John Nichols's The Progresses of Queen Elizabeth (1788-1823) has long been an indispensable reference tool for scholars working on Elizabethan court and culture - despite the serious limitations of an antiquarian edition now two centuries old. This old-spelling edition of the early modern materials contained in Nichols's Progresses is edited to high and consistent standards, and based on a critical re-examination of printed and manuscript sources. It is structured by a narrative of the two sets of annual progresses undertaken by Queen Elizabeth I: the 'summer progresses,' when Elizabeth travelled throughout southern England and the Midlands, visiting cities as far afield as Bristol, Coventry, Norwich, and Southampton; and the 'winter progresses,' when Elizabeth moved between her residences in and around London, including Richmond, Hampton Court, and Whitehall. New editions of the major progress entertainments - Kenilworth, Woodstock, Elvetham, Cowdray, Ditchley, and Harefield - are set alongside accounts of civic receptions, tilts and Accession Day entertainments, and non-dramatic texts, many of which have not been published since Nichols, including verses delivered by Eton scholars before the Queen (1563); John Lesley's Oratio (1574); Gabriel Harvey's Gratulationum Valdinensium (1578); and the Oxford and Cambridge verses on the death of Queen Elizabeth (1603). The editions are supported by translations of all non-English material, full scholarly annotation, illustrations, and maps. This will make John Nichols's The Progresses and Public Processions of Queen Elizabeth: A New Edition of the Early Modern Sources the most comprehensive collection of early modern texts pertaining to the court and culture of Queen Elizabeth. Volume IV covers the years from 1596 to 1603.

The fourth volume in this annotated collection of texts relating to the 'progresses' of Queen Elizabeth I around England includes accounts of dramatic performances, orations, and poems, and a wealth of supplementary material dating from 1596 to 1603.