The Guilde of St. George at the Bristol Renaissance Faire seeks to recreate the splendor of the English court during the reign of Elizabeth Tudor while on her annual summer Progress. 

Elizabeth I, or "Good Queen Bess," set herself as the sun among a constellation of glittering courtiers, ladies, ambassadors and statesmen during the pinnacle of the English Renaissance.  She was Glorianna, Belphoebe, or Astraea to the artists and poets that flocked to her court and became the mirrors that reflected the majesty of the Queen to her subjects and to the rest of the world.

Despite the hardships and burdens of travel during the sixteenth century, Elizabeth believed in showing herself to her people, thus gaining the love and respect of her subjects.  These annual Progresses allowed the Queen to escape the heat and stench of the capitol and travel into the more wholesome environs of the counties around London.  Accompanying her rode an entourage of hundreds of people, an itinerant court maintaining the business of state while constantly removing themselves from house to house throughout the countryside.  With the dust and mud of the royal cavalcade came her ministers, clergy, ladies in waiting, maids of honor, ambassadors, musicians, Yeomen of the Guard, and a small army of servants and retainers to service and maintain the massive retinue.  These holidays were both therapeutic and political for the Queen, bringing the glory of her crown to the otherwise dull lives of her subjects.  In her wake the Queen and court left strengthened bonds to her regime, depleted larders, and often a small outbreak of the plague.

Our cast of volunteers gather from all over the Midwest to perform during the summer months in Kenosha, Wisconsin.  Rehearsals begin in January and months are spent in research, practice and preparation all for the eighteen days that this talented and diverse group of people gather together to bring a day in the life of the English court for the visitors at the faire.  Dances are painstakingly reconstructed from period dance manuals, costumes are meticulously reproduced from portraits, dialects and languages are mastered, and the cast learns to direct all these talents towards the entertainment and education of our audience.  We spealize in first-person interpretation, combining theatrical skills with historic research.  Many of the cast members (over 100) portray someone who lived and attended the Elizabethan court, while others portray fictional characters built on a framework of period study. 

Within our Guilde, you can get a taste of the perils and rewards of being at court for the people who shaped the history of the English nation.  Here you can watch as the Queen dances a lively measure with her latest suitor, gossip with the ladies over their needlework, or converse with an ambassador about the rigors of travel.  Witness the elaborate ceremony that accompanies even the simplest task of preparing the Queen's meals, speak with a sea captain about the New World, and laugh with the servants as they imitate their vain masters.

As Shakespeare wrote, "We trick into learning with a laugh."