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The popularity of faeries in literature has never been as great as it was during the Renaissance era, where they could be found in many texts of the time and were equally present in both high literature and popular literature. It is also an era where the representation of faeries underwent significant changes due to the works of playwrites' such as Shakespeare and poets such as Drayton. To fully comprehend the significance of these changes, however, we must first understand the initial representations of faeries in literature, prior to the Renaissance era.

It is impossible to put a date of creation to the belief in faeries. We cannot trace the origins of country ballads as very few oral tales were written down prior to the nineteenth century, and it is difficult to tell what parts may have changed from the Renaissance versions. We do know through the odd fragment, however, that a belief in faeries pre-dated the Renaissance era by several centuries. Giraldus Cambrensis, a medieval clergyman born in 1146 (Internet 1), wrote of the fairies that

These men were of the smallest stature, but very well proportioned in their make; they were all of a fair complexion, with luxuriant hair falling over their shoulders like that of women. They had horses and greyhounds adapted to their size. They neither ate flesh or fish, but lived on a milk diet, made up into messes with saffron. They never took an oath, for they detested nothing so much as lies. As often as they returned from our upper hemisphere, they had reprobated our ambition, infidelities and inconstancies; they had no form of public worship, being strict lovers and reverers, as it seemed, of truth. (Briggs 1959, P. 18)

The ideas expressed here show a knowledge of the popular faeries. Cambrensis' faeries are those who would pinch, cause mischief and reward good behaviour. It is not clear if he personally believed in the existence of faeries, but his writing shows that there was a public knowledge of faeries at the time.

Trooping faeries also make an appearance in the medieval times, and they can be found in many of the Romances. Keightley separates these Romances into three classes: 'those of Arthur and his Round table, of Charlemagne and his Paladins, and those of Amadis' (Keightley 1968 [1850], P. 30). The trooping faeries appeared in the stories of Arthur, particularly surrounding the story of Lancelot in which 'the author informs us that 'the damsel who carried Lancelot to the lake was a fay...' {Keightley 1968, [1850], P. 31). The Trooping faeries were shown in full splendour in the stories of Charlemagne, and though they are not mentioned by name in the tales of Amadis, the enchantresses within those Romances seem equal in power and nature to Dame du Lac, the fay who stole the young Lancelot.

So clearly, both the popular faerie traditions and trooping faerie traditions were known of in the Medieval times. If this is the case, then why is the Renaissance so important to the representation of faeries in literature?

Although faeries were (as shown) present in Medieval texts, they did not make a popular subject within the writings of the Medieval author. There is a general avoidance of the subject in most works, except the Romances, and a full account of faeries has not been found between Cambrensis'  writing and the sixteenth century (Briggs 1959, P. 18). It is likely that the reason for this avoidance was the fear of heresy in a time when the Catholic church had a dominant hold over the minds of the English people. This idea is backed up by the sudden explosion in faerie literature in the Renaissance times.

The Protestant Reformation, which happened in England during the reign of Henry VIII, is a complex historical issue in its own right. It was not a smooth transition as the various monarchs of the Renaissance era had differing opinions which swung England from Catholic to Protestant and back again, eventually settling on a shaky religious tolerance. What it did, however, is open up the country to new ways of thinking. It became accepted that the individual could have thoughts independent of the masses, and new inventions and discoveries could advance. The restrictions of an all encompassing religion were lifted, and with it went many of the older fears of heresy. For the first time faeries could be freely discussed by all. They immediately became a new source of ideas for the writers of the Renaissance era, and one who pounced on the idea early was Edmund Spenser who wrote one of the most famous Renaissance poems; The Faerie Queene.

The Faerie Queene itself is a poem that seems to have been created to mislead. It is steeped in heavy allegory, combining medieval forms with new forms; the religious motif with the new interest in the literature of Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece. It has puzzled scholars for years with its many different areas and its misleading references to various ideas. It is just as confusing for the 'faerie scholar', as despite its title there are very few references to the faeries.

