Buradasınız

Anasayfa » Content

Conversations with a Lady: Women and the Religious Debate in Caroline Print Culture

Conversations with a Lady: Women and the Religious Debate in Caroline Print Culture

Journal Name:

  • Hacettepe Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi

Publication Year:

  • 2009

Key Words:

Keywords (Original Language):

Author NameUniversity of AuthorFaculty of Author
Abstract (2. Language): 
Women's participation in the print culture associated with the Caroline court is often discussed as a special category of literary history, isolated from the specific contexts of Charles I's policies and the ongoing religious conflicts disrupting Europe. Charles I's reign saw a gradual movement towards absolutism, demonstrated by his decision to rule without Parliament between 1629 and 1640, vigorous censorship of religious and political criticism, and embrace of the doctrine of the Divine Right of Kings. His controversial commitment to Arminianism**, and continued penalisation of Roman Catholics also ensured that some communities remained alienated from the court. Rather than examining women writers as a separate group, it is fruitful to analyse their role within the wider print culture generated in this atmosphere. While the increasingly feminocentric court enabled some women to transgress conservative norms concerning gender to construct themselves as authors, the court was far from being a homogeneous community. Male and female-authored texts tend to demonstrate their authors' primary commitment to specific religious and political communities, and willingness to negotiate with the dominant discourses of the court in order to promote them. Nevertheless, women as authors or addressees of printed texts debating religious allegiance became an increasingly conspicuous aspect of Caroline literature. The genre I describe as "conversations with a lady" included both court propaganda and attempts to intervene in the discourses of the court. The prayer book compiled for women by Bishop John Cosin (1627), for example, was commissioned by the king as part of his drive to reconcile an increasingly Calvinist English community to Arminian Protestantism, but initiated by Protestant women at Queen Henrietta Maria's court wishing to assert their religious identity against the ostentatious Catholicism of the queen's French entourage. While Puritan authors responded by conflating anti-feminist and anti-Catholic critiques of the court, two examples of printed texts by women addressing the court attempt to mediate between the dominant royalist ethos and disparate religious groups. The first, a set of poetic meditations (1634), by Alice Sutcliffe, can be read as a response to the prayer book project and an attempt to mediate between the courtly centre and Puritan impulses.The second, a translation by Susan DuVerger of the Roman Catholic religious romances by Bishop Jean-Paul Camus (1639), represents an attempt to disseminate popular Catholic literature amongst a Protestant English audience. Printed addresses to, and discussions with, prominent women before and during the civil wars and Interregnum also construct women as disinterested judges, mediators and commentators on religious matters. Women's visibility in court culture meant that they increasingly became the authors, commissioners and addressees of religious texts in the Caroline period, while gender, as a means of avoiding censorship and resisting politicisation, became a powerful weapon in the religious debate.
Bookmark/Search this post with
Abstract (Original Language): 
Caroline sarayıyl a bağdaştırılan kadınların yayıncılığa katılımları, genellikle Charles I'in politikaları ve Avrupa'yı etkileyen dini çatışmalardan bağımsız, özel bir edebiyat tarihi kategorosinde incelenir. Charles I'in krallığı döneminde, 1629-1640 yılları arasında ülkeyi Parlamentosuz yönetme, dini ve politik eleştirilerin sansür edilmesi ve İlahi Hak Teorisi ilkesinin benimsenmesi gibi olaylarda görüldüğü gibi, mutlakiyete doğru bir kayma görülür. Kral'ın Arminian Anglikanizm'i kabullenme çelişkisi ve Roman Katolik'lerin cezalandırılmaya devam edilmesi bazı toplulukların saraya yabancılaştığını kanıtlar. Kadınları ayrı bir grupta incelemek yerine bu atmosferin yarattığı daha geniş kapsamlı basım kültürü içindeki rolleri açısından incelemek daha yararlı olacaktır. Gittikçe kadın merkezli olmaya başlayan saray, bazı kadınların geleneksel değerleri aşıp yazar olmalarına imkan sağladıysa da, saray homojen bir topluluktan oluşmuyordu. Kadın ve erkek yazarlı tüm metinler yazarlarının belli bir dini ve siyasi topluluğa temel adanmışlıklarını ve ilerlemek için sarayın temel baskın söylemlerine uyma isteklerini yansıtma eğilimindeydi. Yine de, dini uzlaşmayı dile getiren yazılı metinlerin yazarları ya da okuyucuları olarak kadınlar gittikçe Caroline edebiyatının göze çarpan ögeleri olmuşlardır. "Bir hanımla söyleşiler" diye tanımlayacağımız edebi tür hem saray propagandası hem de saray söylemine dahil olma girişimlerini kapsar. Kral'ın John Cosin'e (1627) bir kadın için dua kitabı bastırması, onun Protestan İngiliz cemaatinin Arminianizm ile barıştırması çabasının bir uzantısıdır, ancak bu kraliçenin Fransız maiyetinin gösterişli Roman Katolizm'ine karşı Protestan kadınlar tarafından Henrietta Maria'nın sarayında tanıtılmıştır. Puritan yazarlar saraya anti-feminist ve anti-katolik eleştirileriyle veryansın ederken, iki kadın tarafından saraya hitaben yazılan iki metin baskın kralcı düşünceyle farklı dini gruplar arasında arabuluculuk yapmayı hedefler. İlk olarak, Protestan Alice Sutcliffe'in yazdığı, şiirsel düşünceler serisi (1634) dua kitabı projesi'ne bir yanıt ve saray çevresi ile Puritan duyarlılık arasında arabuluculuk yapma girişimi olarak ele alınabilir. İkincisi ise Susan DuVerger'in, Fransız reform karşıtı yazar Jean Paul Camus'un (1639) Roman Katolik dini romanslarının çevirisidir ve popüler Katolik edebiyatı Protestan İngiliz okurlar arasında yayma girişimidir. İç Savaş dönemi ve öncesinde önemli kadınlarla ve önemli kadınlara hitaben basılan metinler de kadınlara dini konularda tarafsız yargılama, arabuluculuk ve yorumcu rollerini yükler. Saray kültüründe kadınların görünmesi, onların Caroline döneminde giderek saraya hitap eden politik-dini metinlerin yazarları, sorumluları ve hatipleri oldukları anlamına gelmekteydi, sansür ve siyasileşmeden kaçınmanın bir yolu olarak cinsiyet önemli bir dini tartışma silahı olarak kullanılmıştır.
FULL TEXT (PDF): 
PDF icon arastirmax-conversations-lady-women-and-religious-debate-caroline-print-culture.pdf
  • 1
49-67
  • Turkish

