DOCSLIB.ORG

Hakluyt's Peripatetic Discourse

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Hakluyt's Peripatetic Discourse explorations in renaissance culture 43 (2017) 140-157 brill.com/erc Hakluyt’s Peripatetic Discourse Robert Imes University of Saskatchewan [email protected] Abstract In this article, I examine intellectual correspondences between two manuscripts that Richard Hakluyt (1552–1616) presented to Queen Elizabeth i in tandem in 1584: his well-known “Discourse of Western Planting” and his underappreciated “Analysis” of Aristotle’s Politics. I argue that Aristotle’s vision of the ideal political state as a materi- ally and morally self-sustaining system, as represented in the “Analysis,” serves as the philosophical foundation of Hakluyt’s recommendations in the “Discourse” that Eng- land pursue an aggressive policy of expansionist, colonial growth. Hakluyt describes colonialism as a panacea for England’s socioeconomic issues and as the means by which England might become self-sustaining in the manner of Aristotle’s ideal state. Keywords Hakluyt – Aristotle – discourse – colonialism – philosophy – Renaissance – England On 5 October 1584, clergyman Richard Hakluyt presented Queen Elizabeth with two ostensibly disparate documents: his “Discourse of Western Planting” and “Analysis” of Aristotle’s Politics.1 While the “Discourse” is a comprehensive * This research was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada; the J.B. Harley Research Trust and Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation; and The Liter- ary Encyclopedia. 1 Hakluyt, “Analysis, seu Resolutio Perpetua in Octo Libros Politicorum Aristolelis.” The Brit- ish Library owns the two existing manuscripts of the “Analysis,” which has never been pub- lished in its entirety. Although I am informed that the British Library currently has no plans to publish the “Analysis,” E.G.R. Taylor reprints most of the dedicatory epistle in Taylor 203. A complete facsimile copy of the dedicatory epistle serves as the frontispiece of Quinn’s Hakluyt Handbook. Only two sustained criticisms of the “Analysis” have been made, one by © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2017 | doi 10.1163/23526963-04302002Downloaded from Brill.com09/26/2021 04:12:41PM via free access <UN> Hakluyt’s Peripatetic Discourse 141 summary of the envisioned religious, economic, and socio-political benefits of establishing English colonies in North America, the “Analysis” is a para- phrased, complete Latin summary of the eight books of Aristotle’s text. While Hakluyt is chiefly known for promoting English colonialism by collecting and publishing compendia of historical and contemporary travelogues, the “Dis- course,” like his compendia, is intrinsically intertextual; Hakluyt bolsters the persuasiveness of his arguments by citing dozens of English and European au- thorities. Although the “Discourse” has achieved widespread critical attention, the “Analysis” has not. Nonetheless, Hakluyt’s presentation of the “Discourse” and the “Analysis” in tandem is a matter of exegetical, intertextual significance. As David Armitage, the sole critic to engage this connection, albeit in pass- ing, writes, Hakluyt’s “Analysis” of Aristotle’s Politics “supplied the political and moral context within which he expected Elizabeth and her counsellors … to judge his proposals for English colonization.”2 To expand on Armitage’s assess- ment by clarifying specific points of intellectual correspondence between the “Analysis” and the “Discourse,” in this paper I present sustained readings of both texts and argue that Hakluyt’s colonialist recommendations are funda- mentally informed by the apex of Aristotle’s political teleology, his ideal of a self-sufficient state. In the “Discourse,” colonialism thus figures, primarily, as a means to make England materially and spiritually self-sustaining in the man- ner of Aristotle’s model polis, as represented in the “Analysis” of the Politics.3 A survey of Hakluyt’s involvement in England’s nascent colonial aspirations is necessary to establish the historical context in which he prepared his two documents. On 31 August 1583, three ships commanded by Sir Humphrey Gil- bert began their return voyage to England after formally taking possession of Newfoundland in Queen Elizabeth’s name. The contingent was the remnants of a larger, ill-fated fleet that had left England in early June on a voyage of con- quest and encountered severe weather and shipwreck on the way.4 Although