The main faerie referenced within the poem is, as the title suggests, the faerie queen Gloriana, yet her presence is complicated by an allegorical image. In his A Letter of the Authors, Spenser explains 'In that Faery Queene I meane glory in my generall intention, but in my particular I conceiue the most excellent and glorious person of our soueraine the Queene...' (Spenser 1978 [1590], P. 16). Spenser's choice to use this image makes sense as 'The reign of Elizabeth I witnessed one of the most remarkable revivals of chivalry entering on the cult of the Virgin Queen. In a society split by the religious divisions of Catholic, Anglican and Puritan, the ritual of chivalry cut right across the religious barriers' (Strong 1973, P. 45). When this new revival of an interest in the chivalric past of England is combined with the freedom to make use of the faerie, it clearly points to the Medieval Romances as a starting point for Spenser's great allegory. 'Fairy-land, as described by the romancers, gave him a scene; the knights and dames with whom it was peopled, actors, and its court, its manners, and usages, a facility of transferring thither whatever real events might suit his design' (Keightley 1968 [1850], P. 55). Thus Spenser found reason to take the trooping faeries and use them within his poem.

We are introduced to Spenser's trooping faeries by Prince Arthur, who describes his meeting with Gloriana in Book I, Canto IX. She is described immediately as a beautiful creature:

Me seemed, by my side a royall Mayd
Her daintie limbes full softly down did lay:
So faire a creature yet saw neuer sunny day (Spenser 1978 [1590], P. 149).

Arthur instantly recognises Gloriana as a royal Lady. The reader is not told what gives this impression, but the authority of the statement leaves no doubt to her position. Her aura is one of power, similar to the Dame du Lac and other Medieval Fay. She is also extremely beautiful, a quality again found in the Medieval faeries. Furthermore, Arthur tells the reader that when he awoke he 'found her place deuoyd,/and nought but pressed gras, where she had lyen,' (Spenser 1978 [1590], P. 149). The indentation of the grass alongside his body hints of a creature that was around his height, and bore enough weight to flatten grass. This suggests that the Faerie Queen was the size of a human, per the traditions of the enchantresses of Medieval Romance.

Throughout the entirety of the poem, faeries are mentioned rarely. When they are, however, it is always the glorious Trooping Faerie who is present, configured to the traditional representations of Medieval Romances. Sir Walter Scott even claimed that 'the stealing of the Red Cross Knight while a child, is the only incident in the poem which approaches to the popular character of the Fairy' (Keightley 1968 [1850], P. 58). This is, however, incorrect. Whilst the kidnapping of children is a trait frequently found in tales of the Popular Faeries, it is also found in stories of the Trooping Faeries, for example the kidnapping of Lancelot mentioned earlier. Spenser's representation of faeries is purely of the Medieval Romance Fays. It harks back to old medieval chivalry, mixed with the odd moment of Renaissance advancement (for example the use of Ancient Greek mythology to explain the creation of faeries in Book II, Canto X). By the time Spenser was published, however, his ideas were old fashioned, having 'become a little bookish and faded' (Briggs 1959, P. 6). The Renaissance had encouraged a new class of yeoman writers. This growing class brought with them the ballads and folklore of the popular faeries. The medieval faeries exhibited in Spenser's poem were only the starting point of Renaissance faerie literature, a point which the yeoman writers would evolve dramatically over the course of the era. One such writer was Shakespeare.

By far the most famous writer of the Renaissance era, William Shakespeare was no exception to the popular trend of faeries at the time. They were mentioned frequently in the scripts of many of his plays. In King Henry IV Part I, King Henry speaks as if he believes faeries exist:

