Alterations of state : sacred kingship in the English Reformation / Richard C. McCoy.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

McCoy, Richard C., 1946-

Contributor:

Horace Howard Furness Memorial Library (University of Pennsylvania)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

English literature--Early modern, 1500-1700--History and criticism.

English literature.

Kings and rulers in literature.

Christianity and literature--Great Britain--History--16th century.

Christianity and literature.

Christianity and literature--Great Britain--History--17th century.

Kings and rulers--Religious aspects--Christianity.

Kings and rulers.

Politics and literature--Great Britain--History.

Politics and literature.

Church and state in literature.

State, The, in literature.

Holy, The, in literature.

Monarchy in literature.

History.

Great Britain.

Physical Description:

xxiv, 218 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Columbia University Press, [2002]

Summary:

During the English reformation, writers like John Skelton, Shakespeare, John Milton, and Andrew Marvell grappled with the idea of kingship and royalty, its real presence and figurative power. McCoy explains why religious devotion to the royal person became both more acute and more problematic during Englands turbulent seventeenth century. The reformation involved the suppression of the Mass and the host and the elevation in their stead of royal icons, beginning a religious controversy that would lead to wars of conquest abroad and civil war at home, and to regicide, restoration and ultimately revolution.

Contents:

1. Real Presence to Royal Presence 1

2. Sacred Space: John Skelton and Westminster's Royal Sepulcher 23

3. Rites of Memory: Shakespeare and the Elizabethan Compromise 55

4. Idolizing Kings: John Milton and Stuart Rule 87

5. Sacramental to Sentimental: Andrew Marvell and the Restoration 123.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [157]-203) and index.

ISBN:

0231126166

OCLC:

48098387