Lawrence V. Ryan and another by David Armitage, in his book The Ideological Origins of the British Empire. Although he does not examine the connections between the “Analysis” and the “Discourse,” Ryan notes that while the “Analysis” is occasionally mentioned in conjunc- tion with the “Discourse,” biographers and scholars tend to either ignore the “Analysis,” deem it inconsequential, or are mistaken about its nature (73). For example, Mancall mentions the “Analysis” several times, but he merely does so to remind readers repeatedly that the work is distinguished in its never being published (278, 301, 306). For a general synopsis of the “Dis- course,” framed in a biographical context, see Mancall, esp. 128–55. 2 Armitage, “Literature and Empire” 107. 3 Polis roughly translates to political community, body of citizens, or state. 4 For a longer discussion of Gilbert’s 1583 expedition, see Gosling 183–271. explorations in renaissance culture 43 (2017) 140-157Downloaded from Brill.com09/26/2021 04:12:41PM via free access <UN> 142 Imes Gilbert’s annexation of Newfoundland, the first English possession in the New World, was a token of success for a voyage characterized by failure, the venture continued to have bad luck when, on 9 September, the returning ships encoun- tered foul weather and rough seas in the North Atlantic. Gilbert’s reckless deci- sion to remain aboard his diminutive flagship during the storm proved to be his undoing as, around midnight, fierce waves swallowed the ship, and he was lost. Gilbert’s death left several proposed expeditions in limbo, but English co- lonialists were without a leader for only a short time. On 25 March 1584, the queen granted Sir Walter Raleigh letters patent that gave him the right to “dis- cover, search, finde out, and view such remote, heathen and barbarous lands, countries, and territories, not actually possessed of any Christian Prince, nor inhabited by Christian People,” and to establish colonies in England’s name.5 In addition to the close relationship he enjoyed with Elizabeth, Raleigh was favoured for his diplomatic skills and ability to bind others to his cause. He had also been involved in Gilbert’s 1578 and 1583 voyages; Robert Lacey re- marks that while Queen Elizabeth’s principle contribution to the 1583 expedi- tion was a request that Gilbert not accompany the fleet, Raleigh raised funds, provided a ship, and convinced Elizabeth to allow Gilbert to depart.6 In April 1584, Raleigh sent two ships on a reconnaissance voyage to what would soon become known as Virginia.7 Before his explorers returned, Raleigh sought to attract investors to his enterprise; he especially desired a grant of public fund- ing from the queen. Raleigh needed a mouthpiece. John Dee, who had played a lead advisory role in the earlier voyages of Martin Frobisher, Gilbert, and the Muscovy Company in search of a Northwest Passage, and who had written ex- tensively on English colonialism, was absent, as the period from 1583 to 1589 was the time of Dee’s “enigmatic escapades at the Bohemian court.”8 Likewise, Christopher Carleill, Sir George Peckham, and Edward Hayes, all of whom had written notable discourses on England’s colonial affairs, were not chosen to be Raleigh’s chief propagandist. Instead, that role fell to Hakluyt. Hakluyt’s familiarity with the logistics of foreign trade and geographi- cal science made him an ideal advisor for expansionist projects. From 1577 to 1583 Hakluyt was an academic at Oxford University, where he lectured on geography and political philosophy. In conjunction with his responsibilities 5 Thorpe 53–7. Raleigh’s letters patent are almost identical to those granted to Gilbert in 1578, which are reproduced by Gosling 165–71. 6 Lacey 55–6. 7 The voyage was led by Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe. See Lacey 62–3. 8 Sherman 8. explorations in renaissance Downloadedculture from 43 Brill.com09/26/2021 (2017) 140-157 04:12:41PM via free access <UN> Hakluyt’s Peripatetic Discourse 143 as an instructor, Hakluyt consulted with renowned continental geographers Abraham Ortelius and Gerard Mercator, published the narratives of Jacques Cartier’s discovery of the St. Lawrence River, and acted in an advisory role to both the Clothworkers’ Company and to Secretary of State Sir Francis Walsing- ham.9 In May 1582, he released a slim volume, Divers Voyages Touching the Dis- coverie of America, to publicize England’s colonial opportunities and promote Gilbert’s fateful voyage.10 Divers Voyages includes practical