{{short description, Dances made for festivals Old measures, or simply measures, were a group of dances performed at ceremonial and festive occasions in Early Modern Britain. Some of the dances included in the measures were the pavane and the

almain An ''allemande'' (''allemanda'', ''almain(e)'', or ''alman(d)'', French: "German (dance)") is a Renaissance and Baroque dance, and one of the most common instrumental dance styles in Baroque music, with examples by Couperin, Purcell, Bach an ...

, and dances such as the galliard and the

courante The ''courante'', ''corrente'', ''coranto'' and ''corant'' are some of the names given to a family of triple metre dances from the late Renaissance and the Baroque era. In a Baroque dance suite an Italian or French courante is typically paired ...

are also mentioned as accompanying or following the traditional measures. The measures are associated with the Inns of Court, the English law schools, as most of the extant sources have been found among the papers of lawyers and law students at the Inns. They are also mentioned in Shakespeare plays such as ''

As You Like It ''As You Like It'' is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 and first published in the First Folio in 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 has b ...

'' (Act V, scene 4), ''

Richard II Richard II (6 January 1367 – ), also known as Richard of Bordeaux, was King of England from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. He was the son of Edward the Black Prince, Prince of Wales, and Joan, Countess of Kent. Richard's father died ...

'' (Act III, scene 4), ''

Richard III Richard III (2 October 145222 August 1485) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. His defeat and death at the Battl ...

'' (Act I, scene 1) and '' Much Ado About Nothing'' (Act II, Scene 1). One must be wary when one encounters 16th- and 17th-century references to measure or measures, as a measure could refer to a

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

, or generically to dancing, as well as to this specific group of dances.

Dances

While sources differ in some of the details, and not all contain all the dances, the vast majority describe the following dances in the following order (alman, almaine, alleymayne, etc. refer to the same dance type): * Quadran Pavan * Turkeylone * Earl of Essex (or Earl of Essex Measure) * Tinternell * Old Alman * Queen's Almaine * Madam Sosilia Alman (or Madam Cecilia Alman) * Black Almaine

Manuscript sources

Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It derives its name from its founder, Sir Thomas Bodley. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second- ...

, MS. Rawl. Poet. 108 (c. 1570) *

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

, Harley MS 367 * Bodleian Library, MS. Douce 280 (c. 1606) * Bodleian Library, MS. Rawl. D. 864 (c. 1630) *

Inner Temple Library The Inner Temple Library is a private law library in London, England, serving barristers, judges, and students on the Bar Professional Training Course. Its parent body is the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, one of the four Inns of Court. ...

, Miscellanea Vol. XXVII (mid to late 17th century) *

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music is a music school, conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the Undergraduate education, undergraduate to the Doctorate, doctoral level in a ...

, Ms. 1119 (mid to late 17th century)

Bibliography

Research on the measures has advanced significantly in the last two decades, and readers are advised to consult the most recent works. * Brissenden, Alan. ''Shakespeare and the Dance''. New Jersey: Humanities Press, 1981. *Cunningham, James. ''Dancing in the Inns of Court''. London: Jordan & Sons, Ltd., 1965. (Wilson’s edition has replaced Cunningham’s transcriptions of the dances.) * Durham, Peter and Janelle. "The Old Measures - 1570 - 1675." 2001. Companion CD by Jouissance: Dances from the Inns of Court, London 1570 - 1675." * Mullally, Robert. “Measure as a Choreographic Term in the Stuart Masque.” ''Dance Research'' 16.1 (Summer 1998): 67-73. * Mullally, Robert. “More about the measures.” ''Early Music'' 22.3 (August 1994): 417-438. * Payne, Ian. ''The Almain in Britain, c. 1549-c. 1675: A Dance Manual from Manuscript Sources''. Hampshire, UK: Ashgate Publishing Ltd., 2003. * Stokes, James, and Ingrid Brainard. “'The olde Measures' in the West Country: John Willoughby's manuscript.” ''Records of Early English Drama Newsletter'' 17.2 (1992): 1-10. * Ward, John. “The olde Measures.” ''Records of Early Drama Newsletter'' 18.1 (1993): 2-21. * Welsford, Enid. ''The Court Masque: A Study in the Relationship between Poetry & The Revels''. Cambridge: Russell & Russell Inc., 1962. * Wienpahl, Robert. ''Music at the Inns of Court: During the reigns of Elizabeth, James, and Charles''. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University Microfilms International, 1979. * Wilson, David R. “Dancing in the Inns of Court.” ''Historical Dance'' 2.5 (1986-1987): 3-16. * Wilson, David R. “The Old Measures and the Inns of Court: a note.” ''Historical Dance'' 3.3 (1994): 24.

External links

Katherine's Renaissance Dance Pages: The Old Measures

Renaissance dance William Shakespeare Suites (music) Choreography Masques Rhythm and meter