‘A Paper Crown: The Titles and Seals of Cecily Duchess of York’ (original) (raw)
Related papers
From Birth Til Death: Royal Ceremony in the Life of Elizabeth of York, Queen of England
Throughout her life, both as princess and queen of England, Elizabeth of York (1466-1503) abided by the prescriptive texts of the English royal house. Margaret Beaufort, the mother of Henry VII and Elizabeth’s mother-in-law, wrote several specific, highly detailed essays concerning the ordinance, conduct, and apparel of women, but hers were merely the latest in a series of documents going back to the thirteenth century. These texts dictated protocol during various ceremonies and other elite activities for both men and women. The royal prescriptive texts universally expressed the need for differentiation among the king, the royal house, and the ranks of nobility. Conspicuous consumption was required, most of all from the king and queen. Using the texts, narrative accounts, and financial information, this paper will examine key events in the life of Elizabeth of York and the ceremonial opulence that she would have been required to display as an elite and as a female. These activities expressed both her status and the power she wielded by virtue of that status. Notably, Henry VII chose to venerate Elizabeth’s death in childbirth at her exequies. By dying in a manner that could not be experienced by any king or prince, Elizabeth of York’s gender became a celebrated element in her procession and funeral.
Patronage, Culture and Power: The Early Cecils
The Sixteenth Century Journal, 2004
The Cecils were the dominant noble family in Elizabethan and Jacobean England. William, Lord Burghley rose to power and great wealth under Elizabeth I, then used his extensive patronage and exceptional breadth of interests to advance the Cecils' remarkable political and cultural pre-eminence. This wide-ranging collection of essays draws on architectural and art history, court studies, English literature, garden history, musicology, economic history, and women's studies. The extensive building programme of William, Lord Burghley and his son Robert, Earl of Salisbury was the most spectacular of the 16th and early 17th centuries, and much of it, particularly Burghley House and Hatfield House, still survives. Their encouragement of new processes of manufacturing was, like their splendid houses, innovative, forward-looking and highly influential. The Cecils were also innovative patrons of the arts. They were pioneers in the vogue for collecting paintings; patrons of musicians such as John Dowland and writers such as Ben Jonson; and introduced new styles of Renaissance design into gardens and interiors. The Cecil women, too, were influential in both political and cultural spheres. The notable character of Mildred, Lord Burghley's wife, and the marriage alliances and female courtiership of the Cecil daughters are some of the themes explored in this refreshingly inter-disciplinary collection of essays.
2007
In a clever play on words, Louis Montrose’s important new book on Elizabeth I suggests a study with Elizabeth both as the focus and as a topic of her people’s discourse. The title also suggests the importance of Elizabeth in understanding early modern England; this book is not itself simply about Elizabeth but about how this queen was created, understood, and negotiated by her subjects, male and female. As Montrose points out, all of Elizabeth’s subjects produced and reproduced their queen in a variety of ways throughout their daily practices. And throughout her reign, the queen’s image was manipulated by her foreign enemies as well. ... This is a very rich book by an author who has spent much of his professional career studying Elizabeth and who has an encyclopedic knowledge of texts about her. It is full of very sophisticated close readings and well repays the attention it demands. The Subject of Elizabeth will be read and discussed for many years to come
Imperial Dreams? Margaret Cavendish and the Cult of Elizabeth
Margaret Cavendish appropriated images of Elizabeth I in order to show her support for an imperialist England and to question the status Restoration society awarded to women. During the seventeenth century hagiographic representations of Elizabeth I were increasingly used to criticise the policies and personalities of the Stuart monarchs. William Cavendish, for example, harked back to England’s glorious past under Elizabeth in order to inculcate in Charles II’s government expansionist and imperialist policies. Margaret Cavendish in The Blazing World demonstrates similar concerns but Cavendish’s work is also interested in using representations of Elizabeth I as a way of exploring both the disenfranchisement of women and, I argue, the possibility of female empowerment.