History, Department of
Date of this Version
2014
Citation
2014 Author(s)
Abstract
Toward the end of James I’s reign John Reynolds’ 1624 pamphlet, Vox Coeli, or News from Heaven, presents Queen Elizabeth I discussing England’s contemporary events with her father, her siblings, Anne of Denmark and Prince Henry. The heavenly Elizabeth supports a strong and militaristic England and is critical of the current king. In the latter part of the seventeenth century Elizabeth was presented as a Protestant heroine in contrast to the Catholic James, Duke of York, later James II. But there is one Stuart successor who is connected positively to Elizabeth. In 1706 in the reign of the last Stuartmonarch Elizabeth made another appearance in “Queen Elizabeths Ghost: or A Dream.” Unlike the earlier Elizabeth, this one praises Queen Anne, rather King James as her wor- thy successor. This paper examines a range of sources to further understand the impact Elizabeth I’s afterlife had in the century after her death both in terms of politics and religion, and the perceptions of powerful women.
Comments
Royal Studies Journal (RSJ), l (2014), page 1