Elizabeth I: Collected Works - Softcover

Elizabeth I

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0226504654 ISBN 13: 9780226504650

Verlag: University of Chicago Press, 2002

Inhaltsangabe

This long-awaited and masterfully edited volume contains nearly all of the writings of Queen Elizabeth I: the clumsy letters of childhood, the early speeches of a fledgling queen, and the prayers and poetry of the monarch's later years. The first collection of its kind, Elizabeth I reveals brilliance on two counts: that of the Queen, a dazzling writer and a leading intellect of the English Renaissance, and that of the editors, whose copious annotations make the book not only essential to scholars but accessible to general readers as well.

"This collection shines a light onto the character and experience of one of the most interesting of monarchs. . . . We are likely never to get a closer or clearer look at her. An intriguing and intense portrait of a woman who figures so importantly in the birth of our modern world."—Publishers Weekly

"An admirable scholarly edition of the queen's literary output. . . . This anthology will excite scholars of Elizabethan history, but there is something here for all of us who revel in the English language."—John Cooper, Washington Times

"Substantial, scholarly, but accessible. . . . An invaluable work of reference."—Patrick Collinson, London Review of Books

"In a single extraordinary volume . . . Marcus and her coeditors have collected the Virgin Queen's letters, speeches, poems and prayers. . . . An impressive, heavily footnoted volume."—Library Journal

"This excellent anthology of [Elizabeth's] speeches, poems, prayers and letters demonstrates her virtuosity and afford the reader a penetrating insight into her 'wiles and understandings.'"—Anne Somerset, New Statesman

"Here then is the only trustworthy collection of the various genres of Elizabeth's writings. . . . A fine edition which will be indispensable to all those interested in Elizabeth I and her reign."—Susan Doran, History

"In the torrent of words about her, the queen's own words have been hard to find. . . . [This] volume is a major scholarly achievement that makes Elizabeth's mind much more accessible than before. . . . A veritable feast of material in different genres."—David Norbrook, The New Republic

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Janel Mueller is a professor of English, the William Rainey Harper Professor in the College, and dean of the Division of the Humanities at the University of Chicago. She is the author of The Native Tongue and the Word: Developments in English Prose Style, 1380-1580.

Leah S. Marcus is the Edwin Mims Professor of English at Vanderbilt University. Her books include Puzzling Shakespeare: Local Reading and Its Discontents and Unediting the Renaissance: Shakespeare, Marlowe, Milton. With Mary Beth Rose, Mueller and Marcus edited Elizabeth I: Collected Works.

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"An invaluable work."-Patrick Collinson, London Review of Books

This long-awaited and masterfully edited volume contains nearly all of the writings of Queen Elizabeth I, from the clumsy letters of childhood to the prayers and poetry of the monarch's later years. The first collection of its kind, Elizabeth I reveals brilliance on two counts: that of the Queen, a dazzling writer, and that of the editors, whose copious annotations make the book both accessible and essential.

Aus dem Klappentext

"An invaluable work."-Patrick Collinson, London Review of Books

This long-awaited and masterfully edited volume contains nearly all of the writings of Queen Elizabeth I, from the clumsy letters of childhood to the prayers and poetry of the monarch's later years. The first collection of its kind, Elizabeth I reveals brilliance on two counts: that of the Queen, a dazzling writer, and that of the editors, whose copious annotations make the book both accessible and essential.

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Elizabeth I

Collected Works

By Leah S. Marcus, Janel Mueller, Mary Beth Rose

The University of Chicago Press

Copyright © 2000 The University of Chicago
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-226-50465-0

Contents

List of Illustrations, 
List of Abbreviations and Frequently Cited Works, 
Preface, 
I 1533–1558, 
II 1558–1572, 
III 1572–1587, 
IV 1588–1603, 
List of Speeches, Letters, Poems, Prayers, 
Index of Names, 
Notes, 

CHAPTER 1

LETTERS, POEMS, AND PRAYERS OF PRINCESS ELIZABETH

* * *

1533–1558

LETTERS 1–23

* * *

1 PRINCESS ELIZABETH TO QUEEN KATHERINE, JULY 31, 1544

Inimical Fortune, envious of all good, she who revolves things human, has deprived me for a whole year of your most illustrious presence, and still not being content with that, has robbed me once again of the same good: the which would be intolerable to me if I did not think to enjoy it soon. And in this my exile I know surely that your highness' clemency has had as much care and solicitude for my health as the king's majesty would have had. For which I am not only bound to serve you but also to revere you with daughterly love, since I understand that your most illustrious highness has not forgotten me every time that you have written to the king's majesty, which would have been for me to do. However, heretofore I have not dared to write to him, for which at present I humbly entreat your most excellent highness that in writing to his majesty you will deign to recommend me to him, entreating ever his sweet benediction and likewise entreating the Lord God to send him best success in gaining victory over his enemies so that your highness, and I together with you, may rejoice the sooner at his happy return. I entreat nothing else from God but that He may preserve your most illustrious highness, to whose grace, humbly kissing your hands, I offer and commend myself. From Saint James on the thirty-first of July.

