And We are DONE!

I hope everyone is finished or near completion of the paper at this point. For this blog entry, I thought I would simply reflect on the semester and share my thoughts about our class. Not only was the small class setting something new and enjoyable for me, but also, the content was something that I was unusually interested in. While literature classes before this often challenged me, Brit Ren emphasized an even greater importance on the connections that we find between literature, speeches, critical reviews, art, and research, which we often to do not have the opportunity to do! Though the research at times was grueling, I found that it gave me a knowledge that expanded the complete topic which I investigated, making me a feel a small expert in a vast historical world. The majority of the favorite texts that I read came from the Elizabeth collection! I think I am going to ACTUALLY read it past this class because I found it so intriguing. I hope that heading into future literature and writing classes, we can all apply the connection emphasis and the dreaded enthymeme prep :) We made it and I'm so glad it was with this crowd of people! You rock!

--Alexa

Merry Christmas EL371!

In light of my recent posts being more culturally interesting than helpful in research, I thought I'd post one last thing for fun. A part of me is a little sad we did not have a final class meeting because I enjoyed everyone so much. So here's a hearty Renaissance Christmas wish:

On the Morning of Christ's Nativity
This is the month, and this the happy morn
Wherein the Son of Heav'n's eternal King,
Of wedded Maid, and Virgin Mother born,
Our great redemption from above did bring;
For so the holy sages once did sing,
That he our deadly forfeit should release,
And with his Father work us a perpetual peace.

- John Donne "Nativity"

Merry Christmas everyone, thanks for a great semester!

for Kindle: women's oppression

In response to the SOS looking for women's oppression pieces, I thought of something. I'm not sure exactly how it will fit into your argument, Kindle, but I think you could be able to use Emilia Lanyer's poem, "Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum." You'll have to work to get it in, but I think you could use it as an example of how some women were vocal about the oppression. You could provide a feminist viewpoint of the Fall through this piece as Lanyer does, as an objection to the way the Church had portrayed women as the downfall of man. Just a thought. Hope this helps!

I've been Thinking about Pants...

I've been doing some serious research on the equality of women during the Renaissance. I've learned about the "roaring girls", the anonymous women writers, crazy theatrical heroines that changed the perspective of a woman's ability to--- well anyway I've been wondering about pants. It was a really big deal in the US when suddenly the 50's housewife was able to throw on a pair of pant-like things, and I want to know how that happened for women in England...and when. But FIRST I want to know about the silly leggings King James is wearing in this picture. In order to gain perspective on my paper I decided to look up some fun pictures of ole Liz and Jimmy. Then I digressed my research. According to a costume shop in London that specializes in British Renaissance attire, "One style of English Renaissance dress for the wealthy or noble man began with a plain or plaited linen shirt accented at the neck by a small ruffle or ruff. At the wrist, the sleeve was adorned with a similar ruff. Over this was worn a close-fitting square cut vest. Atop the vest, a tunic or doublet, that was slashed and reached nearly to the knee. The V-shaped opening of the tunic revealed the shirt and vest beneath. An example of this style can still be seen today in the uniforms of the "beef-eater" guards at the Tower of London" (Howard). After reading this long description of the layers it takes to dress just a male aristocrat during the Renaissance, I had a revelation. Now I know why they survived in those cold, dank castles without electric heating- LAYERS!!! Howard (costuming specialist) goes on to describe the "hose of finest wool" that went under the boots and the little dress you see James wearing in the top right picture. Though this does not even begin to answer my question about women wearing pants, it helps me to understand the necessity for the goofy layers they wore back then. With fabric and decoration proving your status, it makes perfect, logical sense for the British aristocrats to over-do their wardrobe in order to stay warm and look real good.

A James I Speech--KINDLE SEE THIS!!!

I ran across James' speech, "James I on the Powers of the Monarch" in my research and (sorry this is so specific to Kindle) it has some great quotes for you, Kindle! It might challenge your argument a little bit, but James says that he is "compared to the fathers of families, for a king is truly 'parens patriae', the politic father of his people." I found this quote interesting in light of the section of your paper that deals with the dynamics of the Church vs. the father being head of the home and source of the woman's salvation. This quote brings in another dimension of headship that isn't directly addressed in your paper, which is fine. I just thought you might find this interesting.

I hope this maybe helped some others of you too! Happy studying/writing/maybe you're already done. So Merry Christmas!

Mary Sidney Rocking that Translation.