Of my young Harry. O, that it could be proved
That some night-tripping fairy had exchanged
In cradle clothes our children where they lay,
And called mine 'Percy', his 'Plantagenet'; (Shakespeare 2007 [1597], Act I Scene 1 Line 85)

and in Romeo and Juliet, Mercutio makes a speech in Act I which provides a detailed description of the faerie queen, in this play called Queen Mab (Shakespeare 2006 [1597], Act I Scene 4 Lines 53-94). His tone, however, is more sceptical than that of King Henry. As well as being part of the imagery of Shakespeare's scripts, faeries were also used as characters within his plays. The most famous of these is A Midsummer Night's Dream. Interestingly the faerie characters have damaged some of the critical reputation of the text, and it has for a long time been 'bedevilled by the assumption that a fairy-play was essentially a childish piece of magic gossamer' (Holland 2008, P. 21). Today it is still rated lower than his other 'faerie play' The Tempest, and is often used as the 'introductory' Shakespeare play for school children. When you look, however, at the complexity of the faeries within the play, it becomes a brilliant amalgamation of many different ideas and concepts. It is the play that made a huge step away from the trooping faeries of the Medieval Romances and Spenser's Faerie Queene.

Though we can never know the full reasons for Shakespeare's decision to write A Midsummer Night's Dream as he did, it is highly probable that the audience for his text was the key reason to deviate his faeries from the traditional representations found in literature up to this point. Where Spenser wrote his poem 'to fashion a gentleman or noble person' (Spenser 1978 [1590], P. 15), Shakespeare was writing for a much wider audience than the nobility and gentry who had the literacy to read poetry in the last decade of the 16th Century. A major part of the audience for his plays was in the lower and working classes of the time, and he had to attract them in order to keep his theatre company in business. Yet, he could not forget the nobility either, as they would commission plays. It is generally agreed that A Midsummer Night's Dream was originally commissioned as wedding entertainment (Watkins and Lemmon 1974, P. 11). A balance had to be created between the entertainment for the nobility and the entertainment for the lower classes. Thus within his faerie play there is a wonderful doubling of all faerie aspects. For the first time the personality traits of the trooping faeries, well known to the literate from the Medieval Romances, and the personality traits of the popular faeries, well known to the common man from oral tales, where blended into the one text.

The representation of faeries as royalty is, as we have seen, well known of the trooping faeries. True to this tradition, Shakespeare introduces his faeries with the wealth and splendour of a full human court. We are first introduced to the faeries through the meeting of a nameless faerie and Robin Goodfellow (the name 'Puck' found in most modern editions being a description of the type of faerie he is, and not his actual name). The very first speech made by the faerie is as follows:

And I serve the Fairy Queen
To dew her orbs upon the green.
The cowslips tall her pensioners be;
In their gold coats spots you see:
Those be rubies, fairy favours;
In those freckles live their savours.
I must go seek some dewdrops here
And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear
(Shakespeare 2008 [1594], Act 2, Scene 1, Lines 8-15)

As the Renaissance theatre was one without the backdrops modern theatre is accustomed to, scenes of spectacle and splendour had to be created from the words and not physical pictures behind the actors. The words of this faerie's speech immediately attach to the faerie court images of wealth and splendour, and it makes a bold allusion to the Elizabethan court, the magnificence of which thus lends itself to the faeries. There is an obvious image in the 'pensioners', which was the official title of Elizabeth I private bodyguards who, like the cowslips, wore brilliant coats to show their station. The passage also has images of physical wealth in the words 'gold', 'rubies' and 'pearl'. I personally believe that this also alludes to Elizabeth's court, as from the earliest portraits of her as Princess by William Scrots, to the final portraits of her as Queen she is pictured wearing pearls and gold jewellery (Internet 2). In most pictures, she also wears rubies. Shakespeare is alluding to the splendour of the real court to create a visual spectacle in the minds of his audience, which also rings true to the past images of the trooping faeries as Medieval enchantresses. Despite a boldly 'trooping' scene, however, Shakespeare avoids alienating the lower class audience by contrasting the human wealth with a beautiful description of nature in 'cowslips' and 'dewdrops'. The association with nature is a trend much more common to the popular faerie, rather than the trooping. He blends the two together to introduce the faeries both as wealthy royal characters, and powerful manipulators of nature.

