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Essay Subject: Examines reign of 16th Cent. queen, focusing on self-serving aspects of her role as patron of the arts.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Examines reign of 16th Cent. queen, focusing on self-serving aspects of her role as patron of the arts. Paper Introduction: The special character of the arts patronage of Elizabeth I and her Court derived from the many anomalies inherent in the 45-year reign of an unmarried woman to whose questionable legitimacy (of birth as well as right to rule) was added her consistent failure to marry or, in later years, to name her successor. The great number of issues raised by these circumstances were addressed in the painting, literature, music, and pageantry sponsored by Elizabeth and by the members of her Court. Over the course of the Queen's long reign there was considerable variation in the particular issues that needed to be addressed and in the strategies invoked to deal with them. But in all instances the ideas expressed in officially-sponsored art and pageantry were calculated to reinforce the legitimacy and stability of Elizabeth's rule. This was manifestly a joint effort since the Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. The poem consistedof elaborate praise of Elizabeth "in which her virginity is seen as anecessary aspect of her achievement in governing the body politic, bringingpeace, plenty, good government and the maintenance of God's word" (Strong,Gloriana 97). The Tudor and Stuart Monarchy: Pageantry, Painting, Iconography: II Elizabethan. Intimationsof empire "became inextricably linked with the maintenance of the Queen'smaiden state" and one of the principal drawbacks of the ruler's gender wasrendered a positive attribute (Strong, Tudor 12). . The change in the participants is asignificant example of the growing importance of the public image of theQueen that was being created by Elizabeth and her court. The Cult of Elizabeth: Elizabethan Portraiture and Pageantry. The sieve iconography occurs, therefore, at the point where Elizabethfinally made clear her intention to remain unmarried. The members of her Courtsponsored the representations of the Queen, helped shape the variousiconographical schemes, and even represented themselves as wholeheartedlyconvinced by the projected image. The incorporation of this story into Elizabeth's iconography is anexcellent example of how the representation of the Queen shifted accordingto the needs of the moment. While those of heradvisors who did not want the problems of a new Catholic ruler like Anjouwere important in promoting this new aspect of her image, the sieveportraits also refer to Elizabeth's definitive new vision of her role. TheQueen is shown three-quarter length and holds the sieve prominently in herleft hand, a few inches below her waist. And, as can be seen inthe version painted by George Gower in 1579 (Strong, Gloriana 94) and theQuentin Massys version (c. It is likely, forexample, that the emphasis on the Queen's virginity was approached in anentirely different fashion in the earlier years when there was still somehope that she would marry. Works CitedLevin, Carol. Over thecourse of the Queen's long reign there was considerable variation in theparticular issues that needed to be addressed and in the strategies invokedto deal with them. But by 159 it is clear that the medievalnotion of chivalrous devotion to a virtuous lady was combined with theclassicizing idealization of Elizabeth's virginity per se. 7), for example,Elizabeth stands atop a globe of the world with her feet planted on the mapof England and "in one amazing image . Her dress is relatively simple inboth versions and the sieve stands out against her plain black skirt. Incomparison with the intensive elaboration of symbolism in other portraitsthis clearly indicates the great importance of this particular symbol. Thus the"series of set tableaux of the Fairy Queen and her knights" which made upthe Accession Day Tournaments were essentially a "weaving [of] personalbiography and public life" in which the members of the Court and the Queensymbolically acted out, for the benefit of the people, the notion of theruler on which the country's success and security rested (Strong, Cult 153-54). As the combination of the portraits and the poem demonstrate, therewas an abrupt appearance of art that celebrated the Queen's chastity as avital aspect of her ability to rule. This identification of Elizabeth'svirgin body with her island nation produced yet another facet ofElizabethan iconography as in Shakespeare's The Rape of Lucrece and TitusAndronicus, for example, women's bodies became "metaphors for societiesthreatened" (Woodbridge 329). woman and kingdom hav[e] becomeinterchangeable" (Strong, Tudor 