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Thomas Hudson, (died in or before 1605) was a musician and poet from the north of England present at the Scottish court of King James VI at the end of the 16th century. Both he and his brother Robert Hudson were members of the Castalian Band, a group of court poets and musicians headed by the King in the 1580s and 1590s.^[1]

Viola players

The Hudson brothers came to Scotland in the retinue of Lord Darnley. They joined the household of the infant James VI of Scotland at Stirling Castle as viola players and were listed in the household on 10 March 1568 as "Mekill [Big] Thomas Hudson, Robert Hudson, James Hudson, William Hudson", with their servant William Fowlartoun.^[2]

An inventory of Stirling Castle made in 1584 mentions a "violer's chamber beside the great hall", used as the musicians lodging when the court was at the castle.^[3]

Dance

A "dancing house" at Holyrood Palace was roofed in September 1579.^[4] William Hudson was paid to teach the king to dance in 1580 and was called the "master balladin".^[5]^[6]^[7] T His mother, Mary, Queen of Scots, had been taught dancing by a balladin, Jehan Paulle, in France in 1551.^[8] William Hudson received a New Year's Day gift of £200 Scots in January 1584.^[9]

Court masques

The "violeris" were bought costumes in December 1579 for a court masque, apparently the Navigatioun written by Alexander Montgomerie. It involved the torchlit entrance at Holyrood Palace of a narrator and his companions, a "Turk, the More, and the Egyptien".^[10] The musicians were bought "mask claithis" comprising red and yellow taffeta with swords and daggers.^[11] Montgomerie's prologue alludes to the Magi and Epiphany to flatter James VI as the Northern Star. James was also characterised as Solomon. The masque was followed by dancing.^[12]

Judith

In 1584 Thomas Hudson translated Judith by Guillaume de Salluste Du Bartas, an account of the biblical character written at the command of Jeanne III of Navarre.

James Hudson

James Hudson became involved in diplomacy and wrote many letters to the English diplomat George Nicholson.^[13]

References

^ Helena M. Shire, Song, Dance and Poetry of the Court of Scotland under James VI (Cambridge, 1969), pp. 71–75.
^ Steven J. Reid, The Early Life of James VI: A Long Apprenticeship, 1566–1585 (Edinburgh: John Donald, 2023), pp. 34, 79.
^ John G. Dunbar, Scottish Royal Palaces: The Architecture of the Royal Residences (Tuckwell: Historic Scotland, 1999), pp. 114–115.
^ Henry Paton, Accounts of the Masters of Work, 1 (Edinburgh: HMSO, 1957), p. 302.
^ Alexander Courtney, James VI, Britannic Prince: King of Scots and Elizabeth's Heir, 1566–1603 (Routledge, 2024), pp. 28, 49: HMC Mar & Kellie (London, 1904), p. 18-19: Charles Thorpe McInnes, Accounts of the Treasurer of Scotland: 1566-1574, vol. 12 (Edinburgh, 1970), p. 357.
^ Michael Pearce, 'Maskerye Claythis for James VI and Anna of Denmark', Medieval English Theatre, 43 (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2022), p. 112.
^ Register of the Privy Council: Addenda 1545–625, p. 357.
^ Alphonse de Ruble, La première jeunesse de Marie Stuart, (Paris, 1891), p. 281: Margaret M. McGowan, Dance in the Renaissance: European Fashion, French Obsession (Yale, 2008), p. 152: BnF, Côme Clausse, Comptes des Enfants de France pour l'année 1551, Fr. 11207 f. 79v
^ Kate McClune, 'New Year and the Giving of Advice at the Stewart Court', Steven J. Reid, Rethinking the Renaissance and Reformation in Scotland (Boydell, 2024), 206 fn.10.
^ David J. Parkinson, Alexander Montgomerie Poems, vol. 1 (Scottish Text Society Edinburgh, 2000), pp. 90, 97.
^ Charles Thorpe McInnes, Accounts of the Treasurer, 1574-1580, vol. 13 (Edinburgh, 1978), p. 301.
^ David J. Parkinson, Alexander Montgomerie Poems, vol. 2 (Scottish Text Society Edinburgh, 2000), pp. 72-4, 78.
^ Charles Thorpe McInnes, Accounts of the Treasurer of Scotland: 1574-1580, vol. 13 (Edinburgh, 1978), p. 87.

The Middle English Metrical Paraphrase of the Old Testament by Russell A. Peck
Historie of Judith, by Thomas Hudson, ed. James Craigie. Scottish Text Society, series 3, vol. 14. Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood and Sons, 1941. (A translation from Guillaume de Salluste Du Bartas, first published by Thomas Vatroullier, Edinburgh, 1584.)
See Thomas Hudson, found in Dictionary of National Biography, 1885–1900, Volume 28.