Thomas Hudson, (died in or before 1605) was a musician and poet from the north of England present at the Scottish court of King James VI at the end of the 16th century. Both he and his brother Robert Hudson were members of the Castalian Band, a group of court poets and musicians headed by the King in the 1580s and 1590s.[1]
Viola players
The Hudson brothers came to Scotland in the retinue of Lord Darnley. They joined the household of the infant James VI of Scotland at Stirling Castle as viola players and were listed in the household on 10 March 1568 as "Mekill [Big] Thomas Hudson, Robert Hudson, James Hudson, William Hudson", with their servant William Fowlartoun.[2]
Dance
William Hudson was paid to teach the king to dance in 1580 and was called the "master balladin".[3][4] His mother, Mary, Queen of Scots, had been taught dancing by a balladin, Jehan Paulle, in France in 1551.[5] William Hudson received a New Year's Day gift of £200 Scots in January 1584.[6]
Court masques
The "violeris" were bought costumes in December 1579 for a court masque, apparently the Navigatioun written by Alexander Montgomerie. It involved the torchlit entrance at Holyrood Palace of a narrator and his companions, a "Turk, the More, and the Egyptien".[7] The musicians were bought "mask claithis" comprising red and yellow taffeta with swords and daggers.[8] Montgomerie's prologue alludes to the Magi and Epiphany to flatter James VI as the Northern Star. James was also characterised as Solomon. The masque was followed by dancing.[9]
Judith
In 1584 Thomas Hudson translated Judith by Guillaume de Salluste Du Bartas, an account of the biblical character written at the command of Jeanne III of Navarre.
James Hudson
James Hudson became involved in diplomacy and wrote many letters to the English diplomat George Nicholson.[10]
References
- The Middle English Metrical Paraphrase of the Old Testament by Russell A. Peck
- Historie of Judith, by Thomas Hudson, ed. James Craigie. Scottish Text Society, series 3, vol. 14. Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood and Sons, 1941. (A translation from Guillaume de Salluste Du Bartas, first published by Thomas Vatroullier, Edinburgh, 1584.)
- See Thomas Hudson, found in Dictionary of National Biography, 1885–1900, Volume 28.