advice to potential colonizers, documents intended to support England’s territorial claims and to describe the coast of North America, and a list of commodities expected to be found. Hakluyt planned, at one point, to accompany Gilbert’s 1583 voy- age as an educated observer, but in the end Stephen Parmenius, a friend of Hakluyt’s from Oxford, went instead. The reasons for this substitution are un- known, but, as Parmenius perished along with Gilbert, Hakluyt was fortunate to be excluded. However, as G.B. Parks notes, Parmenius assumed that Hakluyt would be sailing with a later expedition, likely led by Carleill.11 This expedition never took place, and Hakluyt never saw America. Shortly before
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Expressions of Sovereignty: Law and Authority in the Making of the Overseas British Empire, 1576-1640
    EXPRESSIONS OF SOVEREIGNTY EXPRESSIONS OF SOVEREIGNTY: LAW AND AUTHORITY IN THE MAKING OF THE OVERSEAS BRITISH EMPIRE, 1576-1640 By KENNETH RICHARD MACMILLAN, M.A. A Thesis . Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy McMaster University ©Copyright by Kenneth Richard MacMillan, December 2001 DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (2001) McMaster University (History) Hamilton, Ontario TITLE: Expressions of Sovereignty: Law and Authority in the Making of the Overseas British Empire, 1576-1640 AUTHOR: Kenneth Richard MacMillan, B.A. (Hons) (Nipissing University) M.A. (Queen's University) SUPERVISOR: Professor J.D. Alsop NUMBER OF PAGES: xi, 332 11 ABSTRACT .~. ~ This thesis contributes to the body of literature that investigates the making of the British empire, circa 1576-1640. It argues that the crown was fundamentally involved in the establishment of sovereignty in overseas territories because of the contemporary concepts of empire, sovereignty, the royal prerogative, and intemationallaw. According to these precepts, Christian European rulers had absolute jurisdiction within their own territorial boundaries (internal sovereignty), and had certain obligations when it carne to their relations with other sovereign states (external sovereignty). The crown undertook these responsibilities through various "expressions of sovereignty". It employed writers who were knowledgeable in international law and European overseas activities, and used these interpretations to issue letters patent that demonstrated both continued royal authority over these territories and a desire to employ legal codes that would likely be approved by the international community. The crown also insisted on the erection of fortifications and approved of the publication of semiotically charged maps, each of which served the function of showing that the English had possession and effective control over the lands claimed in North and South America, the North Atlantic, and the East and West Indies.
    [Show full text]
  • Investment in the East India Company
    The University of Manchester Research The Global Interests of London's Commercial Community, 1599-1625: investment in the East India Company DOI: 10.1111/ehr.12665 Document Version Accepted author manuscript Link to publication record in Manchester Research Explorer Citation for published version (APA): Smith, E. (2018). The Global Interests of London's Commercial Community, 1599-1625: investment in the East India Company. The Economic History Review, 71(4), 1118-1146. https://doi.org/10.1111/ehr.12665 Published in: The Economic History Review Citing this paper Please note that where the full-text provided on Manchester Research Explorer is the Author Accepted Manuscript or Proof version this may differ from the final Published version. If citing, it is advised that you check and use the publisher's definitive version. General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the Research Explorer are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. Takedown policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please refer to the University of Manchester’s Takedown Procedures [http://man.ac.uk/04Y6Bo] or contact [email protected] providing relevant details, so we can investigate your claim. Download date:05. Oct. 2021 The global interests of London’s commercial community, 1599-1625: investment in the East India Company The English East India Company (EIC) has long been identified as an organisation that foreshadowed developments in finance, investment and overseas expansion that would come to fruition over the course of the following two centuries.
