Visions of the Courtly Body
Visions of the Courtly Body

Author: Christiane Hille

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter

Published: 2013-01-09

Total Pages: 312

ISBN-13: 305006255X

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In 1603, the beginning of the Stuart reign, painting was of minor importance at the English court, where the elaborately designed masques of Inigo Jones served as the prime medium of royal representation. Only two decades later, their most celebrated performer, George Villiers, the First Duke of Buckingham had assembled one of the largest and most significant collections of painting in early seventeenth-century Europe. His career as the personal and political favourite of two succeeding monarchs – James I and Charles I – coincides with the commission of a number of highly ambitious portraits from the hands of Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck that displayed his body in spectacular manner. As the first comprehensive study of Buckingham’s patronage of the visual arts, this book is concerned with the question of how the painted image of the courtier transferred strategies of social distinction that had originated in the masque to the language of painting. Establishing a new grammar in the competing rhetorics of bodily self-fashioning, this recast notion of portraiture contributed to an epistemological change in perceptions of visual representation at the early modern English court, in the course of which painting advanced to the central art form in the aesthetics of kingship.

Plays, Poems, and Miscellaneous Writings Associated with George Villiers, Second Duke of Buckingham
Plays, Poems, and Miscellaneous Writings Associated with George Villiers, Second Duke of Buckingham

Author: George Villiers Duke of Buckingham

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 601

ISBN-13: 0199203644

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George Villiers, Second Duke of Buckingham, was one of the most controversial figures of the late 17th century. He was the principal author of 'The Rehearsal' (1671), a burlesque play. This edition addresses the difficulties in both attribution and annotation that almost all of his works present.

King James and Letters of Homoerotic Desire
King James and Letters of Homoerotic Desire

Author: David M. Bergeron

Publisher: University of Iowa Press

Published: 2002-04

Total Pages: 261

ISBN-13: 1587292726

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What can we know of the private lives of early British sovereigns? Through the unusually large number of letters that survive from King James VI of Scotland/James I of England (1566-1625), we can know a great deal. Using original letters, primarily from the British Library and the National Library of Scotland, David Bergeron creatively argues that James' correspondence with certain men in his court constitutes a gospel of homoerotic desire. Bergeron grounds his provocative study on an examination of the tradition of letter writing during the Renaissance and draws a connection between homosexual desire and letter writing during that historical period. King James, commissioner of the Bible translation that bears his name, corresponded with three principal male favorites—Esmé Stuart (Lennox), Robert Carr (Somerset), and George Villiers (Buckingham). Esmé Stuart, James' older French cousin, arrived in Scotland in 1579 and became an intimate adviser and friend to the adolescent king. Though Esmé was eventually forced into exile by Scottish nobles, his letters to James survive, as does James' hauntingly allegorical poem Phoenix. The king's close relationship with Carr began in 1607. James' letters to Carr reveal remarkable outbursts of sexual frustration and passion. A large collection of letters exchanged between James and Buckingham in the 1620s provides the clearest evidence for James' homoerotic desires. During a protracted separation in 1623, letters between the two raced back and forth. These artful, self-conscious letters explore themes of absence, the pleasure of letters, and a preoccupation with the body. Familial and sexual terms become wonderfully intertwined, as when James greets Buckingham as "my sweet child and wife." King James and Letters of Homoerotic Desire presents a modern-spelling edition of seventy-five letters exchanged between Buckingham and James. Across the centuries, commentators have condemned the letters as indecent or repulsive. Bergeron argues that on the contrary they reveal an inward desire of king and subject in a mutual exchange of love.

