Edward II and a Literature of Same-Sex Love

Edward II and a Literature of Same-Sex Love PDF Author: Michael G. Cornelius
Publisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 1498534597
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 303

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Book Description
The narrative re-tellings of the life, reign, and death of the English King Edward II (reigned 1307–1327) present a unique opportunity for scholars of sexuality in the early modern era. This is because the works of authors like Christopher Marlowe, Michael Drayton, Sir Francis Hubert, Elizabeth Cary, and Richard Niccols were all inspired by the public, cultural memory fashioned from Edward’s same-sex love affair with Piers Gaveston. As such, each of them presents a particular representation of and a specific discourse about male-male sexual relations in the Renaissance. In other words, what these works present is a concentrated body of literature about same-sex love in the early modern era: works that openly and frankly explore the possible origins of the love, the reasons and causes for it; works that explore the ramifications of male-male romantic relationships; works that explore the sexual politics and sociocultural dynamics of same-sex romantic partnerships; and works that describe and denote same-sex love from an English Renaissance perspective. This study looks at each of the major Renaissance texts about Edward II and examines the means through which each text understands and analyzes the nature of male-male same-sex love. From Marlowe’s crafting of a lover-identity for Edward to Drayton’s obsession with Marlowe’s version of (gay) history; from Hubert’s Augustinian construction of Edward’s nature to Cary’s identification with the fallen king to Niccols’ inspired exemplum, what each of these works demonstrates is that the “love that dare not speak its name” would not be silenced, at least not in the case of Edward and Gaveston. When one sees the name Edward II, one also sees his same-sex loves. The correlation has become ingrained into our public recall of history. Thus, as far as the world is concerned, Edward II was—and ever will be—the gay king.

Edward II and a Literature of Same-Sex Love

Edward II and a Literature of Same-Sex Love PDF Author: Michael G. Cornelius
Publisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 1498534597
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 303

Get Book Here

Book Description
The narrative re-tellings of the life, reign, and death of the English King Edward II (reigned 1307–1327) present a unique opportunity for scholars of sexuality in the early modern era. This is because the works of authors like Christopher Marlowe, Michael Drayton, Sir Francis Hubert, Elizabeth Cary, and Richard Niccols were all inspired by the public, cultural memory fashioned from Edward’s same-sex love affair with Piers Gaveston. As such, each of them presents a particular representation of and a specific discourse about male-male sexual relations in the Renaissance. In other words, what these works present is a concentrated body of literature about same-sex love in the early modern era: works that openly and frankly explore the possible origins of the love, the reasons and causes for it; works that explore the ramifications of male-male romantic relationships; works that explore the sexual politics and sociocultural dynamics of same-sex romantic partnerships; and works that describe and denote same-sex love from an English Renaissance perspective. This study looks at each of the major Renaissance texts about Edward II and examines the means through which each text understands and analyzes the nature of male-male same-sex love. From Marlowe’s crafting of a lover-identity for Edward to Drayton’s obsession with Marlowe’s version of (gay) history; from Hubert’s Augustinian construction of Edward’s nature to Cary’s identification with the fallen king to Niccols’ inspired exemplum, what each of these works demonstrates is that the “love that dare not speak its name” would not be silenced, at least not in the case of Edward and Gaveston. When one sees the name Edward II, one also sees his same-sex loves. The correlation has become ingrained into our public recall of history. Thus, as far as the world is concerned, Edward II was—and ever will be—the gay king.

Edward II and a Literature of Same-sex Love

Edward II and a Literature of Same-sex Love PDF Author: Michael G. Cornelius
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781498534581
Category : English fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
When one sees the name Edward II, one also sees his same-sex loves; this correlation between Edward and sexuality has become ingrained into our public recall of history. This text explores the discourses of sexuality that surround Edward II in Renaissance-era works by Marlowe, Drayton, Hubert, Cary, and Niccols, arguing that, as a result of this very public conversation, Edward II emerges as a unique construction of an identity based on same-sex desire--the veritable once (and future) gay king.

