure. Explore Tudor fashion: the codpiece, slashed hose and doublets, women’s layered dressing with partlets, overgowns and stomachers laced tightly in place. What was the Church view on morality, witchcraft and the female body? On which days could married couples indulge in sex and why? How were same sex relationships perceived? How common was adultery? How did they deal with contraception and how did Tudors attempt to cure venereal disease? And how did people bend and ignore all these rules?
Carol McGrath is the author of the acclaimed She-Wolves Trilogy, which began with the hugely successful The Silken Rose and continues with the brand new The Damask Rose. Born in Northern Ireland, she fell in love with historical fiction at a young age, when exploring local castles, such as Carrickfergus, and nearby archeological digs- and discovering some ancient bones herself. While completing a degree in History, she became fascinated by the strong women who were silenced in record. Her first novel, The Handfasted Wife, was shortlisted for the Romantic Novelists’ Association Awards, and Mistress Cromwell was widely praised as a timely feminist retelling of Tudor court life. Her novels are known for their intricacy, depth of research and powerful stories.
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