14 States, monarchs and dynastic transitions
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R. Malcolm Smuts
Abstract
This chapter examines three tracts written a few years before and after James I’s accession to the throne of England by the civil lawyer and historian, Sir John Hayward: The First Part Life and Raigne of King Henry the IIII (1598); a reply to Robert Persons entitled An answer to the first part of a certaine conference, concerning succession (1603) and A Treatise of Union (1606). These differ in their manner of presentation for reasons almost certainly related to Hayward’s perception of the interests of the patrons whose favour he wished to attract, Robert Devereux Earl of Essex and the new King. But it is argued that they reflect similar concerns with the construction and maintenance of a cohesive royal state over a linguistically diverse realm comprising not only English but Welsh, Irish and eventually Scottish subjects. Hayward sees royal authority as an indispensable unifying bond that holds in check personal ambitions and ethnic hatreds that would otherwise dissolve the state, and he is consistently interested in both ideas and political processes that tend either to weaken or reinforce this cohesive force.
Abstract
This chapter examines three tracts written a few years before and after James I’s accession to the throne of England by the civil lawyer and historian, Sir John Hayward: The First Part Life and Raigne of King Henry the IIII (1598); a reply to Robert Persons entitled An answer to the first part of a certaine conference, concerning succession (1603) and A Treatise of Union (1606). These differ in their manner of presentation for reasons almost certainly related to Hayward’s perception of the interests of the patrons whose favour he wished to attract, Robert Devereux Earl of Essex and the new King. But it is argued that they reflect similar concerns with the construction and maintenance of a cohesive royal state over a linguistically diverse realm comprising not only English but Welsh, Irish and eventually Scottish subjects. Hayward sees royal authority as an indispensable unifying bond that holds in check personal ambitions and ethnic hatreds that would otherwise dissolve the state, and he is consistently interested in both ideas and political processes that tend either to weaken or reinforce this cohesive force.
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I v
- Dedication vi
- Contents vii
- Notes on contributors ix
- Acknowledgements xii
- Abbreviations and conventions xiii
- Genealogical charts xiv
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Part I Contexts and approaches
- 1 Introduction 3
- 2 The earlier Elizabethan succession question revisited 20
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Part II Religion and politics
- 3 The Puritan, the Jesuit and the Jacobean succession 47
- 4 Taking it to the street? 71
- 5 Bishop Richard Bancroft and the succession 92
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Part III The court
- 6 Essex and the ‘popish plot’ 115
- 7 The Scottish King and the English court 134
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Part IV Imaginative writings and the wider public world
- 8 The succession in sermons, news and rumour 155
- 9 Hamlet and succession 173
- 10 The poetics of succession, 1587–1605 192
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Part V Britain and beyond
- 11 Polemic and prejudice 215
- 12 Brinkmanship and bad luck 236
- 13 A view from abroad 257
- 14 States, monarchs and dynastic transitions 276
- Afterword 295
- Select bibliography 304
- Index 314
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I v
- Dedication vi
- Contents vii
- Notes on contributors ix
- Acknowledgements xii
- Abbreviations and conventions xiii
- Genealogical charts xiv
-
Part I Contexts and approaches
- 1 Introduction 3
- 2 The earlier Elizabethan succession question revisited 20
-
Part II Religion and politics
- 3 The Puritan, the Jesuit and the Jacobean succession 47
- 4 Taking it to the street? 71
- 5 Bishop Richard Bancroft and the succession 92
-
Part III The court
- 6 Essex and the ‘popish plot’ 115
- 7 The Scottish King and the English court 134
-
Part IV Imaginative writings and the wider public world
- 8 The succession in sermons, news and rumour 155
- 9 Hamlet and succession 173
- 10 The poetics of succession, 1587–1605 192
-
Part V Britain and beyond
- 11 Polemic and prejudice 215
- 12 Brinkmanship and bad luck 236
- 13 A view from abroad 257
- 14 States, monarchs and dynastic transitions 276
- Afterword 295
- Select bibliography 304
- Index 314
