Learned Queen : The Image of Elizabeth I in Politics and Poetry

The first book to examine Elizabeth I as a learned princess, Learned Queen examines Elizabeth's own demonstrations of erudition alongside literary works produced by such political luminaries as Sir Philip Sidney and Robert Devereux, earl of Essex. The first book to examine Queen Elizabeth I as a learned prince, Learned Queen reveals a rather startling phenomenon: Elizabeth's educated status was crucial to England's burgeoning role as an international power. Examining Elizabeth's own demonstrations of erudition alongside literary works of such political luminaries as Sir Philip Sidney and Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, this book reveals how poetry, foreign relations, and intellectual culture are far more integrated than we have hitherto imagined. From these connections emerges a methodology that places Elizabethan political culture and poetry fully on the transnational stage of a diplomacy-driven world just beginning to acknowledge a truly global perspective Cover 1 Half-Title 2 Dedication 6 Series 3 Copyright 5 Title 4 List of Figures 8 Contents 7 Acknowledgments 9 Introduction 12 1 Queen Solomon: Elizabeth I in Christian Prayers and Meditations (1569) 32 2 A Wise Elizabeth and Her Devoted Diplomats: Sidney’s The Lady of May and Anglo- Dutch Relations 65 3 Queen of the Word: Elizabeth, Divine Wisdom, and Apocalyptic Discourse in the 1580s 99 4 Philosopher-Queen: Elizabeth’s Transcendent Wisdom in the 1590s 133 5 A Loving Scholar of His Queen’s Wisdom: The Earl of Essex, Anglo-French Affairs, and Of Love and Self- Love (1595) 169 Afterword: Elizabeth, Shakespeare, and the Concord of Folly 199 Notes 209 Bibliography 247 Index 262 Front Matter....Pages i-xiii Introduction....Pages 1-20 Queen Solomon: Elizabeth I in Christian Prayers and Meditations (1569)....Pages 21-53 A Wise Elizabeth and Her Devoted Diplomats: Sidney’S the Lady of May and Anglo-Dutch Relations....Pages 55-88 Queen of the Word: Elizabeth, Divine Wisdom, and Apocalyptic Discourse in the 1580s....Pages 89-122 Philosopher-Queen: Elizabeth’s Transcendent Wisdom In The 1590s....Pages 123-158 A Loving Scholar of His Queen’s Wisdom: The Earl of Essex, Anglo-French Affairs, and Of Love and Self-Love (1595)....Pages 159-188 Elizabeth, Shakespeare, and the Concord of Folly....Pages 189-198 Back Matter....Pages 199-262