Rethinking the Henrician Era: Essays on Early Tudor Texts and Contexts

by Peter C. Herman (Editor)

Contributors to this first critical anthology devoted exclusively to the Henrician era show how contemporary theoretical approaches can enrich, complicate, and sometimes entirely revise our understanding of that period.

312 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 1993

Reviews

[Roman Clodia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Herman has collected a wide and diverse collection of essays here all of which return to the idea of the early Tudor court and re-think it from a contemporary historical and cultural persepective.

With essays on courtly dance, the masque, poetry, manuscript collections as well as re-assessments of more well-known figures, this de-centres previous scholarship in interesting ways and helps us re-consider how we might make sense of Henry's court.

Especially interesting, for me, is Howard's essay on the masque of 'Chateau Vert', the first point at which we can place Anne Boleyn in Henry's court - taking issue with Ives' 'jolly' recounting of the revel, Howard interprets it as an ideological performance which consolidates patriarchal gender assumptions, roles and hierarchies at the centre of Henry VIII's court.