13). Gloriana: The Portraits of Queen Elizabeth. Patricia Parker and David Quint. Although Elizabeth gained widespread acceptance and approval assovereign, popular opposition to her rule was always fairly strong.Because she had neither a standing army nor "a very elaborate, effectivepolice structure" Elizabeth, like her father, derived much of her authorityfrom her ability "to convince the people of [her] sanctity and power ratherthan from brute force" (Levin, "'We shall never" 79). "'We shall never have a merry world while the Queene lyveth' Gender, Monarchy, and the Power of Seditious Words." Dissing Elizabeth: Negative Representations of Gloriana. In keeping with themyth of Elizabethan chivalry Essex, as one of her favorites, addressed theQueen in terms of a love that was "as artificial as the language in whichhe expressed it" (Levin, Heart 152). London: Thames and Hudson, 1977.---. The most famous and striking example ofthe Courtier's position is the somewhat extreme case of the Earl of Essexwhose secret marriage, reckless expenditures, and "propensity for foreignadventures that were spectacular failures" lost him Elizabeth's favor(Levin, Heart 15 ). Seditious wordsuttered against Elizabeth were usually dealt with harshly. 1592) (Strong, Tudor ill. Thus the Court and Elizabeth worked to overcome the problemspresented by a female ruler. The notion of Elizabeth's body as contiguous with England was, ofcourse, a legal reality. 71-95.Montrose, Louis Adrian. Three nearly identical "Sieve' portraits date from 1579 andother versions were painted in succeeding years. who werespecifically engaged in production of the texts, icons, and performances inwhich the queen was variously represented to her people, to her court, toforeign powers, and (of course) to Elizabeth herself" (Montrose 318). "The Elizabethan Subject and the Spenserian Text." Literary Theory / Renaissance Texts. Durham, NC: Duke UP, 1998. Thus Elizabeth was dedicated to controllingthe processes in which the people's notion of the public Queen wasproduced. "Palisading the Elizabeth Body Politic." Texas Studies in Literature and Language 33 (1991): 327-54. The suppression of sedition was only a reactive strategy andplayed a minor role in image control as it was practiced by the last Tudormonarch. Solong as her advisors had viewed the Queen as a woman about to marry andprovide the kingdom with a male ruler they envisioned their relationship toher in terms of the female paradigm in which she was merely "the mediumthrough which power, authority, and legitimacy are passed betweengenerations of men" (Montrose 31 ). But the depiction of this notion in art began atthe point at which it became clear that, so long as Elizabeth lived, herswas the only body that was going to fulfill the role of sovereign. The splendor of the spectacles--from jeweled costumes to stirringmusic--was captured by the poet George Peele who described the 159 tournament in which Sir Henry Lee relinquished his position as Queen'schampion to a younger man. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1987.---. Walker. But in all instances the ideas expressed in officially-sponsored art and pageantry were calculated to reinforce the legitimacy andstability of Elizabeth's rule. The story was known from Lord Morley'stranslation of Petrarch's poem Triumph of Chastity but the idea ofrepresenting Elizabeth in possession of attributes of the virgin Tuccia wasnew in 1579. Elizabeth's "imperial destiny" is further alludedto by a globe of the world that shows ships sailing to all its points(Strong, Tudor 12). Whether she was depicted--in word or image--as an Old Testament figure such as Deborah, a classical goddess such asDiana, a Protestant alternative to the Virgin Mary, or the embodiment ofendangered England itself Elizabeth was invariably depicted as necessary tothe nation's survival. This myth, which was only one of several important strains inElizabeth's iconography, centered around such public ceremonials as theAccession Day Tournaments in which Elizabeth's rule was celebrated. The defense of the Queen's virginity was,therefore, a duty equivalent to the defense of the realm itself. This phenomenon occurred at preciselythe time that Elizabeth was being sued for her hand by the last of hersuitors, the Duke of Anjou, and its various versions "must be seen asstatements against the marriage by means of a deliberate intensification ofthe mystique of chastity" as a leadership attribute (Strong, Gloriana 97). Ed. By the 158 s, however, the Tournamentlists included increasing numbers of young noblemen, "men of power,substance and ambition, anxious to fight and to turn a courtly complimentat the same time" (Strong, Cult 135). The Queen's councilors had scornfullyreferred to her unmarried status as "a Vestal nunne," but