The Reputation of Edward II, 1305-1697

The Reputation of Edward II, 1305-1697 PDF Author: Kit Heyam
Publisher: Amsterdam University Press
ISBN: 9048552141
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 349

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Book Description
During his lifetime and the four centuries following his death, King Edward II (1307-1327) acquired a reputation for having engaged in sexual and romantic relationships with his male favourites, and having been murdered by penetration with a red-hot spit. This book provides the first account of how this reputation developed, providing new insights into the processes and priorities that shaped narratives of sexual transgression in medieval and early modern England. In doing so, it analyses the changing vocabulary of sexual transgression in English, Latin and French; the conditions that created space for sympathetic depictions of same-sex love; and the use of medieval history in early modern political polemic. It also focuses, in particular, on the cultural impact of Christopher Marlowe's Edward II (c.1591-92). Through such close readings of poetry and drama, alongside chronicle accounts and political pamphlets, it demonstrates that Edward's medieval and early modern afterlife was significantly shaped by the influence of literary texts and techniques. A 'literary transformation' of historiographical methodology is, it argues, an apposite response to the factors that shaped medieval and early modern narratives of the past.

Edward II

Edward II PDF Author: Kathryn Warner
Publisher: Pen and Sword History
ISBN: 1399098209
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 214

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Book Description
Edward II is one of the most unsuccessful and unconventional kings in English history, and is well-known for having passionate and probably intimate relationships with men. In modern times, he has often been considered an LGBT+ icon of sorts. Edward II: His Sexuality and Relationships looks at the men in the king’s life and examines the relations he had with them in the context of medieval notions of sexuality and the famous, albeit almost certainly mythical, idea that he was murdered with a red-hot poker as punishment for having sex with men. It also investigates Edward’s associations with women. Though often thought of as a gay man, it is more likely that Edward was bisexual: he fathered an illegitimate son in his early twenties, at the age of forty had an intimate encounter with a woman in London which is recorded in his household account, and might even have had an incestuous relationship with his own niece. Edward’s marriage to the king of France’s daughter Isabella, arranged when they were children, has often been depicted as a tragic disaster from start to finish. Edward II: His Sexuality and Relationships takes a detailed look at the royal marriage and at all the evidence that it was in fact a happy and mutually supportive partnership for many years, and at Isabella’s important though over-romanticized association with the baron Roger Mortimer. Because Edward is often assumed to have been solely attracted to men, numerous modern authors have depicted him as a grotesque caricature of a camp, weak, foppish gay man. Edward II: His Sexuality and Relationships reveals him as he truly was: as a chronicler puts it, ‘one of the strongest men in his realm.'

Gaveston

Gaveston PDF Author: Chris Hunt
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Civilization, Medieval
Languages : en
Pages : 328

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Book Description
A brilliant retelling of a true medieval tale that has entered gay mythology. "What Hunt has done is no less than the finest of literature: creating myth, in its most powerful form, whose vision enriches us" -- John Preston "Chris Hunt has carved out a comfortable niche as the author of highly readable historical epics set against a well-researched background" -- Gay times, London "First of all, let it be set down that Piers Gaveston was the most beautiful creation on God's earth, and if it had not been so, his joys and his pains would have been in proportion the less. Set it down that Gaveston had eyes as green as emeralds, and a smile that dazzled like the sun..". And so Edward II begins the famous tale of his excellent Gaveston. They were young lovers blinded by dreams of Camelot and knights in shining armor, but caught in a web of courtly jealousy and prejudice that eventually destroyed them both. Their story has inspired writers and dramatists from Christopher Marlowe to Derek Jarman, and is recreated here in Chris Hunt's inimitable and well-researched style.

