MIAMI UNIVERSITY The Graduate School Certificate for Approving the Dissertation We hereby approve the Dissertation of Cristy Ann Beemer Candidate for the Degree: Doctor of Philosophy _________________________________________ Director Katharine J. Ronald _________________________________________ Reader Katharine M. Gillespie _________________________________________ Reader Cynthia Lewiecki-Wilson _________________________________________ Graduate School Representative P. Renée Baernstein ABSTRACT ‚USURPING AUTHORITY IN THE MIDST OF MEN‛: MIRRORS OF FEMALE RULING RHETORIC IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY by Cristy Ann Beemer In this project, I seek to reclaim the British Isles’ sixteenth-century queens Lady Jane Grey, Mary I, Elizabeth I, and Mary, Queen of Scots as public rhetors and as teachers of rhetorical strategy through an analysis firmly based in Aristotelian and Ciceronian rhetoric. Prepared for rule by the same texts that guided male monarchs, yet lacking a history of female rule, reigning women adapted classical rhetorical strategies to establish authority. The rhetorical artifacts of these women leaders comprise a unique collection of powerful, political, and public performances by women who reigned over a male- dominated governance in which most women were silenced. With the sudden succession of several female queens, a new mirror of female rule was created in their rhetorical acts. Specifically, this dissertation analyzes the way these women reflected and resisted male strategies of rhetorical authority. The metaphorical and material mirror, which arrived as a commonplace and inexpensive item in the early 1500s, and brought with it the mirror-of-princes genre that provided an image of male rule, frames a community of women who mirrored one another’s rhetorical strategies. Finally, I argue that this community provides a legacy of women’s rhetoric for political women leaders today. ‚USURPING AUTHORITY IN THE MIDST OF MEN‛: MIRRORS OF FEMALE RULING RHETORIC IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY A DISSERTATION Submitted to the Faculty of Miami University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of English by Cristy Ann Beemer Miami University Oxford, Ohio 2008 Dissertation Director: Dr. Katharine J. Ronald © Cristy Ann Beemer 2008 TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures iv Dedication v Acknowledgements vi Chapter One 1 The Monstrous Regiment: A Community of Sixteenth Century Women Rhetors Chapter Two 37 God Save the Queen: The Kairotic Subject in the Mercy Letters of Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots Chapter Three 70 Rhetorical Reflections of Female Ruling Identity: Embodied Apophasis in the speeches of Mary I and Elizabeth I Chapter Four 109 Disembodied Apophasis in the Rhetorical Acts of Jane Grey and Elizabeth I Epilogue 137 The Scrying Mirror: The Legacy of Early Modern Women’s Rule Works Cited 155 iii LIST OF FIGURES 1.1 The Monstrous Regiment of 16th Century 17 Reigning Women Geneology iv For Larry—ever since I put your picture in a frame. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First and foremost, I must thank my parents, Joan and Hank Woehling. At every crazy turn of my life—whether I announced that I was going to be a singing waitress or a scholar—they responded with, ‚You can do it, and how can we help?‛ Their generosity and support are endless, and I am eternally grateful. You gave me so many gifts in my life, but your confidence in me is perhaps the greatest gift, and it has led me to many journeys and discoveries. Thank you. My committee—a brilliant, intellectually stimulating, and challenging group of exemplary women—wonderfully reflects the interdisciplinarity of my project. I am so fortunate to have outstanding faculty members from Composition and Rhetoric, Literature, and History on my committee; working with you all complicated my ideas in truly useful ways and led me to new areas of inquiry and understanding. Kate Ronald, my mentor and dearest friend, I’ve learned so much from you about writing, teaching, administrating, and advising. But most of all, I’ve learned about opening your heart to your students and your work, and doing it all with grace. Cynthia Lewiecki-Wilson, probably the busiest woman I know, it meant so much to me to be able to count on your careful attention to my work. Katharine Gillespie, thank you for letting me rely on your expertise to guide me along the way. Renée Baernstein, you expanded my focus in so many ways—starting with our independent study. Susan Morgan, thank you for your service on my exam committee earlier in this project. I know the early modern period isn’t your favorite, but you gave me such a gift by participating. Thank you. To the Miami University English Department—I have been so fortunate to have many opportunities and to have been encouraged to create others. Thank you. Miami also gave me the wonderful gift of lasting friendships. Connie Kendall— you paved the way and always shared your experience and advice. You