REFERENCES

References: 

Adams, S. (1973). Calvinist communities as a political issue in England, 1585-1630. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Oxford University.
Adams, S. (2002). Leicester and the court. Manchester: Manchester UP.
Auchter, D. (2001). A dictionary of literary and dramatic censorship in Tudor and Stuart England. Westport, Co: Greenwood.
Aughterson, K. (Ed.). (1998). The Renaissance: An anthology of sources and documents. London and New York: Routledge.
Boscobel, P. (1896). The life of Sir Kenelm Digby. London, New York and Bombay: Longman, Green and Co.
Burgess, G. (1996). Absolute monarchy and the Stuart constitution. New Haven and London: Yale
UP.
Burke, V. (1996). Women and seventeenth-century manuscript culture: Miscellanies, commonplace books and songbooks compiled by English and Scottish women, 1600-1660. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Oxford University.
Clarke, E., and Clarke, D. (Ed.). (2000). This double voice: Gendered writing in early modern England. Basingstoke: Macmillan.
Collins, J. (Ed.). (1996). The early modern Englishwoman: A facsimile library of essential works, Part 1. Printed writings 1500-1640. Volume 5, Susan DuVerger. Aldershot: Scolar.
Corns, T. (2007). A history of seventeenth-century English literature. Oxford, MA and Victoria: Blackwell.
Cosin, J. (1627). A collection of private devotions, in the practice of the ancient church, called the hours of prayer. London.
Cosin, J. (1869). The correspondence of John Cosin, DD., Lord Bishop of Durham, Together with other papers illustrative of his times. Vol. 1. Ed. Ornsby. Surtees Society 52. London and Edinburgh: Blackwell.
Cosin, J. (1843-55). Works. Ed. J. Sansom. Volume 4 (1853). Oxford: J.H. Parker.
Crashaw, R. (1652). Carmen Deo Nostro. Paris.
Crashaw, R. (1653). A letter from Mr. Crashaw to the Countess of Denbigh. London.
Cullen, PC. (Ed.). (1996). The early modern Englishwoman: A facsimile library of essential works, Part 1. Printed Writings, 1500-1640. Volume 7, Alice Sutcliffe. Aldershot: Scolar.
Cust, P, and Hughes, A. (Ed.). (1989). Conflict in early Stuart England: Studies in religion and politics, 1603-1642. London and New York: Longman.
Digby, K. (1638). A conference with a lady about the choice of religion. Paris.
DuVerger, S. (1639). Admirable events by Jean-Paul Camus, with certain moral relations. London.
DuVerger, S. (1996). In J. Collins (Ed.), The early modern Englishwoman: A facsimile library of essential works, Part 1. Printed writings 1500-1640. Volume 5, Susan DuVerger. Aldershot: Scolar.
Filmer, R. (1680). Patriarcha, or the natural power of kings. London.
Findlay, A. (2006). Playing spaces in early women's drama. Cambridge: Cambridge UP
65
Conversations with a Lady: Women and the Religious Debate in Caroline Print Culture
Fisher, N.R.R. (1993). The queenes courte in her councell chamber at Westminster. English
Historical Review, 108, 314-337.
Hibbard, C.M. (1983). Charles I and the Popish plot. Chapel Hill: North Carolina UP.
Hinds, A.B. (Ed.). (1864-90). Calendar of State papers, Venetian series. 38 volumes. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office.
Hughey, R. (1934). Forgotten verses by Ben Jonson, George Wither, and Others to Alice Sutcliffe. R.E.S. 10, 156-64.
Laud, W. (1637). A speech delivered in the Star-Chamber. London.
Lenton, F. (1638). Great Britains beauties, or, the female glory. London.
Lockyer, R. (1981). Buckingham: The life and political career of George Villiers, first Duke of Buckingham, 1592-1628. London and New York: Longman.
Man, J. (1640). An epitome of the history of the fair Argenis and Polyarchus. London.
Manning, B. (1973). The aristocracy and the downfall of Charles I. In B. Manning (Ed.), Politics, religion and the English civil war (pp. 37-80). London: Edward Arnold.
