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In Queens and Power in Medieval and Early Modern England , Carole Levin and Robert Bucholz provide a forum for the underexamined, anomalous reigns of queens in history. These regimes, primarily regarded as interruptions to the “normal” male monarchy, have been examined largely as isolated cases. This interdisciplinary study of queens throughout history examines their connections to one another, their constituents’ perceptions of them, and the fallacies of their historical reputations. The contributors consider historical queens as well as fictional, mythic, and biblical queens and how they were represented in medieval and early modern England. They also give modern readers a glimpse into the early modern worldview, particularly regarding order, hierarchy, rulership, property, biology, and the relationship between the sexes. Considering topics as diverse as how Queen Elizabeth’s unmarried status affected the perception of her as a just and merciful queen to a reevaluation of “good Queen Anne” as more than just an obese, conventional monarch, this volume encourages readers to reexamine previously held assumptions about the role of female monarchs in early modern history.

From Elizabeth of York - wife of Henry VII, the first Tudor monarch - through to Elizabeth I, her grand-daughter and the last in the line, this book explores some of the most colourful and dramatic women in British history. Queen consorts were central to the Royal Court but their role has rarely been examined or contrasted with the better known ruling queens. How did they behave (in and out of the bedchamber)? How powerful were they as patrons of learning and the arts? What religious views did they espouse and why? How successful and influential were they?.

After Britain abolished slavery throughout most of its empire in 1834, Victorians adopted a creed of \"anti-slavery\" as a vital part of their national identity and sense of moral superiority to other civilizations. The British government used diplomacy, pressure, and violence to suppress the slave trade, while the Royal Navy enforced abolition worldwide and an anxious public debated the true responsibilities of an anti-slavery nation. This crusade was far from altruistic or compassionate, but Richard Huzzey argues that it forged national debates and political culture long after the famous abolitionist campaigns of William Wilberforce and Thomas Clarkson had faded into memory. These anti-slavery passions shaped racist and imperialist prejudices, new forms of coerced labor, and the expansion of colonial possessions. In a sweeping narrative that spans the globe,Freedom Burningexplores the intersection of philanthropic, imperial, and economic interests that underlay Britain's anti-slavery zeal- from London to Liberia, the Sudan to South Africa, Canada to the Caribbean, and the British East India Company to the Confederate States of America. Through careful attention to popular culture, official records, and private papers, Huzzey rewrites the history of the British Empire and a century-long effort to end the global trade in human lives.

In The Excommunication of Elizabeth I, Aislinn Muller examines the excommunication and deposition of Queen Elizabeth I of England by the Roman Catholic Church, and its political afterlife during her reign.

Approaching the Stuart courts through the lens of the queen consort, Anna of Denmark, this study is underpinned by three key themes: translating cultures, female agency and the role of kinship networks and genealogical identity for early modern royal women. Illustrated with a fascinating array of objects and artworks, the book follows a trajectory that begins with Anna’s exterior spaces before moving to the interior furnishings of her palaces, the material adornment of the royal body, an examination of Anna’s visual persona and a discussion of Anna’s performance of extraordinary rituals that follow her life cycle. Underpinned by a wealth of new archival research, the book provides a richer understanding of the breadth of Anna’s interests and the meanings generated by her actions, associations and possessions.

The monarch is the United Kingdom's head of state, exercising powers that are circumscribed by common law, convention, and statute law.Nowadays, many of the sovereign's functions are ceremonial but in the past the balance between ceremony and decision-making was very different.

This major new study is an exploration of the Elizabethan Puritan movement through the eyes of its most determined and relentless opponent, Richard Bancroft, later Archbishop of Canterbury. It analyses his obsession with the perceived threat to the stability of the church and state presented by the advocates of radical presbyterian reform. The book forensically examines Bancroft's polemical tracts and archive of documents and letters, casting important new light on religious politics and culture. Focussing on the ways in which anti-Puritanism interacted with Puritanism, it also illuminates the process by which religious identities were forged in the early modern era. The final book of Patrick Collinson, the pre-eminent historian of sixteenth-century England, this is the culmination of a lifetime of seminal work on the English Reformation and its ramifications.

Though the overthrow and exile of Napoleon in 1815 is a familiar episode in modern history, it is not well known that just a few months later, British colonisers toppled and banished the last king in Ceylon. Beginning with that case, this volume examines the deposition and exile of indigenous monarchs by the British and French - with examples in India, Burma, Malaysia, Vietnam, Madagascar, Tunisia and Morocco - from the early nineteenth century down to the eve of decolonisation. It argues that removal of native sovereigns, and sometimes abolition of dynasties, provided a powerful strategy used by colonisers, though European overlords were seldom capable of quelling resistance in the conquered countries, or of effacing the memory of local monarchies and the legacies they left behind

This innovative and distinctive book takes a long chronological view and a wide-ranging, interdisciplinary approach. It is the definitive work on the posthumous reputation of the ever-popular warrior queen of the Iceni, Queen Boadicea/Boudica. It explores her presence in British historical discourse, from the early modern rediscovery of the works of Tacitus to the first historical films of the early twentieth century. In doing so, the book seeks to demonstrate the continuity and persistence of historical ideas across time and throughout a variety of media. This focus on continuity leads into an examination of the nature of history as a cultural phenomenon and the implications this has for our own conceptions of history and its role in culture more generally. While providing contemporary contextual readings of Boudica’s representations, this book also explores the unique nature of historical ideas as durable cultural phenomena, articulated by very different individuals over time, all of whom were nevertheless engaged in the creative process of making history. Thus this book presents a challenge to the axioms of cultural history, new historicism, and other mainstays of twentieth- and twenty-first-century historical scholarship. It shows how, long before professional historians sought to monopolize historical practice, audiences encountered visions of past ages created by antiquaries, playwrights, poets, novelists, and artists, all of whom engaged with, articulated, and even defined the meaning of ‘historical truth’. This book argues that these individual depictions, variable audience reactions, and the abiding notion of history as truth constitute the substance of historical culture.

Just Flesh and Blood is the highly anticipated conclusion in the popular trilogy about Queen Elizabeth I. 'A terrible dread took hold in my belly. The only bed left to me was my deathbed and I was not ready for that – not yet. No, not yet.' Although she lies unmoving on a pile of cushions, Elizabeth is a survivor. The unwanted daughter of an executed queen, she endured the perils of her childhood to take the throne as Queen of England. Just a girl at coronation, Elizabeth has now ruled for over four decades, withstanding political upheavals, war and plots against her life. But as she contemplates the successes and failures of that life, she weighs up all that she has relinquished – love, marriage, children, family of any kind – for power. She was not just a queen, but a flesh-and-blood woman – will her final moments be ones of regret? In this bittersweet book readers will be filled with admiration and compassion for a woman who grasped her destiny with both hands and, by doing so, made herself one of the greats of history.