can’t know how many times you made a difference in my life. Lisa Shaver—from the very start of this crazy ride to the end, I can’t imagine my time here without you. Jen Cellio—your friendship made all the difference. Sarah Bowles—I simply couldn’t have done it without you. I am forever in your debt, and you are forever in my heart. Debbie, Loretta, Jackie, and Trudi—thank you for last minute forms and constant encouragement! I am truly grateful for the Miami University English Department Sinclair Dissertation Fellowship and the Newberry Renaissance Consortium Grant that allowed me the time and funding to travel, research, and write. vi My in-laws, Jan and Michael Hornbuckle—thank you for all of your support over these years. Thank you for being the best of family and friends. My dearest Larry—who worked harder than I every hour I spent writing—thank you for all of your sacrifices, your support, your confidence in me, and most, your partnership. Thank you for making all of my dreams possible. Finally, my son Jack, my most wonderful dream come true, and yet, more than I could have ever dreamed of<thank you. vii For those that will not permit a woman to have power over her own sons, will not permit her (I am assured) to have rule over a realm: and those that will not suffer her to speak in defense of those that be accused, nether that will admit her accusation intended against man, will not approval her, that she shall sit in judgment crowned with the royal crown, usurping authority in the midst of men. —Knox, “The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women” 14 A modest silence is a woman‟s crown. —Aristotle Politics 1.13.11 viii CHAPTER ONE The Monstrous Regiment: A Community of Sixteenth Century Reigning Women Rhetors In Why History Matters, Gerda Lerner asserts that women ‚have been presented as though they had no history worth recording‛ (205). While Lerner concedes that women rulers and queens were recorded, she claims that is because they ‚did what men did‛ (205); however, just as Ginger Rogers had to do what Fred Astaire did backwards and in heels, women rulers had to do what men did through a woman’s body. In the face of resistance and male stereotypes of women’s appropriate behavior, women had to redefine the role of the monarch for the people of their realm. While royal women of the early modern period were members of the white and privileged ruling class, they also represented, albeit from a position of power, their marginalized gender. The contradiction between their role as women in a patriarchal society and their role as leaders within the patriarchy focuses the issues of power and gender creating a model of women’s political power—not simply a reiteration of the patriarchy. Unlike most women of the period who were ‚denied any knowledge of their history, *and<+ were also denied heroines and role models,‛ royal women had a strong contemporary connection to their heroines, role models, and adversaries, and learned rhetorical strategies from them (Lerner 207). Although women leaders do not fall into Lerner’s list of women forgotten by history, the recovery of their rhetorical acts is a recent endeavor. Recent recovery work in women’s rhetoric such as Joy Ritchie and Kate Ronald’s Available Means: An Anthology of Women’s Rhetoric(s) (University of Pittsburgh, 1 2001); Andrea Lunsford’s Reclaiming Rhetorica: Women in the Rhetorical Tradition (University of Pittsburgh, 1995); Cheryl Glenn’s Rhetoric Retold: Regendering the Tradition from Antiquity to the Renaissance (Southern Illinois University Press, 1997); Molly Meijer Wertheimer’s Listening to their Voices: The Rhetorical Activities of Historical Women (University of South Carolina, 1997) have broadened our field, have given voice to many women silenced by an androcentric history, and have complicated our notions of what constitutes rhetorical theory. The gathering work of these scholars forms, to borrow language from the feminist movement, a ‚first wave‛ of women’s rhetoric. This project joins the ‚second wave‛ of women’s rhetoric—extrapolating theory from recovered rhetorical artifacts. In the absence of a history of women teachers of rhetoric, this project looks to the rhetorical acts of women to uncover what they taught other women about rhetoric and reclaims them as teachers of rhetoric through their rhetorical acts. The community of early modern women leaders taught one another the rhetorical strategies of their unique and shared context as women establishing authority within a patriarchy. Even historical figures not in need of recovery must often be recovered for their contributions to rhetorical history. The rhetorical artifacts of royal women have long been cast aside in favor of romantic characterizations of them in movies and novels. The subjectivity of historiography and the implications of verifiable authorship are present in any study of this time period, and because the focus of this project is rhetorical analysis, these texts are examined as the artifacts we have of women’s rhetorical history.