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 to the Industrial

Revolution as the genesis of the contemporary age

of branding, arguing that the businesses of the era

“manufactured” new consumer tastes right along

with the mass-produced goods that signaled the

onset of our modern world. In fact, the enormous

increases in productivity that began in the late

eighteenth century were possible only after the

revolutionary transformation in consumer tastes,

desires, and aspirations that occurred during the

rule of Queen Elizabeth I, which lasted from 1558

to 1603. Once that shift had taken root, the societal

transformation began in earnest.

Fruits

oF the

elizabethan

era



02





Queen Elizabeth I was a true renaissance woman,

agile in political dealings, savvy in economic

matters, and well versed in the arts. She spoke

several languages, and she led her country through

a time of peace that had been unparalleled until

her reign. She had ascended to the throne after

a tumultuous history: Her mother, Anne Boleyn,

was executed after being convicted of indelity to

Elizabeth’s father, King Henry VIII, leaving the

child motherless from the age of two and a half. Her

half-sister, Mary, had her imprisoned in the Tower

of London.

Yet, from these unusual circumstances emerged

a monarch whose wisdom and political acumen

allowed her to preserve her power and expand the

scope of her country’s interests. The queen faced

challenges to her rule both from inside the coun-

try—Mary, Queen of Scots (not her sister, who had

died), was seen as a threat—and outside of it, so she

developed a strategy that would keep the members

of the nobility—and their capital—away from mili-

tary intrigues. Elizabeth turned her court into a

parade and theatrical spectacle.

Not only were the noble classes required to main-

tain temporary residences in London in order to

attend the lavish rituals of the court, the dictates

of sixteenth-century hospitality required them to

host as extravagant parties at their country estates

as well. A reputation for generosity was a sign of

Queen Elizabeth I

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social distinction, an idea which Elizabeth master-

fully exploited. In fact, the most lavish of all feasts

at that time was in honor of Elizabeth herself: The

annual Accession Day, celebrating the queen’s

ascension to the throne, was a feast of such epic

scale that it was forever immortalized in Edmund

Spenser’s poem, “The Faerie Queene.”

Her predecessors in the monarchy had controlled

the elite by way of economics, and in that sense,

Queen Elizabeth’s system was neither new nor

revolutionary. Yet, by transforming the framework

for what and how the nobility would spend their

wealth, she dramatically altered the system of

consumption.



The East India Company was charted by Eliza-

beth in 1600, her forty-second year as queen. The

company brought colorful fabrics, calicoes, spices,

and other exotic items from the Indian subconti-

nent to English shores. These items quickly found

a receptive audience in British noble society and

began to transform not only the tastes and buying

habits of the nobles but also courtly society as well.

These treasures had an exotic appeal. Back at Her

Majesty’s court, the attending nobility impressed

and wooed the queen with these delights.

Up to this time, matters of patina and family heir-

loom were the key indicators for conveying a family’s

social status. Patina referred to the wear on a

family heirloom—the oxidation on a gold or copper

piece, for example—showing how long a family had

been in high standing by communicating how long

they had been in possession of these particular

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