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"Mears, Natalie"
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Queenship and political discourse in the Elizabethan realms
Re-evaluating the nature of Elizabethan politics and Elizabeth's queenship in late 16th century England, Wales and Ireland, Mears challenges current perceptions of political debate at court and integrates research on court drama and religious ritual into the wider context of political debate.
Book
JAMES I AND GUNPOWDER TREASON DAY
The assumed source of the annual early modern English commemoration of Gunpowder treason day on 5 November – and its modern legacy, ‘Guy Fawkes day’ or ‘Bonfire night’ – has been an act of parliament in 1606. This article reveals the existence of earlier orders, explains how these orders alter understandings of the origin and initial purposes of the anniversary, and provides edited transcriptions of their texts. The first order revises the accepted date for the earliest publication of the special church services used for the occasion. The second order establishes that the anniversary thanksgiving was initiated not by parliament, but by King James I; it also shows that, in a striking innovation, he issued instructions for regular mid-week commemorations throughout England and Wales, expecting the bishops to change the Church of England's preaching practices. The annual thanksgivings were not just English, but ordered also in Scotland and observed in Protestant churches in Ireland. The motives for these religious thanksgivings are placed in a Stuart dynastic context, with Scottish antecedents and a British scope, rather than in the English ‘national’ setting assigned to the anniversary by English preachers and writers and by recent historians. The parliamentary act is best explained as an outcome of tensions between the king and the House of Commons.
Journal Article
Public Worship and Political Participation in Elizabethan England
Mears examines the special \"Forms\" of prayer formulated and promulgated by the Elizabethan state as a particular kind of religious worship that encouraged popular participation in, and support for, the political agendas promoted by the regime. She argues that these Forms of Prayer should be understood as part of the popular politics of early modern England. The special prayers not only provided people with news about the regime's own political agenda, they also provoked commentary and occasionally debates about it. The Elizabethan regime systematically printed and widely distributed special prayers throughout the kingdom to an unprecedented extent. These prayers were also understood to have political efficacy, for forms of worship such as prayer and fasting were commonly thought to work to invoke the protection of divine providence at special moments.
Journal Article
COURTS, COURTIERS, AND CULTURE IN TUDOR ENGLAND
Geoffrey Elton's model of Tudor politics, which emphasized the importance of political institutions and which dominated our understanding of Tudor politics for much of the second half of the twentieth century, has been challenged by a number of historians for over twenty years. They have re-emphasized the importance of social connections and cultural influences and turned attention away from studying the privy council to studying the court. In doing so, they have gone back to re-examine earlier approaches by Sir John Neale and Conyers Read which Elton had challenged. Yet, these new socially and culturally derived approaches, recently labelled ‘New Tudor political history’, remain varied and its practitioners sometimes at odds with each other. Focusing on both established seminal works and recent research, this review considers the different elements of these approaches in relation to Tudor court politics. It assesses the methodological problems they raise and identifies what shortcomings still remain. It demonstrates that Tudor politics are increasingly defined as based on social networks rather than institutional bodies, making issues of access to, and intimacy with, the monarch central. Our understanding has been further enhanced by exploration of political culture and its relationship to political action. However, the review points to the need to integrate more fully the political role of women and the relationship between the court and the wider political community into our understanding of Tudor politics, as well as place England into a European context.
Journal Article
