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This source book brings together texts by and about Thomas More - poet, scholar, statesman, family man, educational reformer, philospher, historian and saint. In addition to serving as an introduction to More's life and writings for the general reader, this collection is a companion to the study of 16th-century history, literature, philosophy or politics. The writings focus upon More's views of education, political theory, church-state relations, love and friendship, practical politics and the vexing issue of conscience. They shed light on the distinctive Christian humanism that More expresses and embodied. Also included in the book are three famous 16th-century accounts of More's life by Erasmus, Roper and a team of London playwrights including William Shakespeare.

Tudor historians and literary scholars have long examined the various ways in which Henry VIII and his advisors used the psalms and King David’s life to represent Henry’s political and religious power. This article examines Katherine Parr’s translation of John Fisher’s Psalms or Prayers, a book that has not figured in studies of Henrician iconography, but that was one of the most influential acts of royal representation produced in the last years of Henry’s reign. Parr’s book was printed at a time of military conflict, and as I will argue, it served to represent Henry as an exemplary wartime Davidic monarch – one who was repentant, in need of divine assistance, and thankful for God’s help. Parr’s book also included an innovative ‘A Prayer for the King,’ a translation of a Latin prayer for Henry that was itself derived from a prayer for the Holy Roman Emperor. This prayer explicitly aligns Henry with David and Solomon as it draws on verses from Psalm 2, Psalm 20, and the Book of Proverbs. Importantly, Parr made timely alterations as she translated the Latin prayer into English, alterations that underscore Henry’s religious authority, his obedience, and his military prowess. Finally, resonances between Parr’s book and the annotations that Henry made in his manuscript Psalter point to political collaboration between king and queen on this important wartime crown production.

When Henry VIII died in 1547 he left a church in England that had broken with Rome - but was it Protestant? The English Reformation was quite different in its methods, motivations and results to that taking place on the continent. This book: * examines the influences of continental reform on England * describes the divorce of Henry VIII and the break with Rome * discusses the political and religious consequences of the break with Rome * assesses the success of the Reformation up to 1547 * provides a clear guide to the main strands of historical thought on the topic.

This essay examines deluxe copies of Katherine Parr's “Psalms or Prayers” (1544) distributed as gifts as part of Henry VIII's wartime campaign. The book promoted supplication for the king, and Parr used hand illumination to amplify its aesthetic and sacred character and to elicit political loyalty. I discuss two copies annotated by Henry, one previously unknown. I argue that the volumes shed new light on Parr's role as queen/author, on Henry's final illness, and on their transactional relationship: Parr's giftbooks advanced Henry's cause and enabled him to display exemplary piety; Henry's marginalia activated Parr's text and thanked her for her labor.

Originally published in 1988. Arranged by play, the essays presented here focus first on production and then on a range of other issues such as characters, imagery, textual problems and themes. Both plays were more popular in earlier centuries and most later essayists focused on small issues rather than view the plays in wider perspective. More recent pieces included here seek organising principles for King John and look in more detail at Henry VIII. Beginning with the in-depth introduction by the editor, this collection shows the reception of the play by its Elizabethan audience compared to twentieth century audiences and looks at the history portrayed by Shakespeare. Some chapters review very varied stage productions while others are character analysis or individual focuses.

William Tyndale's The obedience of a Christian man has been credited with influencing the Henrician regime's thinking and propaganda on the subject of obedience to royal authority. According to an anecdote first recorded by the archdeacon of Nottingham, John Louthe, Henry was so delighted by Tyndale's tract that he called it a book ‘for me and all kings to read’, and historians have argued that Henry tried to recruit Tyndale as a royal propagandist or diplomat in 1531. This article argues that Louthe's anecdote was probably a later invention, and that Henry disapproved of the Obedience and its author. There is little evidence that the king tried to recruit Tyndale, but wanted instead to silence him and force him to abjure his heresies. The Obedience contained very little that would have pleased Henry, presenting him as a mere ‘shadow’ of a king, manipulated by evil prelates. While Tyndale rejected rebellion against even tyrannical rulers, this should not be confused with advocating obedience of the kind that Henry might approve of, and the Obedience sanctioned disobedience of various kinds. From the outset, remarkably radical ideas were contained within an apparently ‘conservative’ tradition of English evangelical political thought.

Lanier's verifiable biography is based mainly on the wills of her parents; on the details recorded about her in the diaries (casebooks) of Simon Forman; on some few clues deduced from her book of poetry, Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum; on a limited number of events involving her husband, Alfonso Lanier, and the later disposition of a lucrative patent he acquired for the weighing of hay and straw; on records relating to Lanier's attempt to set up a school; on the record of her burial; and on some scattered official documentations regarding the Bassano family as of the reigns of King Henry VIII, Queen Elizabeth I and James I.3 From these we know that: Emilia Bassano was baptized on January 27, 1569 at St. Botolph's Church, Bishopsgate, daughter of a Venetian musician, Battista (Baptista) Bassano and his common-law English wife, Margaret Johnson.4 Baptista was hired in 1539 with his four brothers tojóin the court recorder consort of King Henry VIII.5 He died when Emilia was seven and sometime thereafter she moved into the household of Susan Bertie, Dowager Countess of Kent (1554-C.1596), daughter of the redoubtable Katherine Brandon, Duchess of Suffolk, by her second marriage to Richard Bertie.6 The timing and circumstances of this are examined in more detail below, but she presumably left that household before the Countess's second marriage, in 1581, when Lanier was 12 (see p. 18). [...]we also learn that her marriage was not a happy one: 'her husband hath dealt hardly with her, hath spent and consumed her goods. The collection was dedicated to nine royal and noble ladies; it may be inferred from these dedications that Emilia was at some point affiliated with Margaret Clifford (née Russell), Countess of Cumberland and was now specifically seeking her patronage, and also that of her daughter, Anne Clifford, Countess of Dorset.9 The mother was dedicatee of the title poem of the collection, 'Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum', which is printed with various marginal prompts, steering her to key features, most notably in the climactic section, 'The Passion of Christ'.10 The last poem in Lanier's book is 'The Description of Cooke-ham', a country-house poem eulogizing a royal manor not far from Windsor, which she associates with the Clifford ladies.11 The other dedications - to the royal ladies, Queen Anna, Princess Elizabeth and Lady Arbella Stuart, and to other notable aristocratic ladies - seem rather more speculative.

