The Receyt of the Ladie Kateryne

This is the first critical edition of The Receyt of the Ladie Kateryne, a text which chronicles Katharine of Aragon's arrival in England, her triumphant entry into London (1501), her marriage to Prince Arthur, the tournament held in honour of their marriage, and Prince Arthur's funeral in Ludlow and Worcester a few months later. Divided into books and chapters, it casts its historical materials into the form of a medieval romance, occasionally borrowing cadences from Malory or Lord Berners to describe the actions of Katharine, Arthur, and Henry VII.

No other contemporary source preserves such a full and vivid account of social history, visual arts, and drama in England at the beginning of the sixteenth-century. With the single exception of the interlude, which is well documented by a number of other texts, the Receyt provides a complete picture of the state of English court drama at a crucial point in its development.