This combined idea of the royal court of the trooping faeries and the powerful 'nature' based magic continues on in Act 2 Scene I, as the audience is first introduced to Oberon and Titania, the King and Queen of the faeries. In a direct contrast with the wealth and power created in the faerie's introduction, the entrance instructions to the faerie court merely read:

Enter Oberon the King of Fairies at one door, with his train, and Titania the Queen at another, with hers (Shakespeare 2008 [1594], Act 2, Scene 1, between lines 59 and 60)

The instructions are bland, with no power in the words which for a reader undoes the strength of the previous speech. A simple entrance of walking on stages does not seem to fit such grandeur as the audience has been led to expect. If the reader pauses, however, he will find that the entrance could easily be a grand spectacle. The Renaissance theatre company was usually small in number, and there are very few scenes in Shakespeare's other plays which call for a large number of actors on the stage at the one time. Yet in A Midsummer Nights Dream it is probable that this scene called for at least fourteen actors on the stage at the same time. Titania's train must be made up of at least six faeries: Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Mote, Mustardseed and the two fairies who are left nameless in the script. It is also possible that she may have had a larger train still, if the 'pensioners' mentioned earlier were present. Opposing her train is that of Oberon. The only fairy mentioned by name in Oberon's train is Robin Goodfellow, but it seems very unlikely that Oberon would be portrayed with fewer attendants than Titania. If he was, it would suggest he is less important and powerful, which goes against the fact that it is he who tricks Titania and wins their argument during the course of the play. This is, of course, an educated assumption for which there is little proof. If it was the case, however, it would also agree with Shakespeare's earlier portrayal of the splendour of the fairy court. The sight of at least fourteen actors on the stage would have been a visual spectacle for both the nobility and the common audience. It alludes to the grandeur of the Trooping faerie.

Where the visual put before the audience is an allusion to the trooping faeries, the language that the grand faerie court uses rings closer to the popular faeries, as Titania explains the affect their arguments are having on nature:

But with thy brawls thou hast disturbed our sport.
Therefore the winds, piping to us in vain,
As in revenge have sucked up from the sea
Contagious fogs which, falling in the land,
Hath every pelting river made so proud
That they have overborne their continents.
The ox hath therefore stretched his yoke in vain,
The ploughman lost his sweat, and the green corn
Hath rotted ere his youth attained a beard.
(Shakespeare 2008 [1594], Act 2, Scene I, Lines 87-95)

Here the drama surrounding the argument between the King and Queen is given power by Titania's explanation of how it has affected the nature around them. They have been the cause of great moments of natural destruction: rivers burst their banks, poisonous fogs from the sea, and the cause of failed harvests for the human population around them. Her long speech goes into great detail for many lines and the ideas in it of lost homes and failed harvests were the worst of the curses found in the folk-tales of the popular faeries. The reality of these problems would also have struck a familiar chord with the nobility and lower classes alike, putting across the very real and dangerous power of these faeries. Shakespeare is blending this association with nature into the wealth and nobility of the trooping faeries.

The pinnacle of this blend of trooping and popular faeries can be seen in the character of the faerie King. The name Oberon had already been established as a name for the King by its use in the Medieval Romance 'Huon de Bordeaux', where Oberon is the dwarf sized King of faeries (Keightley 1968 [1850], P. 30). The familiarity of the name firmly sets Oberon up as a trooping faerie, and we can make a safe assumption that the choice to use the old name has been deliberate. Shakespeare uses the name Oberon, but creates a completely new name for Titania. He does this despite the fact he is clearly aware of her more traditional name, 'Mab', which is used in Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare seems to use the name to back up his blend of trooping faeries and popular faeries.  Oberon is the ultimate trooping faerie within the play, but throughout it his actions are often more in tune with the characteristics of a popular faerie. In Act 2 he says:

I'll watch Titania when she is asleep,
And drop the liquor of it in her eyes.
The next thing then she waking looks upon-
Be it on lion, bear, or wolf, or bull,
On meddling monkey, or on busy ape-
She shall pursue it with the soul of love.
And ere I take this charm from off her sight-
As I can take it with another herb-
I'll make her render up her page to me.
(Shakespeare 2008 [1594], Act 2, Scene I, Lines 178-185)