Hello to all during finals! Hope they are going well. I thought I would just talk a little bit about the women that I am using in my paper, because they have a connection point that works to prove the power of women. As discussed in the Norton, Mary Sidney (Herbert) was a translator in the beginning of her literary career before writing works that dealt more with the theme of Queen Elizabeth. Sidney’s entertainment of Elizabeth becomes one of the distinguishing literary periods in which she moves away from her pattern of translations, though equally valuable for her as an author. Elizabethans understood translations as not only a “display [of] linguistic and technical skills but also for the indirect expression of personal and political concerns” (Lipking 994). As a translator of Robert Garnier’s French tragedy Antonius and Petrach’s Triumph of Death, Sidney was able to evolve the works of male figures in appropriate ways for the female gender, proving her value and the power she had to interpret their works.I though that this was useful in proving the a observable role that females proved moving into the Jacobean era. The other women that connect directly are Amelia Lanyer and Mary wroth, both of whom I have mentioned before. Check them out (Rachel) because they might be useful for you paper! ;)

--Alexa

Colonial Women

Hutner, Heidi. Colonial women: race and culture in Stuart drama. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. Print.

Hey Guys! I don't know if you have checked into some of the e-books that Doug posted on the blog, but I though I would highlight one in particular that I have found helpful. The Colonial Women e-book has proven to be really useful to me for its information pertaining to Aphra Behn. There are other female writers and influences also contained in the piece as well. I thought that the text does a wonderful job of making sure to connect the writers to the Stuart age in general. It gives you some background paired with some of the inferences that the author makes about their impact on culture in a very unbiased way. You should certainly look into this piece if your paper is about women or the Stuart age in general!

--Alexa

Rewind to the Spanish Tragedy

The extra credit speaker on the Spanish Inquisition in Mexico still applies to our readings in the Jacobean-Carolinean ages because the actual Alto de Feys she discussed started in Jacobean times and ended in 1649. So all of this occurs after the Spanish Armada and the great popularity of The Spanish Tragedy. The story of the Spanish Inquisition in Mexico begins in Spain where it is more famously known to have happened. The Inquisition began sometime in the 15th Century and probaby ended sometime in the 17th. The gist of it is that jews and muslims were being forced to convert to Christianity or leave Spain. The third option was to be totrured or killed. A lot of jews in particualr went to Portugual, who then encouraged a lot of people to move to the new world. Apparently a good amount of Jewish merchants saw this as a good business oppurtunity and became heavily involved in the Portugese colonization of the new world. It turns out that was a good business venture and many of the merchants became very prosperous and powerful in new world port cities. Spain still had jurisdiction over Portugual (interesting to consider in The Spanish Tragedy) and they decided to take the inquisition on a new world tour. The Spanish put on these massive exhibitions called Alto de Feys where they tried to recreate damnation in hell through a scene with persecuted jews, fire, executions, and pardonings for the women and children. These displays were kind of like entertainment in the same way that the violence in THe Spaniosh Tragedy was entertainment, except the inquisition violence was real. THe speaker talked a lot about a Grand Alto De Fey in which 108 men accused of Judaism were garretted and then burned at the stake. Their wives and children were pardoned and returned to everyday life. The Spanish of course confiscated the accused men's properties and either sold them or recommisioned them for different purposes. The last Alto de Fey to happen in Mexico was in 1649, the same year Charles I was executed in England.

Will and Aemilia

In light of this beautiful piece of art I stumbled upon through our friend, Facebook, I thought it would be interesting to test its accuracy. We talked about Shakespeare's relationship with Aemilia Layner as the "dark lady" from Shakespeare's sonnets. Here is some research I found: According to John Hudson (famous for his theory about the connection between Lanyer and Shakespeare) Lanyer may have actually written some of Shakespeare's works. Though Doug's arguments about Shakespeare writing his own works (with some collaborations and with the Tribe of Ben) makes much more sense, this argument is a little convincing. At this point I know enough about Shakespeare and his works to know that this is just a broad speculation, but it is thought that "Shakespeare would not have had the requisite knowledge of Jewish lore, written into the plays, that a Jewish Bassano-Lanyer would; and that she agreed to be his ghostwriter, needing the cover of a man’s identity in order to have her work published and performed" (Hudson). Another scholar counters this theory, though, by saying that "if she were no more Jewish than Shakespeare, the argument that he must not have written the plays, must apply to her as well on this score" (Machenery).

Mainly, I was inspired by the picture from facebook, and decided that even knowing a little more about the "dark lady" of the sonnets could be profitable in understanding Lanyer's place as a revolutionary female writer during the renaissance. Not only was she a woman writing taboo stuff, but she wasn't white. I think Lanyer probably invented the Spice Girls' saying, "Girl power!"

Norton is surprisingly useful...

Well, yet again, I referenced the anthology to answer my millions of literary questions. But even more so than that, I was able to find particular female examples that impacted literal through their unique styles. The common though between some of them that I was able to identify was them taking at least one of their pieces to acknowledge Elizabeth as a symbolic figure. For example, Amelia Lanyer's "To the Queen Her Most Excellent Majesty," Elizabeth Cary's "The Tragedy of Mariam, the Fair Queen of Jewry," and of course, Mary Wroth's "Urania." Through these three texts, readers are exposed to the symbolic nature that I am discovering is seen in architecture, painting, and literature as a means to carry on her legacy. The Jacobean era proved to a turning point for women in which they could essentially publish their literature with reliable sources. So once again, I would look at the little biographical sections about the authors that you are interested in because oddly enough, they are higher informative.

