SPEAKING ENGLAND: NATIONALISM(S) IN EARLY MODERN LITERATURE AND CULTURE A Dissertation by CHRISTOPHER L. MORROW Submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY August 2006 Major Subject: English SPEAKING ENGLAND: NATIONALISM(S) IN EARLY MODERN LITERATURE AND CULTURE A Dissertation by CHRISTOPHER L. MORROW Submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Approved by: Chair of Committee, Howard Marchitello Committee Members, Margaret J. M. Ezell Douglas Brooks James Rosenheim Head of Department, Paul A. Parrish August 2006 Major Subject: English iii ABSTRACT Speaking England: Nationalism(s) in Early Modern Literature and Culture. (August 2006) Christopher L. Morrow, B.A., University of Wyoming; M.A., Texas A&M University Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. Howard Marchitello This dissertation explores conceptions of nationalism in early modern English literature and culture. Specifically, it examines multiple definitions of nation in dramatic works by William Shakespeare (Cymbeline), John Fletcher (Bonduca), Thomas Dekker (The Shoemaker’s Holiday), and Robert Daborne (A Christian Turned Turk) as well as in antiquarian studies of England by William Camden (Britannia and Remains Concerning Britain) and Richard Verstegan (Restitution of Decayed Intelligence). This dissertation argues that early modern English nationalism is a dynamic phenomenon that extends beyond literary and historical genres typically associated with questions of national identity, such as history plays, legal tracts, and chronicle histories. Nationalism, this dissertation demonstrates, appears in Roman-Britain romances and tragedies, city comedies, and both dramatic and prose accounts of piracy. Nation appears in myriad voices – from ancient British queens to shoemakers and pirates. And the nationalisms they articulate are as varied as the genres in which they appear as nation is negotiated both across and within these works. iv Furthermore, this dissertation illustrates that not only are concepts of nation and national identity being explored, the very terms on which to construct nation are being defined and re-defined. Nation is variously filtered through a myriad of issues including the influence of the monarch (particularly James I), origin, language, gender, class, ethnicity, religion and national rivals. This dissertation also discusses works which move us beyond our pre-conceived notions about nation by advocating more corporate cosmopolitan models. The models are based on such qualities as membership, occupation, productivity and the pursuit of wealth rather than birth order or location. These corporate and piratical nationalisms extend beyond the confining geopolitical borders of most concepts of nation. Early modern English nationalism is not singularly defined by the monarch, the church, the legal system, or even antiquarian studies of Britain and England. It is not singularly defined by any one voice or text. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation would not have been possible without the support of many people. First, I would like to thank Howard Marchitello for his guidance, insight, and patience. He exemplifies what a dissertation advisor should be. I would also like to thank my committee: Margaret J. M. Ezell, Douglas Brooks, and James Rosenheim. Their guidance not only throughout this dissertation but throughout my graduate career has been invaluable. It a better project because of their participation. I am also grateful to the Melbern G. Glasscock Center for Humanities Research and the Department of English who provided essential financial support for research and conference travel and the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens for permission to reproduce images from their collections. Also, Steve Smith, Director of the Cushing Memorial Library and Archives, was understanding and allowed me some flexibility crucial to this project in its final stages. Most importantly, I would like to thank my wife, Becky. I would have neither been able to start nor finish this project without her patience, perseverance, and support. And, finally, I am grateful for my two toddlers, Alex and Nate, who always seemed to know just when I needed to be interrupted for a few minutes of rough-housing. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT........................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................... v TABLE OF CONTENTS....................................................................................... vi LIST OF FIGURES................................................................................................ viii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION............................................................................. 1 II ‘YOU SHALL FIND US IN OUR SALT-WATER GIRDLE’: MASCULINE ROMAN IMPERIALISM, FEMININE BRITISH DEFIANCE, AND THE EARLY MODERN NATION................... 19 Background................................................................................. 27 Cymbeline.................................................................................... 38 Bonduca....................................................................................... 78 Conclusion................................................................................... 111 III ANTIQUARIANISM, ANGLO-SAXONISM AND THE “DISCOVERY” OF ENGLAND ...................................................... 113 Camden’s Britannia and Remains............................................... 124 Verstegan’s Restitution of Decayed Intelligence ........................ 164 IV “CRY TREASON TO MY CORPORATION”: COMMUNAL IDENTITY AND CORPORATE NATIONALISM IN DEKKER’S THE SHOEMAKER’S HOLIDAY...................................................... 187 V FREE MEN OF THE SEA: PLUNDERING PIRATES AND NEGOTIABLE NATIONALISMS IN DABORNE’S A CHRISTIAN TURNED TURK........................................................ 235 Corporation and Cosmopolitanism.............................................. 255 Geography and Conversion......................................................... 270 Internal and External Threats ...................................................... 284 vii CHAPTER Page Ward’s Re-conversion....................................................................... 295 VI CONCLUSION ................................................................................. 299 WORKS CITED..................................................................................................... 303 VITA ...................................................................................................................... 315 viii LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE Page 1 Title Page, Richard Verstegan’s Restitution of Decayed Intelligence..... 169 2 “The Manner of the First Bringing and Preaching of the Christian faith, unto Ethelbert, King of Kent” .............................. 179 3 “Primi Noui Evangelij fructus”............................................................... 180 4 “Schismaticorum in Anglia crudelitas”................................................... 181 5 Title Page, Newes from Sea..................................................................... 263 1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION In the final scene of Shakespeare’s Henry V, King Harry, wooing his soon-to-be bride, Katherine, daughter to the French King, asks her to teach him the terms in which to plead “his love-suit to her gentle heart” (5.2.101). She replies, “Your majesty shall mock at me. I cannot speak your England” (5.2.102-03). In addition to being coy, Katherine’s response shows her lack of command over English language and grammar and, furthermore, an apprehension about this lack. Her error is, of course, the grammatical confusion of the language, English, with the country, England. The English nation, while merely a slip in this line, is crucial in the scene, as Henry’s marriage to Katherine is also a marriage of France and England, one that will block Harry’s view of “many a fair French city” still untouched by war (5.2.293). More importantly, this marriage will also make Harry the heir to the French throne and expand the English domain. Despite her coyness and lack of proper English, Katherine will presumably be forced to “speak England” through her marriage to Henry and, specifically, through the production of an heir. But, ultimately, we know that Katherine’s role is passive and she cannot “speak England” because Henry, in his role as monarch, already speaks for the nation. In fact, in many ways he is the nation – as King Charles refers to him when he commands “Bar This dissertation follows the style of the MLA Manual of Style. 2 Harry England, that sweeps through our land / With pennons painted in the blood of Harfleur” (3.5.48-49). History plays operate in terms of nation by privileging the voice of the monarch. England, and in turn Englishness, are actively shaped by its sovereign. Both prose and dramatic chronicle histories, such as Holinshed’s Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland and Shakespeare’s Henriad, reinforce this notion by telling the story of nation through the lives and exploits of these figures. In Henry V, we begin to see the strain of this model. But more than using the conflict with France to define England, Henry also has to negotiate the competing nationalities