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Chapter 9 . Hamlet and succession Richard Dutton There are those who think that the late long First Folio Hamlet is a messy author’s expansion of the short, stern early quarto, but they are a minority. — Adam Gopnik Mapping [genetic differences between species of humans] is, in principle, pretty straightforward – no harder, say, than comparing rival editions of Hamlet. — Elizabeth Kolbert 1 T he question of who was to succeed Elizabeth I – and how – hung over the drama of her reign from its first major work, Gorboduc, or Ferrex and Porrex, to the eve of her
Royal successions will prompt observers of all kinds to look back at the reign that has passed, and also forward to that which is dawning. This book represents both the breadth and the quality of succession literature across the Stuart era (1603-1714). It includes at least one example of each significant kind of writing: a proclamation announcing a change of reign, diary entries, sermons, a newspaper report, two speeches by incoming monarchs and so forth. But there is also a consistent focus on poetry. Proclamations of Lord King James to the Crown (1603), his speech delivered in the Parliament (1604), the poems of Sir John Davies (1603) are among those featured in the first part of the book. Part II includes an anonymously authored news report details the royal marriage of King Charles and Lady Henrietta Maria (1625). Following this, the book presents the newsbook, Mercurius Politicus (December 1653), which provides an account of Oliver's inauguration as Protector and offers a wealth of detail about ceremonial proceedings. Part IV has a diary entry of Samuel Pepys recounting the return of Stuart brothers and describing the ceremonies that greeted Charles at Dover, and providing details arising from Pepys's proximity to unfolding events. The fifth part includes a coronation sermon (April 1685), presenting extracts from Francis Turner's discussion of Solomon's title and his consideration of the relationship between Solomon and the nation of Israel. The Observator's response on William's death (April 1702), penned by John Tutchin, is also featured in the book.
Chapter 2 . The earlier Elizabethan succession question revisited Susan Doran and Paulina Kewes T he succession issue was subject to many twists and turns during Elizabeth’s reign, and it is therefore misleading to treat it as a single crisis or even as two, the first ending with the execution of Mary Queen of Scots in February 1587 and the second with the accession of James I in March 1603. In this chapter, we explain the shifts in the political actions and polemical output of both Protestants and Catholics during the early and middle decades of the reign
Chapter 8 . The succession in sermons, news and rumour Arnold Hunt S ermons on the succession, in late Elizabethan England, might be thought to be conspicuous by their absence. It would have been a bold preacher who dealt openly with the succession question from the pulpit. The Treasons Act of 1571, which prohibited ‘contentious and seditious spreading abroad of titles to the succession to the crown’, did not necessarily prevent preachers from handling the subject in general terms, without naming names – and, as we shall see, some did precisely that – but most
Chapter 10 . The poetics of succession, 1587–1605: the Stuart claim Richard A. McCabe A ccording to Bishop John Leslie’s Historie of Scotland (1578), the young James VI modelled himself upon the legendary King Arthur, ‘heiring of not ane in ancient antiquitie amang all his predecessprs, to quhom he wald be sa conforme’.1 As the once and future ‘King of Britain’, Arthur held a peculiar fascination for the man who hoped to reunite the island by succeeding to the English throne. But all of that depended on the goodwill of the incumbent, on the would-be Arthur
Chapter 5 . Bishop Richard Bancroft and the succession Patrick Collinson T his is not quite a non-subject, but it comes pretty close. We have no means of knowing what Richard Bancroft, Bishop of London from 1597, may have thought, hoped or feared about the succession to the throne of England. If Bancroft ever chose to put pen to paper on this delicate subject, his views are no longer on record. There was, and in the nature of things could be, no episcopal ‘line’ on the succession. There was no legitimate forum in which the bishops could have formed a
Paulina Kewes Chapter 5 Parliament and the principle of elective succession in Elizabethan England Paulina Kewes T he debates in Elizabethan parliaments about the succession to the throne, though a familiar subject, have unfamiliar aspects. Earlier historians supposed that the throne descended on the hereditary principle, and that the parliamentary controversies were about the identification of the hereditary successor and about the entitlement of parliament to discuss the issue. Yet the queen’s failure to provide a hereditary heir, and to settle the
Chapter 3 . The Puritan, the Jesuit and the Jacobean succession Paulina Kewes I n recent years, a new consensus has begun to emerge among leading early modern historians about Puritan attitudes towards the succession after the execution of Mary Queen of Scots in February 1587. Fundamental to this consensus is the claim that as soon as the Catholic Mary died on the block, godly Englishmen who hankered after further reform of the Church embraced her Protestant son James VI of Scotland as their preferred candidate for the throne. Nicholas Tyacke, for example
9780719078729_4_002.qxd 11/26/08 10:33 Page 44 Chapter 2 The issue of succession: politics and theology, 1701–09 A lthough William III had been seen as a providential gift from God to secure Protestantism in England upon his arrival in 1688, he was never a greatly loved monarch. His death in 1702, tragic at the age of fifty-one though it was, did not stir the nation into a collective outpouring of grief. William’s final years had been marked by anticipating war with France – over the succession in Spain – and determining a method to finance it. As per the Act
Succession of the Parsons family at Birr Succession of the Parsons family at Birr The Earls of Rosse of the second creation Sir Laurence Parsons, 6th Bart, b. 1738, 2nd Earl of Rosse, 1807–41* Sir William Parsons, 7th Bart, b. 1800, 3rd Earl of Rosse, 1841–67 Sir Laurence Parsons, 8th Bart, b. 1840, 4th Earl of Rosse, 1867–1908 Sir William Parsons, 9th Bart, b. 1873, 5th Earl of Rosse, 1908–18 Sir (Laurence) Michael Parsons, 10th Bart, b. 1906, 6th Earl of Rosse, 1918–79 Sir (William) Brendan Parsons, 11th Bart, b. 1936, 7th Earl of Rosse, 1979– * Laurence, b