Between Courts: Female Masquers and Anglo-Spanish Diplomacy, 1603-5

The peace negotiations between England and Spain began in 1603 and were concluded in 1605; they began with a masque, Queen Anna´s first, and concluded, in Valladolid, with another masque. Spain´s ambassador had compiled a text of The Vision of the Twelve Goddesses and sent back to Philip III. The Spanish masque, like its English counterpart, was an example of female masquing, and it seems was deliberately designed to echo the Hampton Court masque, thus offering a reciprocal symmetry for the peace diplomacy.