Not only does Oberon rely on herbs to create his magic potions, again an association with nature and the popular faeries, but he plans and executes a trick on Titania to get his own desire, the changeling boy:

When I had at my pleasure taunted her,
And she in mild terms begged my patience,
I then did ask of her her changeling child,
Which straight she gave me, and her fairy sent
To bear him to my bower in fairyland.
And now I have the boy, I will undo
This hateful imperfection of her eyes.
(Shakespeare 2008 [1594], Act 4, Scene I, Lines 56-62)

Oberon describes how he takes pleasure in seeing Titania tormented, and how the trick is used to put her in her place. He then tells of his reward, which is only given when he is granted his desires. This is true to the nature of the popular faerie. He is not, however, completely the popular faerie. The blend can still be seen in his name and his reaction when he discovers that Robin Goodfellow has caused Demetrius to fall in love with Hermia and abandon Helena. He exclaims his horror clearly at the mistake with the phrase 'What hast though done?' (Shakespeare 2008 [1594], Act 3, Scene 2, Line 88), and orders Robin to correct the mistake. This is in direct contrast to Robin's response to the situation as he claims 'and so far I am glad it so did sort/as this their jangling I esteem a sport' (Shakespeare 2008 [1594], Act 3, Scene 2, Line 352-353). Robin Goodfellow takes pleasure from making a mockery of humans and shows maliciousness commonly attributed to the popular faeries. Where Oberon's name makes him the pinnacle of the trooping faerie,  Robin Goodfellow is known to be the same of the popular faeries, having even had his own broadside ballad devoted to his ways (Briggs 1959, P. 40). Yet, as Oberon portrays the blend through his popular characteristics, so does Robin portray it through his trooping characteristics. Against his common character, he does eventually restore the humans to the amicable state of the same man in love with the same woman. He also makes his famous speech at the end of the play, where he offers the watching audience a dream to proved the solution to the mystery of the faerie play they have watched. Robin Goodfellow does not, as his character originally suggested, leave humans in uncomfortable situation. Like his master Oberon, he too holds the blend between popular and trooping faeries.

The size of the faeries in A Midsummer Night's Dream is another area where the blend of trooping and popular faeries can be seen. It is a difficult area, as it is difficult to blend to physical points such as little and large. Shakespeare over comes this issue, however, by being wonderfully inconsistent. His faeries' 'size seems to shift unpredictably and fluidly' (Holland 2008, P. 23). As we have discussed previously, much is made of Titania's cowslip 'pensioners'. This seems to suggest a minuscule size of faerie. This is further added to by Robin's description of the common faerie's fear of the quarrelling royals:

But they do square, that all their elves for fear
Creep into acorn cups, and hide them there.
(Shakespeare 2008 [1594], Act 2, Scene I, Lines 30-31)

Once again the faeries are portrayed as tiny creatures, if they are able to crawl inside the tiny cup of an acorn. Yet, in stark disagreement to this idea, Titania tells bottom 'Sleep thou, and I will wind thee in my arms' (Shakespeare 2008 [1594], Act 4, Scene I Line 39). This suggests that she is the same height as Bottom, as Gloriana was the same height as Arthur in The Faerie Queene. Though this inconsistency could partially be reasoned out by the impossibility of having tiny faeries and giant humans on an Elizabethan stage at the same time, the fact still remains that Shakespeare has chosen to portray a smallness to the faeries which could have been easily avoided by maintaining the traditional height of the trooping faeries. Despite the difficulties it presents, Shakespeare has continued his blend of trooping and popular faeries into the physical stature of his faeries.