Some Books from Gonzaga

This Sunday I went down to the Gonzaga library and checked out a good deal of their section on early modern England. Two of the books I acquired that would probably be useful for our papers are Gloriana's Face by S.P. Cerasano and Marion Wynne-Davies, and The Invention of the Renaissance Woman edited by Pamela Joseph Benson. Gloriana's Face is a collection of essays that study of Queen Elizabeth's portraits and their historical contexts. Part of the books purpose is "to highlight the movement from the private, Elizabethan woman to her more public, Carolingean counterpart." So in many ways this book discusses topics we're working on in our papers such as shifts in women's roles from the Elizabethan to the Carolinean age. The second book The Invention of the Renaissance Woman is a study of the historical setting of 16th century Italy and 17th Century England and the roles of women in these places. It starts off with Italy which provides a look at what was happening to women in Italy around the time of Elizabeth, an interesting look at a neighboring culture. It then focuses on women in England during Elizabeth's and James' reigns. Both of these books are both a look back at Elizabeth and also a look at the influence she left after her death. Gloriana's Face could be particularly valuable to a lot of our papers, and The Invention...

Dear Inner Library Loan, Thanks!

Renaissance Woman: a Sourcebook, by Kate Augusterson, highlights the constructs of femininity during that time in England. This collection of personal accounts from women during Early Modern England is separated into nine basic sections, specifying the particular cultural contruct of the chapter. Augusterson's chapters are: Theology, Biology (yeah, super interesting stuff from ye ole science and the beliefs about a woman's body), Conduct, Sexuality and Motherhood (also really useful for those studying women in every aspect), Politics and Law, EDUCATION!, Work (I thought this section was a little disappointing, to be honest), Writing and Speaking, and Feminism (or the kind of feminist-type-thing they had going on at the time). These sections really helped me to distinguish which parts of the book I deemed most useful for my research, and gave insight into really specific details from Early Modern England, ACTUALLY FROM A WOMAN'S PERSPECTIVE. A lot of the RCE articles are written by women scholars, but much of the content in Augusterson's book is from the actual documents produced by women of the time. Mothers, daughters, writers, seamstresses--these women all had different views. For this reason, the sourcebook is really useful and if anyone would like to make a few copies or flip through it, I will bring it to class!

Aughterson, Kate. Renaissance Woman: a Sourcebook : Constructions of Femininity in England. London: Routledge, 1995. Print.

Cool Book!

Cannon, Mary Agnes. The Education of Women during the Renaissance. Washington, D.C.: [National Capital], 1916. Print.

This book is Mary Cannon's dissertation. Through my research of her dissertation, I have found that this work is actually a lot more helpful than some of the other essays I have read. Because it is meant as a piece of academic writing in order for Cannon to get her PhD, it is more specific to the topic it is named after, and has information that is more direct and supportive of women's education during this time. Cannon says in her preface, "In this dissertation is presented the result of an inquiry into the nature and extent of the pedagogical endeavor in behalf of womankind during the period of the Revival of Learning, that is, from about 1350 to 1600" (5). Cannon separates her chapters by geographical location, making her section about the British Renaissance from pages 97-124. By listing the specific date, Cannon makes it easy to find the passages necessary for discovering what education was like during Elizabeth's reign. The time period discussed in the dissertation stops before James comes to power, but it is still a good resource for the first half of the paper.

Imagery of James I

If I remember correctly, some of you did papers or at least research on the images of women in Renaissance England. In light of that, I thought this book might interest you. Another electronic copy from Whitworth's e-library, this book pays fair attention to the accession of James. The chapter entitled, "The Look of Power" details certain parts of James' coronation speech. This speech is flooded with amorous language aimed at the people of England. James was seen as a "mender of broken hearts" (15). This statement implies that there were broken hearts to begin with. The author continues to explore this idea and writes about James as the husband of England. As far as imagery goes, there is plenty of parallels that can be drawn from that of Elizabeth and that of James. Elizabeth, you recall, frequently referred to England as her husband and its sufficiency to count as "marriage." This section of the book speaks to how James continued with the precedent Elizabeth set. Enjoy!

Applebaum, Robert. Literature and Utopian Politics in Seventeenth-Century England. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002.

Electronic Library Text

Durston, Christopher. James I. Flourence, Kentucky: Routledge, 1993.

This text is available in electronic format through the Whitworth Library. Though not particularly well-written, this book is a dense presentation of the rule of James I. It chronicles many varied aspects from his reign, including his ascension to the throne, religious disputes, foreign policy, and the skepticism of the people regarding the Scot. This last point is developed in a surprising way. I thought that the people of England may have been ready for a male king to take the throne after Elizabeth, but this book points out the negative views that were associated with James. I want to be careful to point out that this was not necessarily the predominate view, but it was prevalent nonetheless. For a quick look at James' reign specifically, this is a great resource.

