*Kenilworth Castle

*Kenilworth Castle. Castle near the central England village of Kenilworth in Warwickshire. First built in the twelfth century, this castle was given by Queen Elizabeth to Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester, and was the scene of his festivities for her in the summer of 1575. Against this background, Scott’s novel presents an intimate portrait of Elizabeth’s personality and her relationships with Sir Walter Raleigh, the earl of Sussex, and other historical figures.

Although Scott takes liberties with historical details about Dudley’s guest list, he is accurate about his architectural and topographical details. He uses the actual castle’s floor plan in his description of the seven acres at Kenilworth and bases his descriptions of its interior on an inventory list from Dudley’s time of the castle’s tableware, furniture, and hangings. The castle’s pageantry becomes one of the vehicles in the book for Scott to present a complete and vibrant picture of Elizabethan society that includes traveling entertainers, court figures, country bumpkins, servants, and others.

When he was asked to write a book on Elizabeth—after his 1820 novel about Scotland’s Queen Mary Stuart, The Abbot—Scott rejected the title of “Armada” suggested by his publisher because such a novel would have required a focus on Elizabeth’s political prowess in the English defeat of the attempted Spanish invasion in 1588. As in his other novels, Scott prefers not to show history in the making during a pivotal historical event, but to present historical figures in the normal course of everyday life. He chooses, for this novel, a setting in which the story allows him to be free to focus on the grandeur of Elizabeth’s court and to convey the atmosphere of that age.

*Cumnor-Place

*Cumnor-Place. Also called Cumnor Hall, the home of Dudley and his wife, Amy Robsart, in the village of Cumnor, in south-central England’s Oxfordshire. Formerly a monastery, this country home has a small area that has been refurbished in contemporary Elizabethan style for the earl and his secret bride. As the setting in which Amy is first introduced and the scene of her murder at the very end, Cumnor-Place is the stage for the beginning and the end of Scott’s narrative circle concerning his plot about Amy’s fate. The gloomy darkness of this place in general reflects Leicester’s desire to hide the marriage (for political reasons) and foreshadows the treachery of Amy’s murder.

Scott considered calling the novel “Cumnor Hall” because its central plot focuses on the plight of Amy Robsart and because that name is also the title of a tragic ballad about the mystery surrounding Amy’s death. Although Cumnor Hall is a main setting in the book, it is not a place well suited to presenting the whole social strata of England, so Scott eventually chose the more appropriate title “Kenilworth.”

Black Bear Inn

Black Bear Inn. Public house in Cumnor that functions to launch the story by introducing Michael Lambourne and Edmund Tressilian. Their simultaneous arrivals at Cumnor initiate the action concerning Amy’s future. Each time the Black Bear Inn reappears, the town gossip at this location becomes Scott’s narrative vehicle to convey information not only about a host of other characters but about the history, culture and customs of the time.

*Greenwich Castle

*Greenwich Castle (GREH-nich). Queen Elizabeth’s favorite royal residence in southeast London on the River Thames. In choosing to have Elizabeth appear first in this place where she holds her council meetings, Scott emphasizes her royal function as queen. Scott’s depiction of Elizabeth as a woman, which is his focus later in the scenes at Kenilworth, is subordinated here to his presentation of her as the royal monarch.

Lidcote Hall

Lidcote Hall. Home of Sir Hugh Robsart, Amy’s father, near Lidcote in Devonshire, in southwest England. Briefly depicted, it has a simple and honorable atmosphere that contrasts with the court atmosphere of jealousy and intrigue elsewhere in the story.