Furthermore, Shakespeare once again offers his blend in the arguments surrounding the changeling child from India. This is possibly the most misunderstood of the faerie features within A Midsummer Night's Dream. Much has been made by critics of the fact that Titania is raising the child out of a fondness for his deceased Mother:

'But she, being mortal, of that boy did die;
And for her sake do I rear up her boy;
And for her sake I will not part with him.
(Shakespeare 2008 [1594], Act 2, Scene I, Lines 135-137)

'For her sake' is the line that has caused much misinterpretation of this scene. It has been used to claim that Shakespeare removed 'every aspect of their wickedness and every sign of their devilish connection' (Latham 1930, P. 59). This idea, however, is totally dependant on interpreting Shakespeare's faeries entirely as the popular faeries. When the blend is taken into account, Titania's care is easily seen as comparable to Dame du Lac, who raised Lancelot as her own child and cared for him in a kind manner. For Titania, the Indian boy is a changeling of the trooping faerie, not the popular faerie. The blend is then offered by Shakespeare in Oberon's response to the boy:

Why should Titania cross her Oberon?
I do but beg a little changeling boy
To be my henchman. (Shakespeare 2008 [1594], Scene 2, Act I, Lines 119-121)

Where Titania's attachment is out of kindness and affection, Oberon's is purely selfish. He seeks control of the boy to be a page or squire thus indents to force the child to a life of servitude, a common life for the changelings of the popular faeries. Oberon even provides the perverted sexual undertones, found in the stories of popular faerie changelings, later on in the play where he has instructed Titania's faerie 'To bear him to my bower in fairyland' (Shakespeare 2008 [1594], Act 4, Scene I, line 60). Within the play, a 'bower' has already been defined as a bed by Titania's instruction to her faeries to 'lead him [Bottom] to my bower' (Shakespeare 2008 [1594], Act 3, Scene I, Line 187). The two totally different attitudes towards the changeling provide the blend between trooping and popular faeries that Shakespeare has created throughout the play. The changeling remains as dark and disturbing as ever, and is not wholly 'changed into an expression of friendship and delight, a cherished reminder of Titania's dead friend' ( Holland 2008, P. 24) as critics have tried to claim.

Many critics have further tried to claim that A Midsummer Night's Dream is a weak text because 'The characters are mostly puppets and scarcely any except Bottom has the least psychological interest for the reader' (Sidgwick 1908, P. 47). In my opinion this is an unfair assessment of the play, as many of the intriguing parts which make up the faerie characters are reliant on a knowledge of faerie traditions at the time, something the modern critic generally lacks but his audience would have appreciated. The balance between the qualities known by the nobility and gentry versus the characteristics known to the lower classes is almost perfectly equal, and I feel it shows perfectly the complexities of faerie lore in the Renaissance era. The existence of this balance also shows the heavily influence of the audience on the representation of faeries in Renaissance literature. In particular, when contrasted to the script to Ben Jonson's Oberon, the affect of audience on the faeries becomes even clearer.

Oberon, written by Ben Jonson is a script written for another form of Renaissance literature that has disappeared from modern audiences, the court masque. These grand productions were, in essence, a living example of the Renaissance belief in cosmic harmony. It 'could express philosophy, politics and morals through a unique fusion of music, painting, poetry and dance...' (Strong 1973, P. 17). The modern scholar, however, has only the script, plates of the scenery and sheets of music to grasp the extravagance of the masque, and often less than this. Yet, despite this lack of physical evidence, we know that faeries were a theme present from the very early creations of masques. Their existence can be traced to the early fêtes of Elizabeth I. More than a masque, these were day long celebrations throughout which many scenes were played on a similar theme, all devoted in praising and entertaining the Queen. In one report of a festival, 'One [speech] is spoken [directly to Elizabeth I] by the Damsel of the Queen of Fairies on behalf of an Enchanted Knight, who cannot tilt because 'his arms be locked for a thyme.' (Strong 1973, P. 45). As in The Faerie Queene, the faeries in these festivals are very much associated with chivalry and knights. Indeed in the same report, another speech introduces '...the Wandering Knights, who have been cast into melancholy because they were unable to attend the previous year's tournament' (Strong 1973, P. 45). This suggests a continuous dialogue within the texts, again evidence to show the prominence of faeries within these courtly celebrations.