Kelly

Women in Shakespeare

Anybody looking to research the women in Shakespeare's plays should check out these two books that I currently have: Soliloquy: the Shakespeare Monologues Edited by Michael Earley and Philippa Keil, and Shakespeare's Women: A Playscript for Performance and Analysis by Libby Appel and Michael Flachman. The first book, Soliloquy, is a compilation of all the long monolgues Shakespeare wrote for women characters. It also has some really insightful commentary following each soliloquy and a long introduction about Shakespearean women. This book is incredibly valuable for anybody trying to research how Shakespeare portrayed women since it has a section for almost all of his important female characters. The second book Shakespeare's Women is actually a play written by Appel and Flachman that uses characters and words from Shakespeare's play to act out a kind of analysis of the characters and the roles they perform in their respective plays. It's harder to read than the other one and isn't the original source material from his plays, but it still has some interesting things to say about Shakespeare's women. It deals a lot with the popular notion of Shakespeare's time of women as frail fickle beings and also the variety of characters in his plays.

Fun Fact/Questionable...

http://www.tarcherbooks.net/?p=1481&fb_source=message

A friend of mine sent me a link the other day with this article attached. I was telling her about Edmund Spenser and his pathetic brown-nosing, and brought up the fact that he was a stone cold Puritan. We began discussing the Puritan lifestyle since Thanksgiving was right around the corner, and I mentioned that according to our classroom discussions, being a Puritan meant sucking the fun out of everything. I told her that according to many poems and texts we had ben reading, Puritans did not partake in drinking, theater, any kind of under-belly-tavern-life, patries, dancing, etc... I read her the notes from class on the poetic discourse between Piers and Palinode in Spenser's Maye, and we talked about how boring the first Thanksgiving must have been without wine and Yahtzee. Needless to say, she found the above article just days later and sent it to me.

The article is short, but basically gives statistics of the amount (quite large) of alcohol that the Puritans consumed. According to this article the Puritans went a little drink crazy at EACH, and even brought tons of alcohol (of all kinds) over to the New World from England. I am hoping that this might start a dialogue that unmasks the "true" English Puritan. I am fascinated with the idea that these people are what we compare to modern day Amish, and yet it seems there are so many contradictory ideas of who they were and how they lived their lives.

English Renaissance Book

Well, after reading bits and pieces of the English Renaissance book that we have as a part of our texts for the class, I found some pretty interesting stuff! I recommend searching your topic in the index and working from there because the topics are pretty intertwined throughout the book. One excerpt that I found in the introduction of the "Gender and Sexuality" section reads, "The one biblical exception to the unalloyed subordinate status accorded to women was the verse in Galatians: 'there is neither Jew no Greek, there is either bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye all are one in Christ Jesus.'" Not only had I used this biblical reference in my first paper, but it was one that was quoted from Elizabeth in one of her speeches! Without trying to freak out and have and "English student moment," I think that this is a testament to Elizabeth's fabulous way of uses legitimate sources and her extensive knowledge to make a case for the strength of women. What do you say?

--Alexa Foster

From Elizabeth to James

deLisle, Lianda. After Elizabeth: The Rise of James of Scotland and the Struggle for the Throne of England. Westminster, Maryland: Balantine Books, 2006. Electronic Copy.

This book is available through electronic format at our own Whitworth Library! Yes, folks, it is true. There is plenty of helpful material in this book. It is an electronic copy and I have not been able to find how to look at the images that it lists in the beginning, but for those of you working on the imagery of Elizabeth, the list of images this book provides would be useful for you. Even if the book itself does not contain the images, use this book as a reference to other possible imagery of Elizabeth after her death. I found it by searching "Elizabeth and James I" in the library search function. Happy researching!

Kelly

Retrospective Views on Elizabeth

Hi Friends,

One of my interlibrary loan books contains a large portion of text that gives retrospective analysis of Elizabeth's reign. I have found it helpful in analyzing the transition from Elizabeth to James and the implications of her powerful reign in the reigns of those who followed her. The book is entitled, Elizabeth I: War and Politics, 1588-1603 by Wallace MacCaffrey. The final two chapters focus on the Anglo-Irish political relationship, an influential factor in how James would rule. The book in general could add unique perspectives on the way Elizabeth was portrayed as a woman who was charged with being Supreme Protector over England. I have the book if anyone would be interested in looking through it!

Kelly

"Urania" Findings!

Wilson, Jean. "Queen Elizabeth I as Urania." Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 69 (2006): 151-173 . Print.

Well, we can all tell what I have been doing over break: research.

Mary Wroth's "Urania", which I referred to in my presentation, was the architectural piece that hints at the differences between female and male interests and patterns of thinking. While men are often consumed with the ideas that deal with worldly and outside matters, females are concerned with the self and the near surroundings (according to the text). In the JSTOR article "Elizabeth as Urania," the speaker talks about her presence in architecture during that time, almost to infer that her legacy exists beyond the self and more in the outside world. One excerpt tells about the sphere (one example of architecture) as "exemplifying the relationship between Elizabeth and her courtiers--'one of the satellites orbiting a heavenly body in perfect harmony" (162). Because my paper does not include much of this architectural evidence of her legacy thus far, I found this sections greatly intriguing.


