Let He Who Objects Produce Sound Evidence: Lord Henry Howard and the Sixteenth Century Gynecocracy Debate Anna Christine Caney
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For more information, please contact [email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES LET HE WHO OBJECTS PRODUCE SOUND EVIDENCE: LORD HENRY HOWARD AND THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY GYNECOCRACY DEBATE By Anna Christine Caney A thesis submitted to the Department of History in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Degree Awarded: Spring Semester, 2005 Copyright © 2005 Anna Christine Caney All Rights Reserved The members of the Committee approve the Thesis of Anna Christine Caney defended on August 12, 2004. _________________________ Paul Strait Professor Directing Thesis _________________________ Jonathan Grant Committee Member _________________________ Bawa Satinder Singh Committee Member The Office of Graduate Studies has verified and approved the above named committee members. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS To all those who have helped me struggle through the process of research, writing and proofreading, proofreading, proofreading. I thank you for your patience, and understanding. I would like to thank Dr. Paul Strait, Dr. Jonathan Grant and Dr. Bawa Singh, who helped guide me through the difficult process of writing and defending this thesis while bearing the death of Dr. Richard Greaves, my major professor, and the man who truly taught me how to write by providing me with plenty of red ink. I will always keep his final written words on a draft page he corrected from his hospital bed, which simply read “very good.” I cannot express the gratitude I have for Dr. Greaves, and the realization of the loss Tudor history will have without him. Special thanks go out to Dr. Grant for standing by my side through Dr. Greave’s illness, as well as the illness of my own husband while writing my thesis. Thank you Joanna, Stephanie and Amy for allowing me to cry, and staying up till the morning hours proofreading my draft. If not for the three of you, this project would not have been accomplished. Thank you Joanna, a true comrade in arms of Tudor history and who understood what it meant when I had to refuse a night out because I had “a date with a man who’s been dead for three hundred years.” Finally, thank you to Anthony, Catherine, Allison and my parents for believing in my ability, giving me time and patience to accomplish my goals. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables v Abbreviations vi Abstract vii INTRODUCTION: Queens, Claimants and Criticism 1 1. A LIFE 10 2. MOTIVES 22 3. THE NATURAL LAW 34 4. THE CIVIL LAW 45 5. THE SACRED LAW 52 CONCLUSION: An extraordinary work 61 BIBLIOGRAPHY 64 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 72 iv LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Complete Manuscripts 25 Table 2: Partial Manuscripts or Manuscripts under a different name 28 v ABBREVIATIONS Add. Additional BL British Library DNB Dictionary of National Biography “Dutifull Defence” Henry Howard, “The Dutifull Defence of the Lawful Regiment of Weomen.” BL Lansdowne MSS, 813 (1590) CSPD Calendar of State Papers Domestic Series. Vol. 1, 1547- 1580; Vol. 2, 1581-1590. CSPF Calendar of State Papers Foreign Series. Vol. 15, Jan. 1581-Apr. 1582 CSPS Calendar of State Papers Spanish Series. Vol.3, 1580- 1586. MSS Manuscript OED Oxford English Dictionary PRO Public Record Office SP State Papers vi ABSTRACT Glorious, creative, contentious and optimistic are all words that have been used to describe England in the second half of the Sixteenth-century. The Tudor age was one of great literature, military victory, religious tension, and, it was the age of queens. However, beneath the atmosphere of optimism that surrounded Mary I’s, and then Elizabeth I’s, ascension to the English throne lay a controversy that dug to the core of a man’s beliefs about society, challenged the foundations of traditional political thought, and forced men to decide what loyalty truly was. With Edward VI’s death in 1553, for the first time since the twelfth-century, there were no male heirs to the English throne. Not only was the immediate heir to the throne of England female, but all of the possible legal contenders for the thrones of England and Scotland were female as well. Mary’s succession fostered a debate among men as to whether a woman was not only legally allowed to rule England, but if she was spiritually and physically capable of doing so. Pamphlets and books discussing female rule were published throughout Mary’s reign, and with Elizabeth’s succession in 1558, the debate continued. This thesis seeks to discuss the Sixteenth century gynecocracy debate and Lord Henry Howard’s unpublished defense of female rule, “The Dutifull Defence of the Lawfull Regiment of Weomen,” which was presented to Queen Elizabeth in 1590. Howard’s beliefs and interpretation of Scripture, Philosophy and Law differ in many respects from