Queenship and Political Discourse in the Elizabethan Realms

An important re-evaluation of Elizabethan politics and Elizabeth's queenship in sixteenth-century England, Wales and Ireland.

Natalie Mears (Author)

9780521093132, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 8 January 2009

332 pages, 2 b/w illus.
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.9 cm, 0.49 kg

From the hard back review: 'Queenship and Political Discourse in the Elizabethan Realms is a thought-provoking study, offering some original perspectives on Elizabeth's style of government, while suggesting avenues for future research.' Annual Bulletin of Historical Literature

This book re-evaluates the nature of Elizabethan politics and Elizabeth's queenship in late sixteenth-century England, Wales and Ireland. Natalie Mears shows that Elizabeth took an active role in policy-making and suggests that Elizabethan politics has to be perceived in terms of personal relations between the queen and her advisers rather than of the hegemony of the privy council. She challenges current perceptions of political debate at court as restricted and integrates recent research on court drama and religious ritual into the wider context of political debate. Finally, providing a survey of the nature of political debate outside the court, Dr Mears challenges seminal work by Jürgen Habermas, as well as of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century historians, by showing that a 'public sphere' existed in late sixteenth-century England, Wales and Ireland. In doing so, she re-evaluates how sociologists and historians have, and should, conceptualize the 'public sphere'.

1. Elizabethan court politics and the public sphere
2. Elizabeth I and the politics of intimacy
3. Gender and consultation
4. News and political debate at the Elizabethan court
5. The circulation of news in the Elizabethan realms
6. The Elizabethan public sphere
7. Perceptions of Elizabeth and her queenship in public discourse
Conclusion
Select bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Gender studies: women [JFSJ1], Gender studies, gender groups [JFSJ], History of ideas [JFCX], Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700 [HBLH], British & Irish history [HBJD1]