A chamberer was a female attendant of an English queen regnant, queen consort, or princess. There were similar positions in aristocratic households.
Chamberers at court
At court, the position was similar to a male
groom of the privy chamber. The names of ten women who served
Elizabeth I as chamberers are known. They were daughters of landowning gentry families.[1] Duties could include some domestic labour, embroidery,[2] and administration, as well as attendance on the queen. The details of the distinctions between women of the chamber and hierarchy can be obscure.[3]
Other servants present in the royal lodging who carried out laundry work were of lower status than chamberers, and were called "lavenders".[4] Chamberers would embroider and launder some linen items, especially ruffs.[5] In Scotland,
Elizabeth Gibb, took on this role for
Anne of Denmark, the queen consort of
James VI and I, in 1590, making and looking after ruffs and other garments.[6]
Usually the queen was served by four chamberers at any one time. An Elizabethan chamberer like
Elizabeth Stafford would receive an annual fee of £20 or more,[7] and livery clothing. The chamberers of
Elizabeth I received their allowances on
Saint Andrew's Day.[8] Elizabeth intervened in the marriage plans of some chamberers, and was angry at the marriage of
Mary Scudamore, an indication of their status in her household.[9]
Some chamberers, like Joan Russell and Elizabeth Marbery, continued their service as gentlewomen of the privy chamber or bed chamber, enjoying a higher status and salary.[10] Other women present in the queen's privy chamber included the
Maids of Honour, who frequently received lavish gifts of clothing,[11] and gentlewomen in attendance who did not receive a fee or livery clothes. These gentlewomen do not appear in financial records but their names are noted in lists of those at state occasions, especially funerals.[12]
In the context of household service in 15th-century England, a "damsel" was of higher or almost equivalent status to a chamberer.[14] It has been suggested that the Latin terms, domicella camerae and domicella Reginae may distinguish a lady of the bedchamber or chamberer from a queen's maid of honour.
Alice Perrers, a goldsmith's widow, became a damoiselle or domicella in the household of
Philippa of Hainault, consort of
Edward III.[15]
In Scotland, the word "chamberer" was only rarely used in the records of the court. Two young women,
Marie MacLeod and Margaret Fame, were maidens in the chamber of
Mary, Queen of Scots.[16] An English commentator reported that Mary, Queen of Scots, was served by ladies, gentlewomen, and two "chamberers" when she was a prisoner at
Lochleven Castle in 1567.[17]
A document from 1592 concerning the household of Anne of Denmark mentions "damycelles" or damsels in her chamber. Their clothing allowance suggests they were of lower status than other attendants. Two of her servants in Scotland,
Margaret Hartsyde and the aristocratic
Anne Livingstone, came to her court in England after the
Union of Crowns as chamberers. Hartsyde's status as a domestic servant was emphasised by her defence lawyers when she was accused of stealing the
queen's jewels.[18]
Chamberers could enjoy substantial rewards, one Danish servant,
Dorothea Silking, was granted rights to run a coal mine in Somerset on the queen's jointure manor of
Corston.[19] Employment of chamberers from the country of origin provided continuity of service and a cultural bridge for queens consort in the early modern period.[20]
^W. J. Tighe, 'Country into court', Dale Hoak, Tudor Political Culture (Cambridge, 1995), p. 163.
^Pam Wright, 'A Change of Direction',
David Starkey, The English Court (London, 1987), pp. 150, 152: Janet Arnold, Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlock'd (Maney, 1988), p. 103.
^Willam J. Tighe, 'Country into court', Dale Hoak, Tudor Political Culture (Cambridge, 1995), p. 163.
^Maria Hayward, Dress at the Court of King Henry VIII (Maney, 2007), p. 305: Janet Arnold, Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlock'd (Maney, 1988), p. 101.
^Janet Arnold, Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlock'd (Maney, 1988), pp. 103-4.
^William Tighe, 'Familia reginae: the Privy Court', Susan Doran & Norman Jones,The Elizabethan World (Routledge, 2011), pp. 83-84.
^John Strype, Ecclesiastical Memorials, 3 (London, 1721), p. 36.
^J. L. Laynesmith, The Last Medieval Queens: English Queenship 1445-1503 (Oxford, 2004), p. 226.
^Emily Sarah Holt, John de Wycliffe (London, 1884), p. 53: Laura Tompkins, 'Alice Perrers and the Goldsmiths' Mistery: New Evidence Concerning the Identity of the Mistress of Edward III', The English Historical Review, 130:547 (December 2015), pp. 1361-1391
doi:
10.1093/ehr/cev319
^James Balfour Paul, Accounts of the Treasurer, 1559-1566 (Edinburgh, 1916), pp. 249, 349-350, 358-359.
^Maria Hayward, Great Wardrobe Accounts of Henry VII and Henry VIII (London Record Society, 2012), pp. 190, 237: Joseph Bain, Calendar of Documents relating to Scotland, 1357-1509, vol. 4 (Edinburgh, 1888), p. 346 no. 1724.