    [Show full text]
  • Chartmaking in England and Its Context, 1500–1660
    58 • Chartmaking in England and Its Context, 1500 –1660 Sarah Tyacke Introduction was necessary to challenge the Dutch carrying trade. In this transitional period, charts were an additional tool for The introduction of chartmaking was part of the profes- the navigator, who continued to use his own experience, sionalization of English navigation in this period, but the written notes, rutters, and human pilots when he could making of charts did not emerge inevitably. Mariners dis- acquire them, sometimes by force. Where the navigators trusted them, and their reluctance to use charts at all, of could not obtain up-to-date or even basic chart informa- any sort, continued until at least the 1580s. Before the tion from foreign sources, they had to make charts them- 1530s, chartmaking in any sense does not seem to have selves. Consequently, by the 1590s, a number of ship- been practiced by the English, or indeed the Scots, Irish, masters and other practitioners had begun to make and or Welsh.1 At that time, however, coastal views and plans sell hand-drawn charts in London. in connection with the defense of the country began to be In this chapter the focus is on charts as artifacts and made and, at the same time, measured land surveys were not on navigational methods and instruments.4 We are introduced into England by the Italians and others.2 This lack of domestic production does not mean that charts I acknowledge the assistance of Catherine Delano-Smith, Francis Her- and other navigational aids were unknown, but that they bert, Tony Campbell, Andrew Cook, and Peter Barber, who have kindly commented on the text and provided references and corrections.
    [Show full text]
  • The Influence of the Irish Tudor and Stuart Plantation Experiences in the Evolution of American Colonial Theory and Practice
    W&M ScholarWorks Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects 1992 "This Famous Island in the Virginia Sea": The Influence of the Irish Tudor and Stuart Plantation Experiences in the Evolution of American Colonial Theory and Practice Meaghan Noelle Duff College of William & Mary - Arts & Sciences Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/etd Part of the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Duff, Meaghan Noelle, ""This Famous Island in the Virginia Sea": The Influence of the Irish udorT and Stuart Plantation Experiences in the Evolution of American Colonial Theory and Practice" (1992). Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects. Paper 1539625771. https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.21220/s2-kvrp-3b47 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects at W&M ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects by an authorized administrator of W&M ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. "THIS FAMOUS ISLAND IN THE VIRGINIA SEA": THE INFLUENCE OF IRISH TUDOR AND STUART PLANTATION EXPERIENCES ON THE EVOLUTION OF AMERICAN COLONIAL THEORY AND PRACTICE A THESIS PRESENTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY THE COLLEGE OF WILLIAM AND MARY IN VIRGINIA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS BY MEAGHAN N. DUFF MAY, 1992 APPROVAL SHEET THIS THESIS IS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS AGHAN N APPROVED, MAY 1992 '''7 ^ ^ THADDEUS W. TATE A m iJI________ JAMES AXTELL CHANDOS M.