The masque reached its peak in the late Renaissance/Early Baroque period after the death of Elizabeth I when England was under the rule of James I and his Queen Anne. They were both keen on the idea of a court masque and had an heavy influence on the art. It is thought that Queen Anne even helped to develop the 'antimasque' part of the masque pattern when she requested 'some Daunce, or shew, that might praecede hers, and have the place of a foyle, or false-Masque' (Lindley 1984, P. 2). During their reign, the majority of the masques became a collaboration between the stage designs of Inigo Jones and the scripts of Ben Jonson. Following on from the festival traditions  made prior to his work, and the trends for faerie literature around him, Ben Jonson wrote a script for the faerie masque Oberon, which was performed in 1611. His treatment of faeries was, however, very different from Shakespeare's earlier work. Ben Jonson illustrated a return to the trooping traditions for the most part, with small deferences. Like Shakespeare, however, his representation of faeries seems heavily influenced by his audience.

Like Spenser, Jonson's audience was entirely constructed of nobility. It was an audience that would have been familiar with Arthurian legends and the Medieval Romances. Following Spenser's lead, Jonson creates a faerie land that is associated with the Medieval Romances the nobility would have been aware of:

Melt earth to sea, sea flow to air,
And air fly into fire,
Whilst we in tunes to Arthur's chair
Bear Oberon's desire. (Jonson 1975 [1611], P. 110)

The faeries frequently reference Arthur in their songs without explanation, which shows the audiences was expected to have a familiarity with the Medieval Romances and immediately associates the faeries in Jonson's castle with the trooping faeries. Like Shakespeare, Jonson also uses the well known trooping faerie King's name Oberon, again a clear allusion to the Medieval Romances. Furthermore, Jonson creates a wealthy scene for them to inhabit, this time done through the stage mechanics of Jones and not through the words of the script. Firstly the castle is closed, described as 'a bright and glorious palace whose gates and walls were transparent' (Jonson 1975 [1611], P. 105). Then later it is described that

...the whole palace opened, and the nation of fays were discovered, some with instruments, some bearing lights, others singing; and within, afar off in perspective, the knights masquers sitting in their several sieges. At the further end of all, Oberon, in a chariot, which to a loud triumphant music began to move forward, drawn by two white bears... (Jonson 1975 [1611], P. 109-110)

The scene described, with transparent walls, lights and an entire 'nation of fays' is clearly comparable to Shakespeare's wealthy description of the faerie court. Jonson is clearly following the traditions of the trooping faeries, as those are suited to his audience. The court of the medieval 'fay' provides the luxurious spectacle required by the masque. The idea of faerie knights not only subscribes to the traditions the noble audience would have been aware of, but pleases the demands of etiquette, for the form of the masque 'was obliged to observe...all the complex rules of court protocol and decorum' (Orgel 1975, P. 5). The medieval court of the trooping faeries provided ideal characters for the masquers to dance in. The faerie knights and damsels allowed them to remain ladies and gentlemen, and not to act, as 'playing a role other than one's own – was out of the question' (Orgel 1975, P. 5). In creating his masque, the trooping faeries known to nobility provided Jonson, as they had done for Spenser, with an ideal starting point.

Jonson was, however, wrote his faerie masque some twenty years later than Spenser who's tribute to the medieval faerie was considered, at the time of circulation, old fashioned. The popular faeries had become well known, and like Shakespeare, Jonson had to find a way of reconciling them to his audience. Where Shakespeare's mixed audience encouraged a blend of trooping and popular, however, Jonson's audience of nobility seems to have encouraged a different treatment of the popular faeries. At first glance, it seems as if they have been removed entirely from the play. On closer examination, however, they are still present in the play, only hidden by a disguise. Jonson has separated them from the 'fays' by calling them Satyrs, a name taken straight from Greek mythology (Internet 3). By giving the popular faeries a more literary background, Jonson is bringing their heritage in line with the Medieval Fay. They still act, however, with the traits of the popular faeries:

4th Satyr. Will he [Oberon] give us pretty toys?
To beguile the girls withal?
3rd Satyr. And to make 'em quickly fall?...
4th Satyr. And to spite the coy nymphs' scorns,
Hang upon our stubbed horns
Garlands, ribands and fine posies -
3rd Satyr. Fresh as when the flower discloses?
1st Satyr. Yes, and stick our pricking ears
With the pearl that Tethys wears. (Jonson 1975 [1611], P. 104)