contemporary authors who were writing both against, and in favor of women in general and female monarchy. Howard’s theories presented in “Dutifull Defence” will be compared to other contemporary works written on the subject, especially John Knox’s First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women. After discussing Howard’s life and motives for writing “Dutifull Defense,” an analysis of his manuscript will be made by looking at the physical manuscripts themselves, comparing Howard’s use of theology, philosophy and law to other contemporary writers, and revealing what Howard believed about women in an age when they were still seen as physically inferior, and mentally incapable, of administering any form of government. In order to achieve a thorough view of Howard, I have consulted his personal letters, letters from Howard’s contemporaries, documents concerning Howard in the State Papers, and secondary sources discussing Howard, his life, and his written work. Additionally, works on early modern political thought, ancient and medieval philosophy and law, women and gender in the early modern period, and early modern English history have been consulted to provide contextual and content analysis. Combined, they will provide a view of a man who was remarkable in his time, and a work that was groundbreaking in his world. vii INTRODUCTION QUEENS, CLAIMANTS AND CRITICISM Considering the fractious political and social conditions in sixteenth-century England, it is not surprising that men committed time to an issue that challenged the religious, social, and political boundaries of society—whether or not a woman could rule as sole monarch. Faith, law and tradition were serious and sensitive issues, just as easily inciting men to violence as fostering them to debate. For authors declaring judgment on the subject of female rulers, individual opinion was more important than knowledge on the subject, and writers articulated their views with confidence, hoping to convince, or at least persuade, men that their words represented the truth. Early modern society theoretically viewed women as inferior subjects who were not fit to function outside accepted gender boundaries. Therefore, the presence of a female monarch in mid-century stimulated a debate, which continued for nearly fifty years. Amongst the entries to the gynecocracy debate, Lord Henry Howard embraced the concept that women were equal to men in nearly all aspects. He directly challenged the anti-gynecocracy writers, and produced one of the most comprehensive defenses of female authority in the sixteenth century. This chapter will discuss the context of the gynecocracy debate, why it polarized opinion so greatly, the men who wrote attacks and defenses of female rule; and how Henry Howard came to submit his entry into the debate. The Tudor age was one of exceptional literature, momentous military endeavors, religious upheaval; and it was the age of queens. Yet, the female rulers who dominated events from the mid-sixteenth century did not begin their reigns without controversy. At the time, the simple fact of their existence created a conundrum that reached to the core of a man’s beliefs about society, challenged the foundations of English political thought, and forced men to decide what loyalty truly was.1 However, despite the complexity of the possible ramifications, the problem facing men of both the religious and the political world was straightforward; for the first time since the twelfth century, there were no legitimate male heirs to the English throne. When Mary I acceded to the throne in August 1553, she became the first female to rule England in her own right, a position that came about by biological “accident.”2 Fifteen years earlier, the possibly of a queen regnant was a distant thought. For in 1537, after decades of waiting, Henry VIII and his third wife, Jane Seymore, finally produced a son, Edward. However, Henry’s desire to keep his lineage alive by producing a male heir had driven him to divorce Catherine of Aragon, his first wife and mother of his eldest daughter, Mary; and to divorce and execute Anne Boleyn, his second wife and mother of his next daughter, Elizabeth. His quest 1Constance Jordan, "Woman's Rule in Sixteenth-Century British Political Thought," Renaissance Quarterly 40, no. 3 (1987), 423. 2 Carole Levin, "Queens and Claimants: Political Insecurity in Sixteenth-Century England," in Gender, Ideology, and Action: Historical Perspectives on Women's Public Lives, ed. Janet Sharistanian (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1986), 41; Mortimer Levine, "The Place of Women in Tudor Government," in Tudor Rule and Revolution, ed. Delloyd J. Guth and John W. McKenna (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982), 109. 1 may have given him a son, but in the process, Henry broke his allegiance with the Roman Church, a move that created future problems for all of his successors, be they male or female, and supplied the impetus that fueled the gynecocracy debate.