    [Show full text]
  • Charter Constitutionalism: the Myth of Edward Coke and the Virginia Charter*
    Boston College Law School Digital Commons @ Boston College Law School Boston College Law School Faculty Papers 7-2016 Charter Constitutionalism: The yM th of Edward Coke and the Virginia Charter Mary Sarah Bilder Boston College Law School, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://lawdigitalcommons.bc.edu/lsfp Part of the Constitutional Law Commons, Legal History Commons, and the State and Local Government Law Commons Recommended Citation Mary Sarah Bilder. "Charter Constitutionalism: The yM th of Edward Coke and the Virginia Charter." North Carolina Law Review 94, no.5 (2016): 1545-1598. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Commons @ Boston College Law School. It has been accepted for inclusion in Boston College Law School Faculty Papers by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Boston College Law School. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 94 N.C. L. REV. 1545 (2016) CHARTER CONSTITUTIONALISM: THE MYTH OF EDWARD COKE AND THE VIRGINIA CHARTER* MARY SARAH BILDER** [A]ll and every the persons being our subjects . and every of their children, which shall happen to be born within . the said several colonies . shall have and enjoy all liberties, franchises and immunities . as if they had been abiding and born, within this our realm of England . .—Virginia Charter (1606)1 Magna Carta’s connection to the American constitutional tradition has been traced to Edward Coke’s insertion of English liberties in the 1606 Virginia Charter. This account curiously turns out to be unsupported by direct evidence. This Article recounts an alternative history of the origins of English liberties in American constitutionalism.
    [Show full text]
  • Colonial Failure in the Anglo-North Atlantic World, 1570-1640 (2015)
    FINDLEY JR, JAMES WALTER, Ph.D. “Went to Build Castles in the Aire:” Colonial Failure in the Anglo-North Atlantic World, 1570-1640 (2015). Directed by Dr. Phyllis Whitman Hunter. 266pp. This study examines the early phases of Anglo-North American colonization from 1570 to 1640 by employing the lenses of imagination and failure. I argue that English colonial projectors envisioned a North America that existed primarily in their minds – a place filled with marketable and profitable commodities waiting to be extracted. I historicize the imagined profitability of commodities like fish and sassafras, and use the extreme example of the unicorn to highlight and contextualize the unlimited potential that America held in the minds of early-modern projectors. My research on colonial failure encompasses the failure of not just physical colonies, but also the failure to pursue profitable commodities, and the failure to develop successful theories of colonization. After roughly seventy years of experience in America, Anglo projectors reevaluated their modus operandi by studying and drawing lessons from past colonial failure. Projectors learned slowly and marginally, and in some cases, did not seem to learn anything at all. However, the lack of learning the right lessons did not diminish the importance of this early phase of colonization. By exploring the variety, impracticability, and failure of plans for early settlement, this study investigates the persistent search for usefulness of America by Anglo colonial projectors in the face of high rate of
    [Show full text]
  • Introduction English Worthies: the Age of Expansion Remembered 1
    Notes Introduction English Worthies: The Age of Expansion Remembered 1. Fuller, History of the Worthies of England (London, 1662), 318/Sss2v (pagination to both editions is unreliable; I have given page numbers where these seem useful, followed by signature). Subsequent citations to the two editions of Fuller’s work are given in the text as Worthies 1684 or Worthies 1662. 2. For copies of Hariot, I have consulted the online English Short Title Catalogue (ESTC) at http://estc.bl.uk (accessed July 2007). 3. I am indebted for these references to Matthew Day’s excellent thesis on Hakluyt, Richard Hakluyt’s Principal Navigations (1598–1600) and the Textuality of Tudor English Nationalism. (D. Phil., York, 2003). 4. Hakluyt’s 1589 collection included a brief account of the circumnavi- gation summarized from a manuscript no longer extant—these “Drake leaves,” 12 folio sides of black letter text, fall between pages 643 and 644 but are themselves unpaginated, an indication that they were added at some point after the rest of the volume had gone to press. The first full-length account of Drake’s epochal voyage in English, The World Encompassed, did not appear until 1628, several decades after Drake’s death. 5. Cal. S.P. For. 1584–85, 19:108. Harry Kelsey thinks the reference is to the circumnavigation of 1577–80 (Sir Francis Drake: The Queen’s Pirate [New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998], 178). Mary Frear Keeler believes the reference is to evolving plans for what became Drake’s voyage to the West Indies in 1585–86 (Sir Francis Drake’s West Indian Voyage.