The determination of the Satyrs to drink and seduce girls is in keeping with the traits of the popular faeries, so often found in ballads to scare young girls. Throughout the masque the Satyrs are portrayed in this unruly fashion, providing the dissolution necessary in the 'antimasque'. To provide the resolution at the end, however, they submit to Oberon before being allowed entrance to the court and its festivities. The popular faeries are thus lower citizens than the medieval fay, and only by submitting to their noble superiors can they join the celebrations. To please his noble audience, Jonson appears to have stepped back from Shakespeare's blending of the trooping and popular faeries, and created a race of faeries with a class structure reminiscent of the Renaissance world.

Within the masque, the Satyrs are not the only creatures to submit. The entire faerie court submits to one audience member, and in this act is perhaps the greatest example of audience influence on the representation of faeries in Renaissance literature. In The Faerie Queene, Arthur is on a quest to find the Faerie Queene who, despite her obvious power, does not submit herself to him by intervening on his behalf. In A Midsummer Night's Dream, the faeries right the wrongs the make upon humans (with some protest on Robin Goodfellow's side), and willingly bless the bed of Thesus and Hippolyta, yet they are never called upon to do so. It is an act of kindness. In Jonson's masque, however, the faeries openly submit themselves to the British court and James I. In the first song, they sing:

Whilst we in tunes to Arthur's chair
Bear Oberon's desire,
Than which there nothing can be higher,
Save James, to whom it flies:
But he the wonder is of tongues, of ears, of eyes. (Jonson 1975 [1611], P. 110)

The last line is repeated at the end of the song, emphasising the greatness of the King. Immediately after, James' praises are sung again as a Sylvan explains the purpose of the faerie court's celebrations:

This is a night of greatness and of state,
Not to be mixed with light and skipping sport:
A night of homage to the British court,
And ceremony due to Arthur's chair,
From our bright master, Oberon the fair:
Who with these knights, attendants, here preserved
In fairyland, for good they have deserved
Of yond' high throne, are come of right to pay
Their annual vows; and all their glories lay
At feet, and tender to this only great
True majesty, restored in this seat;
To whose sole power and magic they do give
The honour of their being, that they live
Sustainted in form, fame and felicity
From rage of fortune of the fear to die. (Jonson 1975 [1611], P. 111)

This lengthy speech is full of compliments and is made in relatively simple language. The meaning cannot be lost; the faeries are to pay their respects to James who is deemed higher and more powerful than even the faerie king Oberon. This submission to a human king is entirely new in faerie literature, and seems to have been created purely because of the audience present. It could even be read as an essential diversion from faerie traditions, due the fact it was well known that James I believed in the existance of faeries. In his Daemonologie, he wrote:

That kinde of the Deuils coneursing in the earth, may be diuided in foure different kindes, whereby he affrayeth and troubleth the bodies of men...The first is, where spirites troubles some houses or solitarie places: The second, where spirites followes vpon cetraine persones, and at diuers houres troubles them: The Thirde, when they enter within them and possesse them: The fourth is these kinde of spirites that are called vulgarlie the Fayrie. (James I 1982 [1597], P. 39).

James' belief in magical creatures was almost obsessive, as this long expose on the nature of magic shows. He even blamed witches for the storms that delayed Queen Anne's arrival in Scotland. Between the monarch's belief in magic, and the need for the masque to praise the monarch it is hardly surprising that Jonson changed tradition to place faeries below the King in power. It was an absolute necessity given the nature of the audience. This masque clearly shows how much audience affected the representation of faeries in Renaissance literature.

The final author of the Renaissance era who wrote about faeries was Michael Drayton. Writing at the very end of the era, some would define him as a Jacobean poet rather than a Renaissance poet. His poem Nimphidea, however, sums up the dramatic changes in faerie representations over the course of the Renaissance era.

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