The King's Assassin
The King's Assassin

Author: Benjamin Woolley

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Published: 2018-07-17

Total Pages: 368

ISBN-13: 1250125057

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An absorbing account of the conspiracy to kill King James I by his handsome lover, the Duke of Buckingham, an historical crime that has remained hidden for 400 years. The rise of George Villiers from minor gentry to royal power seemed to defy gravity. Becoming gentleman of the royal bedchamber in 1615, the young gallant enraptured James, Britain’s first Stuart king, royal adoration reaching such an intensity that the king declared he wanted the courtier to become his ‘wife’. For a decade, Villiers was at the king’s side – at court, on state occasions, and in bed, right up to James’s death in March 1625. Almost immediately, Villiers’ many enemies accused him of poisoning the king. A parliamentary investigation was launched, and scurrilous pamphlets and ballads circulated London’s streets. But the charges came to nothing, and were relegated to a historical footnote. Now, new research suggests that a deadly combination of hubris and vulnerability did indeed drive Villiers to kill the man who made him. It may have been by accident – the application of a quack remedy while the king was weakened by a malarial attack. But there is compelling evidence that Villiers, overcome by ambition and frustrated by James’s passive approach to government, poisoned him. In The King’s Assassin, acclaimed author Benjamin Woolley examines this remarkable, even tragic story. Combining vivid characterization and a strong narrative with historical scholarship and forensic investigation, Woolley tells the story of King James’s death, and of the captivating figure at its center.

Earthly Joys
Earthly Joys

Author: Philippa Gregory

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2005-06-07

Total Pages: 528

ISBN-13: 074328660X

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#1 New York Times bestselling author and “queen of royal fiction” (USA TODAY) Philippa Gregory brings to life the passionate, turbulent times of seventeenth-century England as seen through the eyes of the country’s most famous royal gardener. John Tradescant’s fame and skill as a gardener are unsurpassed in seventeenth-century England, but it is his clear-sighted honesty and loyalty that make him an invaluable servant. As an informal confidant of Sir Robert Cecil, adviser to King James I, he witnesses the making of history, from the Gunpowder Plot to the accession of King Charles I and the growing animosity between Parliament and court. Tradescant’s talents soon come to the attention of the most powerful man in the country, the irresistible Duke of Buckingham, the lover of King Charles I. Tradescant has always been faithful to his masters, but Buckingham is unlike any he has ever known: flamboyant, outrageously charming, and utterly reckless. Every certainty upon which Tradescant has based his life—his love of his wife and children, his passion for his work, his loyalty to his country—is shattered as he follows Buckingham to court, to war, and to the forbidden territories of human love.

The King's Assassin
The King's Assassin

Author: Angus Donald

Publisher: Hachette UK

Published: 2015-06-18

Total Pages: 372

ISBN-13: 1405525894

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AD 1215: The year of Magna Carta - and Robin Hood's greatest battle The yoke of tyranny King John is scheming to reclaim his ancestral lands in Europe, raising the money for new armies by bleeding dry peasants and nobles alike, not least the Earl of Locksley - the former outlaw Robin Hood - and his loyal man Sir Alan Dale. The call to arms As rebellion brews across the country and Robin Hood and his men are dragged into the war against the French in Flanders, a plan is hatched that will bring the former outlaws and their families to the brink of catastrophe - a plan to kill the King. The roar of revolution England explodes into bloody civil war and Alan and Robin must decide who to trust - and who to slaughter. And while Magna Carta might be the answer their prayers for peace, first they will have to force the King to submit to the will of his people . . .

The Honey and the Sting
The Honey and the Sting

Author: E C Fremantle

Publisher: Penguin UK

Published: 2020-08-06

Total Pages: 368

ISBN-13: 1405920157

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'A lush, thrilling page-turner humming with its own exquisite dark beauty. I loved it!' Eve Chase, author of The Glass House 'Fremantle builds the tension with delicious skill in this page-turning thriller' Times The compelling, transfixing novel about the bond between three sisters from the author of The Poison Bed _______ Three sisters. Three secrets. Three ways to fall . . . George Villiers is rich, powerful and has the King's ear. Doctor's daughter Hester is a mere servant - to be cast aside when he has done with her, especially since she is pregnant. Returning to her family, Hester vows that Villiers will never lay eyes on their son. She and her sisters Melis and Hope will protect the boy. But Villiers is a man who will not be defied. He will claim his son - and the secret letters he believes Hester has stolen. What can three defenceless women do against one very powerful man? Yet secret letters are a weakness - and, in the right hands, a weapon . . . _______ 'Rich and fascinating' Guardian 'Wonderfully inventive and darkly satisfying, this story of three sisters resonates with myth and mystery' Andrew Taylor, bestselling author of The Ashes of London 'Gripping and page-turning. Propels a trio of vivid women towards their complex destinies . . . Hugely enjoyable' V.B. Grey, author of the forthcoming Tell Me How It Ends