    [Show full text]
  • Richard Hakluyt, Promoter of the New World: the Navigational Origins of the English Nation
    Richard Hakluyt, promoter of the New World: the navigational origins of the English nation Francisco J. BORGE Universidad de Oviedo & University of Massachusetts ABSTRACT The defeat of the Spanish Armada and the launch of the first exploratory voyages towards the New World, forced England to seriously consider her immense possibilities of replacing Spain in the international arena. Taking as a point of departure the final version of Richard Hakluyt’s Principal Navigations (1598-1600), this piece explores the management of the texts he compiled to promote English expeditions to North America. If we consider the fundamentally private financing of these dangerous and expensive voyages, convincing Englishmen to risk their purses and their lives was not an easy task. But Hakluyt managed to do it successfully by resorting to some skillful narrative and editorial strategies. One aspect that stood above the rest in this unique attempt at channeling the expansionist desires of Englishmen towards the New World was the creation of a national identity. Many of the issues Hakluyt brought up in his work were aimed at defining a truly English national character, one radically different from that of other identifiable nations, one based on the ‘new worldness’ of the lands encountered across the Ocean Sea. The ‘newness’ of America became an emblem for a new and regenerated nation whose idiosyncrasy would help her become the divinely- appointed master of the known world. In the early 1580s, almost a century after Christopher Columbus first set foot on the New World, England could boast no substantial or legitimate claim to the territories that we now call ‘America’.
    [Show full text]
  • Brennan ARC to Travel Writing 22 Aug
    This is a repository copy of Editorial Matters. White Rose Research Online URL for this paper: http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/120551/ Version: Accepted Version Book Section: Brennan, MG orcid.org/0000-0001-6310-9722 (2019) Editorial Matters. In: Pettinger, A and Youngs, T, (eds.) The Routledge Research Companion to Travel Writing. Routledge , Abingdon, UK . ISBN 9781472417923 https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315613710 © 2019 selection and editorial matter, Alasdair Pettinger and Tim Youngs; individual chapters, the contributors. This is an author produced version of a book chapter published in The Routledge Research Companion to Travel Writing. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. Reuse Items deposited in White Rose Research Online are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved unless indicated otherwise. They may be downloaded and/or printed for private study, or other acts as permitted by national copyright laws. The publisher or other rights holders may allow further reproduction and re-use of the full text version. This is indicated by the licence information on the White Rose Research Online record for the item. Takedown If you consider content in White Rose Research Online to be in breach of UK law, please notify us by emailing [email protected] including the URL of the record and the reason for the withdrawal request. [email protected] https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/ 22 August 2017 Michael G. Brennan, ‘Editorial Matters’, for The Ashgate Research Companion to Travel Writing, ed. Tim Youngs and Alasdair Pettinger, Routledge (forthcoming) Michael G. Brennan is Professor of Renaissance Studies at the School of English, University of Leeds.
    [Show full text]
  • DAVID INGRAM, WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE and the TEMPEST Robert Bromber University of California-Santa Barbara
    id1857310 pdfMachine by Broadgun Software - a great PDF writer! - a great PDF creator! - http://www.pdfmachine.com http://www.broadgun.com THE LIAR AND THE BARD: DAVID INGRAM, WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE AND THE TEMPEST Robert Bromber University of California-Santa Barbara A few of the men that John Hawkins stranded in Mexico in 1568 wrote chronicles of their escape or captivity. By and large they penned unremarkable works most of which were featured in Richard Hakluyt’s Principals of Navigation. The chronicles are not literary masterpieces by any stretch of the imagination but offer a marvelous opportunity to visit the minds of ordinary Elizabethan seamen. Besides the inclusions in Hakluyt, two other sources offer up even more unique narratives. Neither story was in the first person: both were oral testimonies. William Collins spoke with officials of the Inquisition regarding the state of religion and other wide-ranging social issues under Elizabeth. Collin’s amazing testimony numbers two hundred and fifty pages. The second individual, David Ingram, left a legacy that lives today. Ingram is still the darling of American historians consumed by the notion of the noble savage. Ingram’s quasi travel narrative was delivered before a British Admiralty Commission in 1586 some twenty years after his escape from Mexico. His testimony included descriptions of an ordered society that was technologically and politically superior to that of England. This meaty information, however, is surrounded by beasts as mythical as those conjured up by John Mandeville. It presents those who use his words in support of a utopian Native American culture with a conundrum: was Ingram lying? By synthesizing the English narratives, whether written or testamentary, a marvelous picture of an Elizabethan lower-echelon subject appears.