--Alexa

Win Borrow FINALLY!

Dobson, Michael, and Nicola J. Watson. England's Elizabeth: an afterlife in fame and fantasy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002. Print.

Hello there! I hope you are all having a fabulous thanksgiving! I finally took the time to look through my find through WinBorrow (which I might say I wish I had found a long time ago!!). In the book England's Elizabeth: an afterlife in fame and fantasy, there are chapters entitled "The Queen is Dead Long Live the Queen" and "Elizabeth Modernized" that I found particularly helpful. Another chapter called "Gloriana Revived" relates her to the figure of Gloriana in Spenser's The Faerie Queen. An excerpt reads, "Spenser's Faerie Queen has embroidered around Elizabeth's image--in which she hymed as Gloriana, Arthur's destined bride, the once and future queen destined to return in Britain's hour of need" (48). While this book supports the claims of womenly power, it also produces the opposing viewpoint and thus, functions for both arguments.

Let me know if you want to borrow this to take some scans and such :)

--Alexa

Watkins, John. Representing Elizabeth in Stuart England. UK: Cambridge University Press. 2002. Print.

If you are writing a paper that has anything to do with the representation of Elizabeth in Stuart England this will be a great book for you! The book outlines how Elizabeth image in James’s time was a paradox on one hand she was described as a “courageous defender of the faith” (2). While, on the other hand she was “wrathful, vindictive, bigoted… and vain about her looks” (2). There are many good quotes supporting either side of the debate. It also argues that, “Elizabeth was also the perfect model of the tragic individual pitted against a hostel social order.” (3) Elizabeth both experienced the oppression of the time and also created it during her rule. The book also disagrees that the people of Stuart England were only nostalgic for Elizabeth. There were many who argued against her and for James.

Defoe, Daniel. Conjugal Lewdness. Florida: Scholars’ Facsimiles & Reprints, 1927. Print.

The book is written give advice to marriages both those who already have one and those who are going to be marrying. For those who are already married the book outlines how to stay chaste and modest in relationship. It also warns men against cheating on their wives or being abusive in the treatment of women. Child bearing should not be prevented also the book holds a reform view that enforces the negative aspects of arranged marriages. Instead of arranged marriage you should have love and friendship with the person you are planning to marry. Also disproportionate marriages are a very bad idea, especially those in age, as this encourages infidelity. Over all if you’re looking for a book that chastises men this may be a good place to look.

Shakespeare in love

In this modern movie representation of Shakespeare the writers are trying to go for a representation of a play within a play. Not only are they telling the story of Shakespeare but the movie is also paralleling the story that they are acting in the movie, Romeo and Juliet. The story starts out much like Romeo and Juliet in that it begins like a comedy. Just the title of the play he is trying to write is humorous, Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate's Daughter. The story also starts out making fun of love just like Romeo we are laughing as Shakespeare makes bad puns about the his ‘dry quill’ that can’t write anymore. The story follows Shakespeare played with a fondness for sexual innuendos.

We also see other hints of Shakespeare’s plays in the gender changing of Viola who is pretending to be Mr. Kent. This is an interesting interpretation of how Shakespeare came up with the idea of gender switching. But it doesn’t really hold up because he had already written other plays about the same idea such as, Comedy of Errors. But the romance of course ends tragically and Viola is taken away to the new world but not before inspiring Twelfth Night and Shakespeare’s next heroine aptly named viola.

The story was very well told and amusingly written. It reminded me of Volpone in the fact that Viola’s marriage and Shakespeare’s financial relationships with his patrons seemed a lot like prostitution. This is especially evident in Viola’s case because she is giving up her pure reputation to act in the play with Shakespeare. Though the story and play is about love it has a common theme for the fact that we all prostitute ourselves for something, sometimes love.

Whately, William. A Bride Bush. Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, 1975. Print

This book was written in 1617 to outlines what attitudes a man and women need to have for a happy marriage. Specifically it quotes the Bible to defend claims of subordination of women to men. It also outlines the demands on men to be loving kind and gentle to their wives. This piece shows strongly the belief that women were under men.

The book addresses the fact that the newly married couple should live together. It also calls men to faithfulness and forbearance in regard to violent behavior. The men are to be the king in the family and rule kindly over his subjects/family. Over all, the book is a protestant sermon commenting on the new family and sexual expectations of the church of the reformation. If this is of interest to you, you may also want to look at Prostitute and Marketplace in Seventh-Century Holland.

Froide, Amy. Never Married. New York: Oxford Press, 2005. Print.

This book outlines the representation of single women, virginity and widowhood from 1550-1800’s. In the book it outlines how over though Elizabeth was greatly revered and even praised for her virginity. Staying unmarried was not something Elizabeth encouraged. Even more the Elizabeth’s, protestant, church created very negative view points of singleness.

