The Inner Temple
The Inner Temple Yearbook 2021–2022
‘REVELLING’ IN MY NEW ROLE FOR THE INNER TEMPLE By Master Alastair Hodge INTRODUCTION
REVELLING IN 2021 AND BEYOND
At the end of 2020, I was delighted and honoured to be appointed the Inner Temple’s Master of Revels.
Due to the impact of both Project Pegasus and the COVID-19 pandemic, it has not been an altogether easy task to arrange Revels events during 2021.
In order to fully appreciate the significance of this role, I decided that my first port of call should be the Inn’s Archivist, Celia Pilkington, to determine what actually went on in the Revels of years gone by.
HISTORICAL REVELLING AT THE INNER TEMPLE Written records of the Revels do not seem to have been kept, or else have been subsequently lost. However, some accounts remain. It is known that each Inn appointed ‘Princes of Misrule’ to lead the Revels at each institution. At the Inner Temple, this man was known as the ‘Prince of the Sophie’ (the Sophie being a term used to refer to the ruler of Persia at that time). On occasion, important public figures were selected. For example, the Inner Temple in 1561 selected the royal favourite Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, as the Prince of the Sophie, but also ‘Christmas Prince and Master of the Revels’. Dudley›s revels are said to have been particularly extravagant. In general, the Revels were regarded as a period of extravagant entertainment and wild partying, though the events generally followed a set, traditional sequence. Members of the Inn who refused to become involved in the events were fined as a punishment. The nature of the Revels often varied depending on the rank of the member. The young students were noted to have taken part in energetic and intimate dances with women, such as the galliard, and exuberant singing, whilst the more senior Benchers had more formal, traditional dances and sang psalms. Other entertainments included feasts and mock trials.
However, many members of the Inn have enjoyed the ‘Master H Meets…’ series of amusing and informative interviews, which were run via Zoom from March to July. Indeed, I am very grateful to the first group of interviewees, namely Greg Dorey (Sub-Treasurer), Master Rehana Azib, Sean Harkin (Head Gardener), Fern Schofield, Master Alison Foster and Master Tunde Okewale for agreeing to participate. For those of you who missed the live interviews, recordings of each session are still available to watch on the ‘Master H Meets Again’ section of the Inn’s website. On 23 November 2021, we shall be resurrecting ‘Inner Temple’s Got Talent’ in the Parliament Chamber, which was last performed in 2013. More details of how to get involved will be published in September 2021. Planning is also underway for a number of small events in the lead-up to Christmas 2021, as well as a major event in the Temple Church in mid-2022. If any member of the Inn, whether Bencher, Member of Hall, Pupil or Student, is interested in becoming involved in the Revels, please contact the Treasury Office in the first instance. Alastair Hodge Master of Revels For Master H Meets Again: innertemple.org.uk/masterhmeetsagain
The Revels attracted an audience of well-connected people of high rank. Of note, Queen Elizabeth I attended one Revels session at the Inner Temple where she noted the dancing ability of Christopher Hatton, whom she later appointed Lord Chancellor of England. That said, the quality of Revels seems to have declined in the 17th century and into the early 18th century. Indeed, the last are thought to have been those of the Inner Temple in 1733. However, the Revels were revived at the Inns in the mid20th century by Master Hubert Monroe (a Bencher of the Middle Temple) and have since provided seasonal entertainment in the form of sketches, songs and jokes. In more recent times, the Inner Temple enjoyed a very lucrative period of Revels under the guidance of Master Tom Shields, and my immediate predecessor, Master Tom Kinninmont, did much to build on that foundation. It is now my role to write a further chapter into the history books and maintain the revels as a key aspect of Inn life. 101
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