    [Show full text]
  • The Absence of America on the Early Modern Stage by Gavin R. Hollis A
    The Absence of America on the Early Modern Stage by Gavin R. Hollis A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (English Language and Literature) in The University of Michigan 2008 Doctoral Committee: Professor Valerie J. Traub, Chair Professor Michael C. Schoenfeldt Associate Professor Susan M. Juster Associate Professor Susan Scott Parrish © Gavin Hollis 2008 To my parents ii Acknowledgements In an episode of The Simpsons, Marge urges Bart not to make fun of graduate students because “they’ve just made a terrible life choice.” This may be true, but one of the many advantages of this “life choice” is that I have met, been inspired by, and become firm friends with an array of people on both sides of the pond. The first debt I owe is to my advisors at the University of Michigan, who have seen this project through its many stages of confusion and incoherence. Mike Schoenfeldt, Scotti Parrish, and Sue Juster have been supportive, critical, rigorous, inventive, and excellent company. My biggest debt of gratitude is owed however to Valerie Traub, the chair of my dissertation committee, whose influence on this project and has been, and I hope will continue to be, immense. I’m also indebted to faculty at Trinity Hall, Cambridge and at The Shakespeare Institute who have shaped me as a scholar before I made it these shores. I am especially grateful to Peter Holland, who, it is no exaggeration to say, taught me how to read Shakespeare. Thank you also to John Jowett, Drew Milne, and John Lennard.
    [Show full text]
  • The Church of England in Colonial Virginia
    university of Connecticut libraries I o STORY and PAGEANT SERIES THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND In COLONIAL VIRGINIA By EDGAR LEGARE PENNINGTON, S. T. D. Publication No, 55 Quarterly June -August 1937 Price, 25 cents CHURCH MISSIONS PUBLISHING COMPANY 31-45 Church Street, Hartford, Connecticut Acceptance for mailing at special rate of postage provided for in section 1103 Act of Oct. 3, 1917. Authorized January 12, 1924. Entered as Second Class Matter, Hartford, Conn. Story and Pageant Series --^^^. , The Church of England in Colonial Virginia BY EDGAR LEGARE PENNINGTON, S. T. D. PART I 1607 - 1619 CHURCH MISSIONS PUBLISHING COMPANY 31-45 Church Street, Hartford, Connecticut 19 37 Copyright, 1937, by THE CHURCH MISSIONS PUBLISHING COMPANY Hartford, Connecticut Printed in the United States of America By James A. Reid, Hartford, Connecticut The Church of England in Colonial Virginia by Edgar Legare Pennington, S. T. D. The first efforts of the English to colonise Virginia had the support and co-operation of the Church of England clergy. Cap- tain Bartholomew Gosnold, who had made a voyage to Virginia in 1602, was so impressed with the prospects of development that he solicited assistance from his friends in a settlement of the country. "After some Years spent in vain, he at last prevailed with Capt. John Smith, Mr. Edward-Maria Wingfield, the Rev. Mr. Robert Hunt, and divers others to join in the Undertaking."^ On account of the burden and expense involved, he applied to the nobility, the gentry, and the merchants, who responded. Among those who were enthusiastic for the project we find the Reverend Richard Hakluyt, prebendary of Westminster and one of the world's most celebrated compilers of narratives of discovery and exploration.
    [Show full text]