Henry VIII remains the most iconic and controversial of all English Kings. For over four-hundred years he has been lauded, reviled and mocked, but rarely ignored. In his many guises - model Renaissance prince, Defender of the Faith, rapacious plunderer of the Church, obese Bluebeard-- he has featured in numerous works of fact and faction, in books, magazines, paintings, theatre, film and television. Yet despite this perennial fascination with Henry the man and monarch, there has been little comprehensive exploration of his historiographic legacy. Therefore scholars will welcome this collection, which provides a systematic survey of Henry's reputation from his own age through to the present. Divided into three sections, the volume begins with an examination of Henry's reputation in the period between his death and the outbreak of the English Civil War, a time that was to create many of the tropes that would dominate his historical legacy. The second section deals with the further evolution of his reputation, from the Restoration to Edwardian era, a time when Catholic commentators and women writers began moving into the mainstream of English print culture. The final section covers the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, which witnessed an explosion of representations of Henry, both in print and on screen. Taken together these studies, by a distinguished group of international scholars, offer a lively and engaging overview of how Henry's reputation has been used, abused and manipulated in both academia and popular culture since the sixteenth century. They provide intriguing insights into how he has been reinvented at different times to reflect the cultural, political and religious demands of the moment; sometimes as hero, sometimes as villain, but always as an unmistakable and iconic figure in the historical landscape. Contents: Introduction: all is true - Henry VIII in and out of history, Thomas Betteridge and Thomas S. Freeman; Harry's peregrinations: an Italianate defence of Henry VIII, Brett Foster; From perfect prince to 'wise and pollitike' king: Henry VIII in Edward Hall's chronicle, Scott Lucas; 'It is perilous stryvinge withe princes': Henry VIII in works by Pole, Roper and Harpsfield, Carolyn Colbert; Hands defiled with blood: Henry VIII in Foxe's Book of Martyrs, Thomas S. Freeman; Fallen Prince and Pretender of the Faith: Henry VIII as seen by Sander and Persons, Victor Houliston; 'It is unpossible to draw his picture well who hath severall countenances': Lord Herbert of Cherbury and The Life and Reign of King Henry VIII, Christine Jackson; Henry VIII in history: Gilbert Burnet's History of the Reformation (v.1), 1679, Andrew Starkie; 'Unblushing falsehood': the Strickland sisters and the domestic history of Henry VIII, Judith M. Richards; Ford Madox Ford's Fifth Queen and the modernity of Henry VIII, Anthony Monta and Susannah Brietz Monta; The 'sexual everyman'? Maxwell Anderson's Henry VIII, Glenn Richardson; Drama king: the portrayal of Henry VIII in Robert Bolt's A Man for All Seasons, Ruth Ahnert; 'Anne taught him how to be cruel': Henry VIII in modern historical fiction, Megan L. Hickerson; Booby, baby or classical monster? Henry VIII in the writings of G.R. Elton and J.J. Scarisbrick, Dale Hoak; Through the eyes of a fool: Henry VIII and Margaret George’s 1986 novel The Autobiography of Henry VIII: With Notes by His Fool, Will Somers, Kristen Post Walton; Index. Thomas Betteridge, Oxford Brookes University, UK and Thomas S. Freeman, University of Essex, UK

In the annals of English history, the Tudor Dynasty is one of the most captivating eras. Within this dynastic tapestry, few women figures have left as indelible mark as Catherine of Aragon, the first wife of King Henry VIII, and the Virgin Queen---Elizabeth I. One that steps into the sphere of marriage and reproduction, facing the conflict of showing political talent and being the beloved wife of King Henry VIII. The other, a consistent formal dominant of England, remained a virgin throughout her life. Although they had slightly different monarchical roles, they faced similar challenges to the power structure in medieval Tudor. Thus, it is valuable to examine their roles by reconsidering the relations between gender, power, and monarchy. Also, examining how they survive and resist while maximizing their autonomy of power could provide a novel insight into the collaboration of the study of gender history and sociology. This essay attempts historical sociology to scrutinize the role of their queenship in the centre of the patriarchal and monarchical domain of the House of Tudors. There is a notable surge in applying Michel Foucault’s approach to theories of power in gender study by feminists. One of the aims of this research is to fill the vacancy of application of Foucault’s theories into medieval history as well. It aims to investigate the category of gender and its symbolism concerning queenship in the historical period. Most importantly, to redefine, reclaim, and re-evaluate the meanings and values of women figures throughout the traditional historiographical pattern of queenship, which the male chronological historians have largely created at the time. It is found that the two queenships sprouse comprehensive sociological meanings of a parallel considerdation of gender, power and body in such particular political spectrum of monarchial field.