Queen and Country

Focussing on the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, this collection of essays investigates the relation between the Queen and her subjects, which shapes contemporary and future politics and is actively crucial in the debate upon the divine right of kings. The book explores the ways in which political power, intensely aware of the possibilities of literature, encourages, ostracizes or manipulates the production of writing. Through the act of writing, the Queen and her country communicate: the moulding of this act of communication is no minor task for the Queen, no minor privilege for her country. The book investigates the Queen's own writings, with particular attention to her poems and the speeches to the nation; the production of literary culture during her reign, including the presence of oppositional voices; and the treatment of her image and memory, as well as her political legacy, during the reign of James I and Charles I.

Autorentext

Alessandra Petrina is Associate Professor of English Literature at the Università di Padova, Italy. She has published The Kingis Quair (Padova, 1997), Cultural Politics in Fifteenth-century England. The Case of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester (Leiden, 2004), and Machiavelli in the British Isles. Two Early Modern Translations of the Prince (Farnham, 2009).

Inhalt

Contents: Alessandra Petrina: Introduction Jane Stevenson: The Female Monarch and her Subjects Monica Santini: Romance Imagery in Elizabethan Entertainments and Tournaments Donatella Montini: As many as are English, are my children and kinsfolks . Elizabeth I and the Rhetoric of the Country Paola Bottalla: Power Negotiations in the Poetry of Elizabeth I Davide del Bello: Elizabeth and the Rhetoric of Courtly Mystification Valerio de Scarpis: The Music of the Spheres, Cosmography, and the Cult of Elizabeth I: Thomas Campion and John Davies, Sympathetic Bystanders Peter Davidson: Opposing Elizabeth Conny Loder: Tyranny, Theatricality and Machiavelli Valentina Bricchi: Che più gran cosa può desiderar un prencipe da i suoi sugetti? : Monarchy and Power in John Floriös Works Sara Trevisan: Representations of Queen Elizabeth in the Private Poetry of Mildmay Fane, Second Earl of Westmorland (1601-1666) Merio Scattola: A Challenge in Political Theology. James I and Early English Puritans on the Sources and Limits of Secular Authority.