Elizabethappropriated this supposed slander by dedicating her virginity to theservice of the state--becoming a wife devoted to the welfare of Englandrather than that of her husband's household (quoted in Montrose 31 ). In the Massys picture,for example, the Queen stands in front of a carved column featuringmedallions that tell the story of Dido and Aeneas. Unfortunately, because of their ephemeral nature, relativelylittle is known about the Accession Day Tournaments. Like Aeneas, herpurported ancestor, Elizabeth would reject the claims of love in favor ofestablishing an empire. The Earl of Cumberland, forexample, posed with his lance and shield wearing the Queen's jeweled glovein his hat (Strong, Cult 157) while Robert, Viscount Fitzwalter, later Earlof Sussex, had himself painted as the White Knight (Strong, Cult plate IV). 3 3-4 .Strong, Roy. Thus the Massys portrait established a pattern thatwould be followed in subsequent representations of the Queen. The vestalaltars at the Tournaments and, most famously, the "Sieve" portraits of theQueen refer to the story of Tuccia, a Roman Vestal Virgin who, "on beingaccused of impurity, filled a sieve with water from the River Tiber andcarried it without spilling one drop to the Temple" (Strong, Gloriana 96). Important menparticipated in the tilts and in the fashion of having their portraitspainted in the guise of the Queen's champions. In hisEuphues and his England (158 ) Lyly included the story of Tuccia among anumber of classical demonstrations of female chastity. But the Sieve portraits also presented the alternative version ofEngland that Elizabeth and her advisors desired. But Mary ruled for only a brief time and for Elizabethrestrictive notions about female roles and gossip about her supposedliaisons with courtiers made popular discontent an even greater threat.Scandalous tales and rumor had helped to destroy her mother and had posed aserious threat to her father. Treasonoushopes for her death were as common as those spoken against her father andher sister. In his "rich embroidery, / And costly caparisoncharged with crowns" Sir Henry paid tribute at "a fair pavilion hard athand / Where holy lights burn'd on the hallow'd shrine / To Virtue or Vestaconsecrate" (quoted in Strong, Tudor 1 7). This was manifestly a joint effort sincethe Queen could not hope to rule without the support of those around her,while this same group of men feared the lack of a legitimate ruler--otherthan the Catholic Mary Stuart--and saw Elizabeth as the only viablealternative. Philadelphia: U of Pennsylvania P, 1994.---. 4), thepresentation of the sieve symbol is remarkably direct and uncluttered. . Prior to this Essex had been one of the primary practitionersof the elaborate chivalric devotion to the aging Queen that had been anintrinsic element of her public image since the 157 s. Thesignificance of the sieve and the Vestal ideal was reiterated, anddeveloped further, in the following year by the poet John Lyly. Elizabeth was aided in her attempt to control this process by thosewith the greatest stake in her monarchy. . "The Heart and Stomach of a King": Elizabeth I and the Politics of Sex and Power. The tournamentsbegan around 1572 and the participants were usually the members of theQueen's Gentleman Pensioners--handsome, well-born men who served as adecorative retinue for the Queen. In thefamous "Ditchley Portrait" (c. Far more important was the nature of the public Elizabeth R being"systematically and consciously fashioned by those . Thesetilts were elaborate public observances which "exercised a potent influenceon the imagination" of the age through their "marriage of the arts in theservice of Elizabethan statecraft" (Strong, Cult 129). By 159 , then, this was theessence of the celebration--the very pointed emphasis on the virginity ofElizabeth. Woodbridge, England: Boydell, 1995.Woodbridge, Linda. . Julia M. The special character of the arts patronage of Elizabeth I and herCourt derived from the many anomalies inherent in the 45-year reign of anunmarried woman to whose questionable legitimacy (of birth as well as rightto rule) was added her consistent failure to marry or, in later years, toname her successor. 158 -83) (Strong, Tudor ill. The rewards of politics flowed directlyfrom Elizabeth and were contingent on participation in the maintenance ofthe public image of the sovereign. The great number of issues raised by thesecircumstances were addressed in the painting, literature, music, andpageantry sponsored by Elizabeth and by the members of her Court. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1986. Ed. Her refusal to renew his ten-year monopoly on sweetwines precipitated financial disaster for Essex and provoked his ill-fatedrebellion. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.