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‘The mountains are in labour, only mice are born’: Milton and republican diplomacy
Author(s) -
Cox Rosanna
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
renaissance studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.117
H-Index - 16
eISSN - 1477-4658
pISSN - 0269-1213
DOI - 10.1111/j.1477-4658.2009.00592.x
Subject(s) - commonwealth , diplomacy , ideology , negotiation , politics , context (archaeology) , government (linguistics) , political economy , political science , sociology , law , history , philosophy , archaeology , linguistics
This article explores John Milton's role in diplomatic encounters, in government and as propagandist for the commonwealth in the period 1649–1654. Re‐examining the new regime in the light of its pressing need to form a confident, distinctive and authoritative image both at home and abroad, it asks how approaches to the commonwealth were constructed and received at such a politically sensitive moment and by a government in the process of hazardous self‐definition. Looking at Milton and his contemporaries' roles in the Oldenburg embassy and his ‘republican’ interventions in negotiations, this article considers the often fraught relationship between political ideology and political activity in the context of a regime attempting to reconcile ideology with the business of government.