Marotti, A.F. (2005). Religious ideology and cultural fantasy: Catholic and anti-catholic discourses in early modern England. Indiana: Notre Dame UP.
Newcomb, L.H. (2007). Gendering prose romance in Renaissance England. In C. Saunders (Ed.), A companion to romance from classical to contemporary (pp. 121-139). Oxford, MA and Victoria.
Ornsby, C. (Ed.). (1869). The correspondence of John Cosin, DD., Lord Bishop of Durham, together with other papers illustrative of his times. Vol. 1. Surtees Society 52. London and Edinburgh: Blackwell.
Petrie, C. (Ed.). (1968). The letters, speeches and proclamations of King Charles I. London: Cassell.
Potter, L. (1989). Secret rites and secret writing: Royalist literature, 1641-1660. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.
Prynne, W. (1627). A briefe survey and censure of Mr Cozens his couzening devotions. London.
Prynne, W. (1637). A briefe relation of certaine special and most material passages and speeches in the Starre-Chamber. London.
Reeve, L.J. (2003). Charles I and the road to personal rule. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.
Rubin, D. and Huston, K.G. (1991). Sir Kenelm Digby, F.R.S., 1603-1665: A bibliography based on the collection of K. Garth Huston. Novata CA: Norman.
Salzman, P. (1985). English prose fiction, 1558-1700: A critical history. Oxford: Clarendon.
Sansom, J. (Ed.). (1843-1855). The works of the right reverend father in God, John Cosin. 5 volumes. Volume 4, Miscellaneous Works (1851). Oxford: J.H. Parker.
Saunders, J. (1999). Caroline drama: The plays of Massinger, Ford, Shirley and Brome. Plymouth: Northcote House.
Sharpe, K. (1987). The image of virtue: the court and household of Charles I, 1625-1642. In D. Starkey (Ed.), The English court: from the wars of the Roses to the Civil War (pp. 226-260). Harlow, Essex: Longman.
Sharpe, K. (1992). The personal rule of Charles I. New Haven and London: Yale UP.
66
Catherine COUSSENS
Shell,
A
. (2006, September). Review of Arthur F. Marotti, Religious ideology and cultural fantasy: Catholic and anti-catholic discourses in early modern England. Early Modern Literary Studies 12.2. Retrieved June 15, 2008, from http://purl.oclc.org/emls/12-2/revmarot.htm
Smith, D. (1994). Constitutional royalism and the search for settlement. Cambridge, New York and Melbourne: Cambridge UP.
Smuts, R.M. (1987). Court culture and the origins of a royalist Tradition in early Stuart England. Philadelphia: Pennsylvania UP.
Sommerville, J.P. (1999). Royalists and patriots: Politics and ideology in England, 1603-1640 (2nd ed.). London: Longman.
Speght, R. (1621). Mortalities memorandum. London.
Stephen, L. and Lee, S. (Ed.). (1885-1912). Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder and Co.
Suckling, J. (1640). To Mr Henry German, in the beginning of parliament. London.
Sutcliffe, A. (1634). Meditations of mans mortalitie, or a way to true blessedness. London.
Sutcliffe, A. (1996). Meditations of mans mortalitie, or a way to true blessedness. In P.C. Cullen (Ed.). The early modern Englishwoman: A facsimile library of essential works, Part 1. Printed Writings, 1500-1640. Volume 7, Alice Sutcliffe. Aldershot: Scolar.
Tyacke, N. (2001). Aspects of English protestantism, c. 1530-1700. Manchester: Manchester UP.
Veevers, E. (1989). Images of love and religion: Queen Henrietta Maria and court entertainments. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.
Walker, K. (1996). Women writers of the English Renaissance. New York: Twayne.
Weamys, A. (1651). A Continuation of Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadia. London.
White, M. (2006). Henrietta Maria and the English civil wars. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.

Thank you for copying data from http://www.arastirmax.com