"'The Lovely Nymph of Stately Thames'. The Rhetoric of Water in the Creation of the Prince of Wales"

The Creation of the Prince of Wales in 1610 aroused and echoed questions of national identity, both in terms of internal union and external expansion, sensible matters since the accession of James I to the throne of England. Scholars have thoroughly analysed how the magnificent celebrations organised for the event investigated forms of nationhood, developing a dichotomy between the shaping of a language of union and some sort of Elizabethan revival. Among the many entertainments put together for the investment of Henry there were masques, progresses, tilts, pageants, sea battles and tournaments. Water is a persistent element in these ceremonies, as if mirroring English and British history and geography. The aim of this essay is to specifically investigate the rhetoric of rivers, waterways, and hydraulic engineering, both from the verbal and the visual perspective, and to interpret them as a political and symbolical instrument of power and national identity, perfectly integrated in the flow of a pre-existent literary tradition (Camden, Spenser and Shakespeare, to name a few) and, at the same time, in connection with continental forms of Renaissance festivals. Bearing in mind the different interests in Renaissance art and imagery Prince Henry manifested, and considering the extraordinary and multiple symbolism that can be ascribed to water, the texts that will be taken into consideration are S. Daniel's Tethy's Festival, A. Munday's London's Love to the Royal Prince Henry, and Chester's Pageant in Honour of Her Prince by R. Davies and R. Amerie.