^Maria Hayward, Great Wardrobe Accounts of Henry VII and Henry VIII (London Record Society, 2012), p. 216.
^Maria Hayward, Great Wardrobe Accounts of Henry VII and Henry VIII (London Record Society, 2012), p. 216.
^Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the reign of Henry VIII, vol. 1 (London, England, 1920) no. 20, (funeral of Henry VII).
^Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the reign of Henry VIII, vol. 1 (London, England, 1920) no. 20, (funeral of Henry VII).
^Theresa Earenfight, 'A Precarious Household', Royal and Elite Households in Medieval and Early Modern Europe (Brill, 2018), p. 352.
^Theresa M. Earenfight, 'Raising infanta Catalina de Aragón to be Catherine Queen of England', Anuario de Estudios Medievales, 46/1 (2016), pp. 430-432: Michelle Beer, Queenship at the Renaissance Courts of Britain: Catherine of Aragon and Margaret Tudor (Woodbridge, 2018), p. 117.
^Maria Hayward, Dress at the Court of Henry VIII (Maney, 2007), 304–5.
^Maria Hayward, Dress at the Court of Henry VIII (Maney, 2007), 304.
^Maria Hayward, Great Wardrobe Accounts of Henry VII and Henry VIII (London Record Society, 2012), pp. 129, 209, 266.
^Maria Hayward, Great Wardrobe Accounts of Henry VII and Henry VIII (London Record Society, 2012), pp. 244, 266.
^Maria Hayward, Great Wardrobe Accounts of Henry VII and Henry VIII (London Record Society, 2012), p. 240, 266: Maria Hayward, Dress at the Court of Henry VIII (Maney, 2007), 304.
^Maria Hayward, Great Wardrobe Accounts of Henry VII and Henry VIII (London Record Society, 2012), pp. 260, 266.
^Maria Hayward, Great Wardrobe Accounts of Henry VII and Henry VIII (London Record Society, 2012), p. 309, 311.
^J. S. Brewer, Letters and Papers, 1 (London, 1862), p. 898 no. 5483.
^Anne Somerset, Ladies-in-waiting : from the Tudors to the present day (Castle Books, 2004), p. 39.
^Anne Somerset, Ladies-in-waiting : from the Tudors to the present day (Castle Books, 2004), p. 42.
^David Loades, Mary Tudor: A Life (Oxford, 1992), p. 355.
^Letters and Papers Henry VIII, vol. 10, no. 1187.
^Anne Somerset, Ladies-in-waiting : from the Tudors to the present day (Castle Books, 2004), p. 49.
^David Loades, Mary Tudor: A Life (Oxford, 1992), p. 355: John Nichols, The history and antiquities of the county of Leicester, 3:2 (London, 1804), p. 967.
^E. Estcourt, Procceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of London, vol. 3 (London, 1864), pp. 103-105.
^Steven May, Queen Elizabeth I: Selected Works (New York, 2004), p. 120.
^David Loades, Mary Tudor: A Life (Oxford, 1992), p. 355.
^David Loades, Reign of Mary Tudor (Routledge, 1979), p. 12.
^John Nichols, Progresses of Queen Elizabeth, 1 (London, 1823), p. 36.
^James Gairdner, Letters & Papers Henry VIII, vol. 10 (London, 1887), p. 495 no. 1187.
^Elizabeth Goldring, Faith Eales, Elizabeth Clarke, Jayne Elisabeth Archer, John Nichols's Progresses and Public Processions of Queen Elizabeth: 1579-1595, vol. 1 (Oxford, 2014), p. 248.
^James Gairdner, Letters & Papers Henry VIII, vol. 10 (London, 1887), p. 495 no. 1187.
^Janet Arnold, Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlock'd (Maney, 1988), p. 101: Elizabeth Goldring, Faith Eales, Elizabeth Clarke, Jayne Elisabeth Archer, John Nichols's Progresses and Public Processions of Queen Elizabeth: 1579-1595, vol. 3 (Oxford, 2014), p. 249.
^Susan Doran, Elizabeth I and Her Circle (Oxford, 2015), p. 200.
^Janet Arnold, Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlock'd (Maney, 1988), pp. 102-103.
^Jemma Field, Anna of Denmark: Material and Visual Culture of the Stuart Courts (Manchester, 2020), p. 133.
^Karen Britland, Drama at the Courts of Queen Henrietta Maria (Cambridge, 2006), pp. 55, 56.
^Karen Britland, Drama at the Courts of Queen Henrietta Maria (Cambridge, 2006), p. 56: Sara J. Wolfson, 'Female Bedchamber of Henrietta Maria',
Nadine Akkerman & Birgit Houben, The Politics of Female Households: Ladies-in-waiting across Early Modern Europe (Leiden: Brill, 2014), p. 313.