Your most obedient daughter and most faithful servant, Elizabeth

2 PRINCESS ELIZABETH TO QUEEN KATHERINE, PREFACING HER NEW YEAR'S GIFT OF AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF MARGUERITE OF NAVARRE'S MIROIR DE L'ÂME PÉCHERESSE, DECEMBER 31, 1544

To our most noble and virtuous Queen Katherine, Elizabeth, her humble daughter, wisheth perpetual felicity and everlasting joy.

Not only knowing the affectuous will and fervent zeal the which your highness hath towards all godly learning, as also my duty towards you (most gracious and sovereign princess); but knowing also that pusillanimity and idleness are most repugnant unto a reasonable creature and that (as the philosopher sayeth) even as an instrument of iron or of other metal waxeth soon rusty unless it be continually occupied, even so shall the wit of a man or a woman wax dull and unapt to do or understand anything perfectly unless it be always occupied upon some manner of study. Which things considered hath moved so small a portion as God hath lent me to prove what I could do. And therefore have I (as for assay or beginning, following the right notable saying of the proverb aforesaid) translated this little book out of French rhyme into English prose, joining the sentences together as well as the capacity of my simple wit and small learning could extend themselves. The which book is entitled or named The Mirror or Glass of the Sinful Soul, wherein is contained how she (beholding and contempling what she is) doth perceive how of herself and of her own strength she can do nothing that good is or prevaileth for her salvation, unless it be through the grace of God, whose mother, daughter, sister, and wife by the Scriptures she proveth herself to be. Trusting also that through His incomprehensible love, grace, and mercy, she (being called from sin to repentance) doth faithfully hope to be saved.

And although I know that, as for my part which I have wrought in it (as well spiritual as manual), there is nothing done as it should be, nor else worthy to come in your grace's hands, but rather all unperfect and uncorrect; yet do I trust also that, howbeit it is like a work which is but new begun and shapen, that the file of your excellent wit and godly learning in the reading of it, if so it vouchsafe your highness to do, shall rub out, polish, and mend (or else cause to mend) the words (or rather the order of my writing), the which I know in many places to be rude and nothing done as it should be. But I hope that after to have been in your grace's hands, there shall be nothing in it worthy of reprehension, and that in the meanwhile no other but your highness only shall read it or see it, less my faults be known of many. Then shall they be better excused (as my confidence is in your grace's accustomed benevolence) than if I should bestow a whole year in writing or inventing ways for to excuse them. Praying God almighty, the Maker and Creator of all things, to grant unto your highness the same New Year's Day a lucky and a prosperous year, with prosperous issue and continuance of many years in good health and continual joy and all to His honor, praise, and glory. From Ashridge the last day of the year of our Lord God, 1544.

3 PRINCESS ELIZABETH TO KING HENRY VIII, PREFACING HER TRILINGUAL TRANSLATION OF QUEEN KATHERINE'S PRAYERS OR MEDITATIONS, DECEMBER 30, 1545

To the most illustrious and most mighty King Henry the Eighth, king of England, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, and second to Christ, supreme head of the English and Irish Church, Elizabeth, his majesty's most humble daughter, wishes all happiness, and begs his blessing.

As an immortal soul is superior to a mortal body, so whoever is wise judges things done3 by the soul more to be esteemed and worthy of greater praise than any act of the body. And thus, as your majesty is of such excellence that none or few are to be compared with you in royal and ample marks of honor, and I am bound unto you as lord by the law of royal authority, as lord and father by the law of nature, and as greatest lord and matchless and most benevolent father by the divine law, and by all laws and duties I am bound unto your majesty in various and manifold ways, so I gladly asked (which it was my duty to do) by what means I might offer to your greatness the most excellent tribute that my capacity and diligence could discover. In the which I only fear lest slight and unfinished studies and childish ripeness of mind diminish the praise of this undertaking and the commendation which accomplished talents draw from a most divine subject. For nothing ought to be more acceptable to a king, whom philosophers regard as a god on earth, than this labor of the soul, which raises us up to heaven and on earth makes us heavenly and divine in the flesh; and while we may be enveloped by continual and infinite miseries, even then it renders us blessed and happy.

Which work, since it is so pious, and by the pious exertion and great diligence of a most illustrious queen has been composed in English, and on that account may be more desirable to all and held in greater value by your majesty, it was thought by me a most suitable thing that this work, which is most worthy because it was indeed a composition by a queen as a subject for her king, be translated into other languages by me, your daughter. May I, by this means, be indebted to you not as an imitator of your virtues but indeed as an inheritor of them. In the work, whatever is not mine is worthy of the...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: University of Chicago Press
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2002
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0226504654
• ISBN 13: 9780226504650
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 470
• Herausgeber: Marcus Leah S., Mueller Janel, Rose Mary Beth
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar