The theatre of death : rituals of justice from the English civil wars to the Restoration / P.J. Klemp.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Klemp, P. J., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Public executions--Great Britain--History--17th century.

Public executions.

Executions and executioners--Great Britain--History--17th century.

Executions and executioners.

History.

Great Britain--History--Stuarts, 1603-1714.

Great Britain.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xix, 353 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Newark : University of Delaware Press, [2016]

Summary:

The Theatre of Death discusses rituals of justice-such as public executions, printed responses to the Archbishop of Canterbury's execution speech, and King Charles I's treason trial-in early modern England. Focusing on the ways in which genres shape these events' multiple voices, P. J. Klemp analyzes the rituals' genres and the diverse perspectives from which we must understand them. The execution ritual, like such cultural forms as plays and films, is a collaborative production that can be understood only; and only incompletely, by being alert to the presence of its many participants and their contributions. Each of these participants brings a voice to the execution ritual, whether it is the judge and jury or the victim, executioner, sheriff and other authorities, spiritual councilors, printers, or spectators and readers. And each has at least one role to play No matter how powerful some institutions and individuals may appear, none has a monopoly over authority and how the events take shape on and beyond the scaffold. The centerpiece of the mid-seventeenth-century's theatre of death was the condemned man's last dying utterance. This study focuses on the words and contexts of many of those final speeches, including those of King Charles I (1649), Archbishop William Laud (1645), and the Earl of Strafford (1641), as well as those of less well known royalists and regicides. Where we situate ourselves to view, hear, and comprehend a public execution-through specific participants' eyes, ears, and minds or accounts-shapes our interpretation of the ritual. It is impossible to achieve a singular, carefully indoctrinated meaning of an event as complex as a state-sponsored public execution. Along with the variety of voices and meanings, the nature and purpose of the rituals of justice maintain a significant amount of consistency in a number of eras and cultural contexts. Whether the focus is on the trial and execution of the Marian martyrs, English royalists in the 1640s and 1650s, or the Restorations regicides, the events draw on a set of cultural expectations or conventions. Because rituals of justice are shaped by diverse voices and agendas, with the participants' scripts and counterscripts converging and colliding, they are dramatic moments conveying profound meanings. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 "I have been bred upon the Theater of death, and have learned that part": The Execution Ritual during the English Revolution 43

2 The Earl of Strafford's Trial and Scaffold Speech: Texts and Contexts 75

3 The Earl of Strafford's Trial and Scaffold Speech: Textual Aftermaths 113

4 Archbishop William Laud in the Theatre of Execution 143

5 Civil War Politics and the Texts of Archbishop William Laud's Execution Sermon and Prayers 169

6 Genre Criticism and the Animadversions upon Archbishop William Laud's Execution Sermon and Prayers 201

7 Self-Referential Defense Strategies in King Charles l's Treason Trial 231

8 The Earl of Strafford, Archbishop Laud, and King Charles l's Deflation of Genre in His Speech Made upon the Scaffold 269

9 "The Last Actors in This Bloody Tragedy": The Regicides in the Theatre of Death 293.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Online version: Klemp, P. J., author. Theatre of death

ISBN:

9781611496284

1611496284

OCLC:

953630678