The church even went so far to say that “single persons were viewed as likely candidates for damnation” (157). The church made it almost impossible to be single in this time period. The bias became so aggressive that a common proverb at the time was “old maids lead apes in hell” (158). The book also outlines how the theater, especially Shakespeare’s plays gave a negative view of singleness. There was even believed to be a disease that came from women remaining unmarried for to long.

Voicing Women

A few days ago I received via interlibrary loan the book Voicing Women: Gender and Sexuality in Early Modern Writing. This is a great book with a lot in it to add to any of our paper topics. It's a collection of essays by various authors that all focus on different aspects of how women were portrayed before and after Elizabeth, and especially the rising amount of women authors and art that was intended for female audiences. Here are some of the essays in the book that might be useful, "Women Writers and Women Readers: The Case of Aemilia Lanier" by Jacquelin Pearson, "The Canonization of Elizabeth Cary" by Stephanie Wright, The torture of Limena: Sex and Violence in Mary Wroth's Urania" by Helen Hackett, Iconography of the Blush: Marian Literature of the 1630's" by Danielle Clark, "Playing 'the Masculine Part': Finding a difference within Behn's Poetry" by Bronwen Price, "Read within: Gender, Cultural Difference and Quaker Women's Travel Narratives" by Susan Wiseman, "Contra-dictions: WOmen as Figures of exclusion and resistance in John Bunyan and Agnes Beaumont's Narratives" by Tamsin Sargo, and "Seditious Sisterhood: Women Publishers of Opposition Literature at the Restoration" by Maureen Bell. Just a side note, but I wonder if Agnes Beaumont has anything to do with Francis Beaumont. This is an excellent book for anybody looking into the portrayal of women and their role in the art world of Early Modern England. I have the book right now if anyone wants to borrow it.

Punxsutawney Phil

Hi friends,

Just in case you were interested, I did a little research on Groundhog Day. It's based off the German holiday of Candlemas that bears similar ideas to what we now call Groundhog Day. Now, Punxsutawney Phil's predictions are shared with the world from Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. For more information, visit this website:

http://pittsburgh.about.com/cs/punxsutawney/a/groundhog_day.htm.

Proud to be American?

Oh yes.

-Kelly

WOMEN!

Here's a list of the books I've checked out from the library. If any of them sound good to you, comment which one and I'll bring it into class for you to peruse. Without further ado:

Women of the Renaissance
Women and Literature in Britain: 1500-1700
Writing Women in Jacobean England
Enacting Gender on the English Renaissance Stage
Shakespeare and the Drama of His Time
Women's Agency in Early Modern Britain (Doug brought this one to class and I took it home)
Erotic Politics: Desire on the Renaissance Stage

I would list topics of interest for each one, but they're pretty loyal to their titles. If any of them sounds interesting but you're not sure, looking them up in Amazon.com is a good way to read about the book and find a list of it's chapters and articles available.

More e-books in the library

Royal Poetrie, Peter C. Hernan

Vernacular Bodies,Mary Fissell

Religion and Society in Early Modern England,  Cressy and Ferrell

Popular Politics and the English Reformation, Ethan Shagon

Some e-books we have through the library

King James I and the Religious Culture of England, James Doelman

James I, Christopher Durston

Literature, Satire, and the Early Stuart State, Andrew Mc Rae

Representation and Misrepresentation in Later Stuart Britain, Mark Knights

Lines of Equity, Eliott Visconsi

Early Stuart Masques,  B. Ravelhofer

Godly Clery in Early Stuart England, Tom Webster

Translating Investments, Judith Anderson

Stuart England, Angus Stroud

Colonial Women, Heidi Hutner.

In Light of Prostitution...

My first essay discusses the movement of women's rights that Queen Elizabeth I (unknowingly?) instigated during her reign. One of the articles I read from the good ole Renaissance Life and Culture mentioned a play that I just recently read. The article in the book discussed cunning ways women would trick the patriarch's of their household into believing they were making the most of their time with contructive household chores or with sewing, knitting, etc... But after hearing the title of the play I decided I was interested in knowing more. 'Tis a Pity She's a Whore by John Ford was performed during the 1630s. It was the controversial soap opera version of the Spanish Tragedy. Involving incest, betrayal, murder, masqued dancers, illegitimate pregnancies, and so many confusing Italian names, this play covers a lot of ground. Perhaps commenting on the dirty under belley of English culture at the time, Ford managed to both criticize noble wealth and the royal bloodline. Ultimately, Ford left this play out of his collected works. He was probably embarrassed by the production of what can be compared to an on stage version of Beverly Hills 90210.

Five Plays of the English Renaissance
Edited by Bernard Beckerman
It's in the Whitworth library, guys!

