Genealogy and Royal Representation: Edmund Brudenell’s Pedigree Roll for Elizabeth I (1558–60)

This essay is the first study of a ninety-foot-long pedigree roll made for Elizabeth I in 1558–60 and now preserved at Hatfield House. Conceived and supervised by Edmund Brudenell of Deene Park—a Catholic gentleman and an amateur antiquary and genealogist—the pedigree traces Elizabeth’s descent from the Creation, via Adam and Eve, to the mythical and historical British, Saxon, and Norman kings. It also features the genealogies of European royal houses, the descent of the most important English aristocratic families, numerous textual extracts containing historical information, and lavish heraldic decorations. In the present essay, Sara Trevisan explores the sources and content of the pedigree roll—an intersection between medieval and early modern traditions of royal genealogical discourse—and discusses its making, its social and political function, and the strategies it employed to construct a celebration of the queen’s right to rule.