LGBTQ+ Literature in the West

LGBTQ+ Literature in the West PDF Author: Robert C. Evans
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 135037184X
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 322

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Book Description
A survey, within one volume, of the history of critical responses to LGBTQ literature from the beginning to the present day, this book explores changes in attitudes, literature and criticism over a period of two and a half thousand years. For various reasons it focuses on literature of 'the West', trying to give readers a clear sense, within a relatively short compass, not only of the development of 'queer' literature (perhaps the most encompassing of all terms) but especially of critical responses to that literature, notably during the past century and particularly the past fifty years. All in all, this book offers a roadmap to much of the excellent scholarship concerning LGBTQ literature that has arisen in the last half-century – an era of unparalleled interest in the topic and an era that has moved the topic from the distant sidelines of literary study to a place ever closer to the center of things.

The She-Wolf of France

The She-Wolf of France PDF Author: Maurice Druon
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 346

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Book Description


The Worst Medieval Monarchs

The Worst Medieval Monarchs PDF Author: Phil Bradford
Publisher: Pen and Sword History
ISBN: 1399083066
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 341

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Book Description
Stephen. John. Edward II. Richard II. Richard III. These five are widely viewed as the worst of England’s medieval kings. Certainly, their reigns were not success stories. Two of these kings lost their thrones, one only avoided doing so by dying, another was killed in battle, and the remaining one had to leave his crown to his opponent. All have been seen as incompetent, their reigns blighted by civil war and conflict. They tore the realm apart, failing in the basic duty of a king to ensure peace and justice. For that, all of them paid a heavy price. As well as incompetence, some also have reputations for cruelty and villainy, More than one has been portrayed as a tyrant. The murder of family members and arbitrary executions stain their reputations. All five reigns ended in failure. As a result, the kings have been seen as failures themselves, the worst examples of medieval English kingship. They lost their reputations as well as their crowns. Yet were these five really the worst men to wear the crown of England in the Middle Ages? Or has history treated them unfairly? This book looks at the stories of their lives and reigns, all of which were dramatic and often unpredictable. It then examines how they have been seen since their deaths, the ways their reputations have been shaped across the centuries. The standards of their own age were different to our own. How these kings have been judged has changed over time, sometimes dramatically. Fiction, from Shakespeare’s plays to modern films, has also played its part in creating the modern picture. Many things have created, over a long period, the negative reputations of these five. Today, they have come to number among the worst kings of English history. Is this fair, or should they be redeemed? That is the question this book sets out to answer.

Isabella and the Strange Death of Edward II

Isabella and the Strange Death of Edward II PDF Author: Paul Doherty
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 1472112407
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 155

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Book Description
In chess, from the time of Queen Isabella of England, the queen has been considered the most powerful and feared piece on the board. Known to chroniclers as the 'she-wolf', Isabella, daughter of Philip IV of France, married King Edward II of England in 1308 in a union intended to create a lasting peace between the two countries. But after 13 years of enduring her husband's unkind and dissolute nature she fled abroad. With her lover, the exiled Roger Mortimer, she raised an army of mercenaries and invaded England, successfully deposing Edward. Popular belief holds that Edward was murdered in an infamous manner at Berkeley Castle near Gloucester, at the order of his wife and her lover. But after Mortimer's execution a letter arrived at court that cast doubt over Edward's death and raised the possibility of his escape. The evidence remains controversial to this day, and here Paul Doherty examines it in his fascinating detective study, set in one of the most turbulent and exciting periods of English history.

Renaissance Literature

Renaissance Literature PDF Author: Siobhan Keenan
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
ISBN: 0748631216
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 282

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Book Description
This concise introduction to the literature of an exciting and influential period opens with an overview of the historical and cultural context in which English Renaissance literature was produced, and a discussion of its contemporary and subsequent critical reception. The following chapters survey the major Renaissance genres of drama, poetry and prose. Each chapter provides illustrative case studies of canonical and non-canonical key texts by authors such as William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, Ben Jonson, Edmund Spenser, John Milton, Sir Philip Sidney, John Donne, Aemilia Lanyer, Sir Francis Bacon, Thomas Nashe, and Lady Mary Wroth. A guide to further reading accompanies each chapter, complemented by a section of student resources at the end of the book. The final chapter summarises significant developments in English Renaissance literary culture, and discusses the future direction of Renaissance literary scholarship.