Queen Anne's Body in Stuart Court Sermons

This article aligns the 1605, 1606, and 1609 court sermons of Lancelot Andrewes with Ben Jonson's Masque of Blackness and Masque of Beauty (performed in 1605 and 1608, respectively) in order to argue that both genres politicize James VI and I's domestic life by commenting on Queen Anne's political and domestic roles. Scholars have examined the ways in which Anne's performance in the court masques allowed her to claim a sense of authority and agency over her body. Recent research on sermons has demonstrated how they were another form of court entertainment, more akin to masques and plays than we might expect, and that the sermon genre often commented on ongoing political and domestic situations in the Stuart court. Yet, scholars have not considered how the masques prompted a response from another popular court genre, the sermon. In placing these two genres—sermon and masque—alongside one another, I argue that Andrewes's patriarchal downplaying of the woman's body in the Biblical Nativity narrative is actually a response to Jonson's masques, rather than the normative touchstone of early modern understandings of gender and maternity. Considering Andrewes's view of the female body as a contrast to Jonson's display and celebration of the female body reveals multiple models for understanding maternity in the early modern period.

Pathways to Honour

In his pursuit of honour, Alessandro Farnese prioritised his family. His strategies included securing Church offices, advantageous marriages, and Italian territories for his children and grandchildren. As he rose towards the papacy, Farnese was also influenced by the curial culture in which humanist concepts of the papal role intersected with the code of honour. These concepts, evident in court sermons, reflected a curial script that impelled the pope to project himself as the leading man in the coming of a new Imperium and the dawn of a Golden Age. As pope, Farnese wove this narrative through the magnificent display of festivals, art, and architecture. His pursuit of reform needs to be considered against the backdrop of this narrative.

“a goodly amiable name for mildness”: Mercilla and other Elizabethan types

The 1570 “Homelie against Disobedience” and court sermons responding to the Northern Rebellion and the threat posed by Mary Stuart employ biblical figures to develop a spiritual interpretation of current events. Public sermons in 1587, the year of Mary Stuart’s execution, and in 1589 likewise use biblical typology which shades into nationalism. Recent critics see the Mercilla episode, in its idealization of Elizabeth’s attitude and inaccurate presentation of Mary Stuart’s trial, as evidence of Spenser’s bad faith or a sophisticated critique of power. Rather, his allegory recalls preachers’ use of typology to spiritualize recent events and present them as reflecting well upon Elizabeth and God’s care of England.

Sermons and Sermonizing in 18th-Century Russia: At Court and Beyond

This paper is devoted to the question of the spread of court sermons in 18th-century Russian society. The author describes three types that had been formed by the 1740s: court, seminary, and parish homilies. The main question is how and by what means did the court homilies in Elizabeth Petrovna’s time spread the cultural models, thoughts, and ideas created by court preachers throughout Russian society as a whole? Did these texts penetrate traditional culture and how were they adopted? Who read the court sermons, apart from members of the court? To answer these questions, the author describes how court homilies were published and sold, and how they entered the manuscript tradition. The analysis of archival and published materials allows the author to conclude that in the second half of the 18th century, the court sermon was only beginning to penetrate the “traditional” culture. The genre spread primarily in the seminaries, where texts by court preachers functioned as a “library” of panegyrical and theological elements to be used by students and teachers in their own compositions. With few exceptions, the court tradition does not intersect with texts originating from Old Russian and classical theological traditions, although all such texts are called slovo (literally ‘word,’ i.e., ‘sermon’). However, by the end of the 18th century, the new genre became more widely disseminated, following the spread of seminary education and the increase in the number of priests educated in this tradition.