Rule #7: Get on the gift list

The queen exchanged gifts with her inner circle of high-ranking men and women, advisors, and personal servants in an elaborate, invitation-only New Year’s Day ceremony. Each gift was presented by an agent of the gift giver and recorded in order of social rank on a long scroll signed by Elizabeth at the top and bottom of each side. Participants in the exchange put great consideration into their gifts and anxiously awaited news of the queen’s reaction to them.

A who’s who of power players

Of the 25 surviving New Year’s Gift Rolls from Queen Elizabeth’s 45-year reign, five are at the Folger. Each roll is between 12 and 15 feet long, and records hundreds of gifts, ranging from cash, jewelry, and clothing to books, gloves, and candied treats. This roll from 1579 lists one of the red velvet books that Sir Gilbert Dethick gifted the queen (in the adjoining case: bottom row, second volume from the right).

In the accompanying viewer, you can see the impressive length of this roll, and zoom in to see if you can find any names you recognize.

New Year’s gift roll of Elizabeth I, 1 January 1579 | Folger Z.d.15
View in Digital Collections

For a guided tour of the queen’s gift roll, see the video below.

The gift that keeps on giving

Every New Year’s Day, Sir Gilbert Dethick gave the queen a manuscript bound in crimson velvet with a braided-gold border. Each book included the coats of arms of the Knights of the Garter from a particular reign. These books were humble compared to the gifts from Elizabeth’s closest and more wealthy advisors, but they demonstrated Dethick’s talents as Garter King of Arms, responsible for the ceremonial aspects of the Order of the Garter (Rule 2).

The manuscript described in the New Year’s Gift Roll for 1579 is on the bottom row, second volume from the right.