Volpone: The [chipmunk voice] Cartoon

Hey All,

I mentioned last week that I had found a quirky cartoon Volpone on youtube. Here's the link, it's a little weird at times (Celia is a goldfish...) but over all I think the artist did a pretty good job summing up the story and turning it into a teenage friendly cartoon. I just hope high schoolers aren't watching this instead of reading the actual text...Also Sir Politic is not included. Sad. In any case...enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OohRcg0Hz_A

Large Sourcebook on Renaissance Women

One book from the library that I've found to be an excellent source is Renaissance Woman: A Sourcebook edited by Kate Aughterson. This book is a large collection of original sources written during the Renaissance about women. The chapters cover various subjects including Theology, Physiology, Conduct, Sexuality & Motherhood, Politics & Law, Education, Work, Writing & Speaking, and Proto- Feminisms. With all these different topics this book should prove useful to any study concerning women during Renaissance England. The book is especially valuable because it is all original sources, so it is a catalog of different views and opinions about what amounts to almost every aspect of a Renaissance woman's life. Some authors and works in this book that we have talked about in class are Anne Askew and her examination, John Calvin, James I, and Queen Elizabeth herself. Also included are sources Renaissance readers would have had access to such as Aristotle's Politics and other works. This is a small book that covers a lot about Renaissance women, and it would most likely have useful material for any of the groups' topics.

Also, if anybody wants to take a look back to Elizabeth I and her works, there is a tv series on netflix now called "Elizabeth R." It's an old british show from the 80's or 90's I think. The show covers all of Elizabeth's life, pre-queenhood and all. It has reenactments of many speeches and she even reads some of her poems/ prayers. I followed along in the book to the golden speech, and the show is almost word for word. It also provides an intersting look at how people looked during the Renaissance, or at least Elizabeth. The show goes all out with her many health issues, showing her teeth to be brown and her face a heap of make-up. From what I watched the show did a good job of telling the story of Elizabeth's life, and seems to be concerned at least somewhat with historical accuracy.

-Augie

Duties of Women 1797

Gisborne, Thomas. An enquiry into the duties of the female sex. Garland Publishing. New York: 1974

Written in 1797 by Thomas Gisborne with a new introduction written by Gina Luria. Gisborne was known for writing a book earlier in 1794 entitled, “enquiry into the duties of men in the higher and middle classes of society”. This book is a companion to that study outlining the duties of women at that time. The book covers many topics having to do with women of the time. A list of the Chapter titles are:
1) General grounds of the importance of the female character briefly stated
2) On the peculiar features by which the character of the female mind is naturally discriminated from that of the other sex
3) On female education
4) Of the mode of introducing young women into general society
5) On female conversation and epistolary correspondence
6) Remarks on propensity to imitation- on dress
7) On amusements in general – masquerades- the efficacy of individual example considered
8) Theatrical entertainment musical entertainments, Sunday concerts, dancing, gaming and cards – on excess in the pursuit of amusements
9) On the employment of time
10) Considerations antecedent to marriage
11) On the duties of matrimonial life
12) Duties of matrimonial life continued, with a view to the different situations and circumstances of different individuals
13) On parental duties
14) Further remarks on the duties belonging to the middle period of life
15) On the duties of the decline of life
The text does have an odd habit of replacing the s’s with f’s so it is a little hard to read but it shows insight into the time. Many of the ideas are related back to the bible. It also has some books it references for further reading from the time period.

Levine, Nina. Women’s Matters. Delaware Press. 1998 Delaware Print

The book looks at how women were view in the 1500’s by studying the play Henry VI. The essays concentrate on looking at chivalry in this play. This section specifically talks about how woman were viewed, “despising female dominance is a necessary part of being male, English and “Protestant’” (27). This would be a good quote to use if you wanted to establish the thoughts on women of this time. It also outlines how the play links female aggression with witchcraft and treason. It also touches on the place and view of ruling women. The book has powerful; quotes about Elizabeth’s iconography and how it sets up woman as a dynastic power. The last play it touches on is King John. In this essay the problem of succession and the tensions in the Elizabethan court. But probably the most helpful thing the book has a lot of cited works. The works that are talked cover from today back to the 1500’s.

Oh Hey, Equality...

http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/10/28/1883213/commonwealth-nations-change-royal.html

This is a link to an article I read at home in the Tacoma News Tribune this morning. Being that it is 2011 I was surprised to find that, " a future monarch can marry someone of any faith except a Catholic." According to the article Elizabeth II has started pushing for legislation in all of Britain's states to override the law that says royals can marry any Wikken, Hindu, Mormon, Michael Jackson Worshiper...but not a Catholic. I was truly surprised to find that Catholicism has had such an effect on the monarchy since Elizabeth I, so much so that such an interesting and strange law would have been passed.

The other facinsting thing learned from this article is the idea that, "Britain's government began the process of reviewing the rules of royal succession so that if Prince William's first child is a girl, she would eventually become queen." This is amazing because, as we have learned, no matter how much younger a son/brother can be, he has the first right to be king before his sister. Elizabeth II did not have any brothers, so she was named queen, and Charles only had sons. But the fact that the British Commonwealth is beginning to change the laws now, essentially for William and Kate, is amazing! After all these years....I figured the law would have already been changed. Even if progress is a little late, better than never.

