Representing Elizabeth in Stuart England Literature, History, Sovereignty [Paperback]

Watkins traces the development of Elizabeth I's iconic significance in the political and popular imagination of the seventeenth century.Representing Elizabeth in Stuart England is the first book to examine Elizabeth I's lasting impact on the Anglo-American historical imagination. John Watkins traces the development of Elizabeth I's iconic significance in the political and popular imagination of the seventeenth century. From monarch to the perfect model of the tragic individual pitted against a hostile social order, Elizabeth's story informed contemporary debates. This study will appeal to literary and cultural historians alike.Representing Elizabeth in Stuart England is the first book to examine Elizabeth I's lasting impact on the Anglo-American historical imagination. John Watkins traces the development of Elizabeth I's iconic significance in the political and popular imagination of the seventeenth century. From monarch to the perfect model of the tragic individual pitted against a hostile social order, Elizabeth's story informed contemporary debates. This study will appeal to literary and cultural historians alike.Examining Elizabeth I's lasting impact on the Anglo-American historical imagination, John Watkins traces the development of Elizabeth I's iconic significance in the political and popular imagination of the seventeenth century. From powerful monarch to the perfect model of the tragic individual pitted against a hostile social order, Elizabeth's story informs contemporary debates. This study appeals to literary and cultural historians alike.List of illustrations; Acknowledgments; Introduction; 1. James I and the fictions of Elizabeth's motherhood; 2. The Queen of royal citizens: Elizabeth in Thomas Heywood's historical imagination; 3. Arcana Reginae: Tacitean Narrations of the Elizabethan past; 4. Recollections of Elizabeth during the civil wars and interregnum; 5. Restoration Elizabeth; 6. 'Under the name of a Vergin or Maiden Queen'; 7. Gloriana's Secretls8