English Martyr from Reformation to Revolution (Notre Dame Studies in Ethics and Culture) (ReFormations: Medieval and Early Modern)

"Traditionally, Christian martyrdom is a repetition of the story of Christ{u2019}s suffering and death: the more closely the victim replicates the Christological model, the more legible the martyrdom. But if the textual construction of martyrdom depends on the rehearsal of a paradigmatic story, how do we reconcile the broad range of individuals, beliefs, and persecutions seeking justification by claims of martyrdom? Observing how martyrdom is constituted through the interplay of historical event and literary form, Alice Dailey explores the development of English martyr literature through the period of intense religious controversy from the heresy executions of Queen Mary to the regicide of 1649. Through close study of texts ranging from late medieval passion drama and hagiography to John Foxe{u2019}s Acts and Monuments, martyrologies of the Counter-Reformation, Charles I{u2019}s Eikon Basilike, and John Milton{u2019}s Eikonoklastes, The English Martyr from Reformation to Revolution traces the shifting constructions of the martyr figure across Reformation England. By putting history and literary form in dialogue, Dailey describes not only the reformation of one of the oldest, most influential genres of the Christian West but a revolution in the very concept of martyrdom. In late sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century England, she argues, martyrdom develops from medieval notions of strict typological repetition into Charles I{u2019}s defense of individual conscience{u2014}an abstract, figurative form of martyrdom that survives into modernity. Far from static or purely formulaic, martyrology emerges in Dailey{u2019}s study as a deeply nuanced genre that discloses the mutually constitutive relationship between the lives we live and the stories we tell."--Publisher's description Literature and Criticism Cover 1 Half title 2 Series page 3 Title page 4 Copyright 5 Dedication 6 Contents 8 Illustrations 10 Acknowledgments 12 Note on Spelling, Punctuation, and Editions 16 Introduction 18 Chapter 1: Medieval Models 27 Chapter 2: New Actors in an Old Drama 70 Chapter 3: Secular Law and Catholic Dissidence 115 Chapter 4: “The Finger of God Is Heere” 152 Chapter 5: “This Deceitfull Arte” 180 Chapter 6: Beyond Typology 224 Postscript 263 Appendices 269 Appendix A 269 Appendix B 272 Appendix C 273 Appendix D 274 Notes 283 Works Cited 318 Index 334