Strangulation can be such a blessing

The presentation tonight addressed the presence of the inquisition in Mexico. The speaker began by addressing the reason the inquisition began in the first place. In the 1600 there were many Jewish families in Spain but as Catholic power in Spain grew the Jews were either forced to convert or to leave. Many of them left for Portugal. But it wasn’t long before again the Catholics came to power and the Jews were either told to convert or to leave. At this time the Spanish in a way owned the Portugal crown. So the Jews had an opportunity to escape persecution and move to the New World

In the New World they pretended to be Catholics while really practicing Judaism. This was not a problem until the inquisition began to run out of money. Many of the Jewish families had become merchants in the New World and if the inquisition found them guilty of being a Jew they could take the families property, sell it, and keep the money for themselves. Needless to say almost 400 were tried. They were also looking into this because they were afraid the merchants who were originally from Portugal were trying to take over the colony and second they wanted to stop Judaism. The speaker outlined two families that were in these trials in both, the fathers were burned while the rest of the women were let off with a slap on the wrist. Altogether only 13 people were burnt at the stake. Most of them repented and were allowed to be strangled before the burning but one man chose to pass up the wire noose and go for the flames. Needless to say it was dangerous to be anything but Catholic in 17 century.

The drastic nature of this account in many ways shows how far the Catholics will go to weed out those who weren’t like them. Through this presentation I came to better understand what Elizabeth was truly up against on the continent. In fact the aggressive nature of the Catholics is so apparent that I believe the only thing that really saved Elizabeth was the fact that England is an island nation. We especially see this when Spain comes in ships to defeat England. If there had not been water in between the two nations England could have very likely fallen and we might be a Catholic college right now…. (shudder to think)

A Fair Statement

Hello everyone. I am bringing this text to our workshop day tomorrow, however, I thought I might share a little quote I found. In the book entitled "Readings in Renaissance Women's Drama," the chapter about women as theatrical investors starts off with the following quote. "Although women were notably absent from the English Renaissance stage they were involved in theatrical economics in a variety of different ways --as spectators, patrons, and as gatherers of entrance fees at the playhouse doors. But even more surprisingly, perhaps, they held economic fees at the playhouse doors" (87). Not only do I appreciate the argument that this quote is making in reference to my argument for the power and roles of women, but also for its acknowledgement of the status of women in the theatre. I feel like it is often overlooked that women are important to the theatre performances when in reality, their simple attendence was and is crucial to play success. I have had to delve into this text to much, but I anticipate there being much more of this information pertaining to the theatre to be included in my longer paper. Happy Editing!

--Alexa Foster

Fletcher, Anthony. Gender, Sex & Subordination in England 1500-1800. Yale Press: London. 1995. Print.

An interesting study on marriage from 1500s to 1800s this book outlines information about bachelors, women and couples. It also has specific examples of couples and their correspondence during the time. The stories outline couples that were able to transcend the constraints on marriage at the time and find middle ground. The book also recounts relationships that were never truly equal, outlining the pressures that were on men of this time to be domineering and aloof.

The text also has a chapter on the ‘weaker sex’ outlining some of the things thought about women at the time. The book touches on the topics of gender roles, marital violence and effeminacy during the time. The book also has interesting pictures from the time both of families, more sordid activates and important portraits. There is also a section that outlines the education and tutoring of young girls. Hope some of this can be helpful. Ask me if you want the book. Kindle Miles

Helpful Article

I ran across this article tonight through JSTOR that is really interesting. It mentions a lot about the presentations of Elizabeth I, both in art and in her public life. Like most publications about Elizabeth and the way she was presented in society, this article works through her position as the Virgin Queen and the political implications that carried throughout her career. For you who are studying iconography of women during the Renaissance, this article touches on that subject and also connects it to the Protestant Reformation, if you want to take a look at that.

Queen Elizabeth I: Representations of the Virgin Queen

John N. King

Renaissance Quarterly
Vol. 43, No. 1 (Spring, 1990), pp. 30-74

Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the Renaissance Society of America

Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2861792.

Elizabeth's Education

In the process of writing my paper, I came across a fascinating primary text written by Roger Ascham, one of Queen Elizabeth's most influential tutors. The book, The Scholemaster, was written to explicate Ascham's theories of proper education, highly influenced by humanist ideas. He speaks loquaciously on his support for the study of Latin and details effective approaches to teaching Latin. Through his work, you can clearly see influences of humanism on the education Elizabeth I received. Latin was just a part of the classical model; she also studied classical texts and philosophy. For more information about Ascham's approach, I highly recommend this book. The glimpse it gives of why and how Elizabeth (and other nobles) were educated is unique, and this source comes directly from a renowned tutor.

Ascham, Roger. The Scholemaster. Ed. J. E. B. Mayor. New York, NY: AMS Press, Inc., 1967. Print.