 |
 |
I.e., Hamlet, Lear, and Macbeth, like the frame of The Arcadia, are riddled with the anxieties of The Succession. On Fri, 25 Jul 2008 12:02:46 +0100 Penny M <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Thank you for the Denmark connection - and the Polish. Wasn't Philip an > elected count of Poland? But see also his Defence of Leicester, in which >he > claims that John Dudley was descended from the house of Berkeley which was > itself descended ‘lineally’ from a King of Denmark. Even while stressing > that in heraldic law, succession rightly lies with the one who descends >from > the oldest sister. (Not with Elizabeth, then: I think the Defence is no > naïve mistake, as some have claimed.) > Penny. > > -----Original Message----- >From: Sidney-Spenser Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] > On Behalf Of James C. Nohrnberg > Sent: 24 July 2008 18:12 > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Elective Monarchy lights on Denmark > > This sounds right to me. The republican strain is a stalking-horse, but > (for some literary reflections of all of this) Hamlet's dying voice is for > the election of Fortinbras, (as formerly Hamlet deplored the election [by > some kind of default] of Claudius [Ham. V.ii.65], and as earlier seems >about > > to light upon Laertes in a coup ["The rabble call him lord; / And .... The > ratifiers and props of every word, ' / They cry 'Choose we: Laertes shall > be king:' Caps, hands, and tongues applaud it to the clouds:" > IV.v.102ff.). > > Meanwhile Fortinbras has been stalking Poland, where the monarchy was > likewise elective--famously or infamously, apparently. Elizabeth's own > voice is said to have been, sotto voce, for James: for his succession, >but > also, in a way, for his election in lieu of Tudor issue lineally extract. > See, for the legendary character of the Polish constitution, and the > general rule (or practice) of elective monarchy amongst Germanic peoples, >to > > which English "vox populi" Republicans might appeal as precedent, esp. in > the deposition of Charles I, Earl R. Wasserman, "The Meaning of 'Poland' >in > [Dryden's] _The Medal_" in Mod. Lang. Notes 73:3 (March 1958). Cp. also > Hamlet III.ii.356, "You have the voice of the king himself / For your > succession" with Ros.&Guild. on "The cease of majesty" as a "massy wheel" > (Ham. III.iii.11 ff.) creating a gulf-like power-vacuum (implicitly, > perhaps, making for the emergence of elective [rather than dynastic] > monarchic politics). > > On Thu, 24 Jul 2008 16:14:54 +0100 > andrew zurcher <[log in to unmask]> wrote: >> The disputation at Oxford in 1566 was probably not, as Colin says, an orgy > >>of republicanism (led by a demagorgue?), but I still suspect that the whole > >>event was pretty perilously politically charged. Parliamentary debate over >>the issue of the queen's marriage and succession had issued in two >>petitions in 1563, both of which the queen had answered according to >>contemporary accounts angrily, and another (perhaps informal?) petition in >>1566, which provoked a response preserved by none other than Harington (in >>which E promised to be no step-dame but a 'natural mother'). The prospect >>of the 'election' of a monarch after the death of a dhildless queen, the >>last of Henry VIII's children, was a real one. Thus a conclusion in favour >>of succession was tantamount to an exhortation to marry and procreate -- >>which is just the same old heavyhandedness that angered Elizabeth in >>Parliament, now at arm's length. In other words, the politically sensitive >>part of this disputation was likely not the argument in favour of electio >>(a stalking-horse), but that in favour of successio! >> >> az >> >>> Leche of Merton asked 'An Princeps declarandus esset electione potius >>> quam successione' The same Leche 'elegantem orationem habuit contra >>> successionem et pro electione in creando Rege' (238). A Mr Matthew also >>> spoke for 'electio'. Then 'ad extremum Mr Cooper Magdel. pro successione >>> determinavit,cum adjectione maximi periculi si Regnum relinqueretur de >>> successione incertum' -so it probably wasn't an orgy of republicanism, >>> what with all the students crying out 'vivat regina' and all. > > [log in to unmask] > James Nohrnberg > Dept. of English, Bryan Hall 219 > Univ. of Virginia > P.O Box 400121 > Charlottesville, VA 22904-4121 [log in to unmask] James Nohrnberg Dept. of English, Bryan Hall 219 Univ. of Virginia P.O Box 400121 Charlottesville, VA 22904-4121