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‘His wel beloved doughter Lady Mary’: representing Mary Tudor in 1534
Author(s) -
Hamrick Stephen
Publication year - 2017
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/rest.12232
Subject(s) - politics , public sphere , law , celebrity culture , identity (music) , agency (philosophy) , negotiation , sociology , political science , art , media studies , aesthetics , social science
Giles Duwes's An Introductorie for to Learn to Read, to Pronounce, and to Speak French and John Heywood's ‘Geve Place, ye Ladyes’ (both 1534) initially seem insignificant publishing events. Serving, however, as both public counsel and as strategic negotiations of royal authority, these texts actively competed in a public sphere growing in the 1530s. Hoping to control royal representations in that public sphere, the Treasons Act of 1534 made it a capital offence to question Henry's authority or his decisions. Writing in this dangerous political moment, servants of the Crown, Duwes and Heywood, carefully enter the public debate on Henry's religio‐legal authority and his divorce, significantly recasting the political identity of Mary. Rather than effectively marginalized or silenced, Mary emerges in 1534 as a gifted royal princess dedicated to God, to family, and to protecting her royal image. Such a strong image, moreover, circulated effectively despite the Crown's efforts to demote the popular princess to simply ‘Lady Mary’, the ‘King's daughter’. As respected members of the contemporary ‘publics’ or public sphere, Duwes and Heywood reject that demotion, countering the king's propaganda as they work to bolster Mary's royal agency in a then‐fading culture of counsel.