Machiavellian Encounters in Tudor and Stuart England: Literary and Political Influences from the Reformation to the Restoration (Anglo-Italian Renaissance Studies) ISBN-13: 9781138248786

ISBN-13: 9781138248786

Binding: Paperback

Author: Arienzo, Alessandro

Release Date: 03-10-2016

Languages: English

Edition: 1

Number Of Pages: 218

Package Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches

Details: Taking into consideration the political and literary issues hanging upon the circulation of Machiavellis works in England, this volume highlights how topics and ideas stemming from Machiavellis books – including but not limited to the Prince – strongly influenced the contemporary political debate. The first section discusses early reactions to Machiavellis works, focusing on authors such as Reginald Pole and William Thomas, depicting their complex interaction with Machiavelli. In section two, different features of Machiavellis reading in Tudor literary and political culture are discussed, moving well beyond the traditional image of the tyrant or of the evil Machiavel. Machiavellis historiography and republicanism and their influences on Tudor culture are discussed with reference to topical authors such as Walter Raleigh, Alberico Gentili, Philip Sidney; his role in contemporary dramatic writing, especially as concerns Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare, is taken into consideration. The last section explores Machiavellis influence on English political culture in the seventeenth century, focusing on reason of state and political prudence, and discussing writers such as Henry Parker, Marchamont Nedham, James Harrington, Thomas Hobbes and Anthony Ascham. Overall, contributors put Machiavellis image in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century England into perspective, analyzing his role within courtly and prudential politics, and the importance of his ideological proposal in the tradition of republicanism and parliamentarianism.