Elizabeth I and the Old Testament
Biblical Analogies and Providential Rule
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Arc Humanities Press
Published:28th Feb '23
Should be back in stock very soon
Throughout her reign, Elizabeth I and her supporters used biblical analogies to perpetuate the Queen’s claim to be England’s providential Protestant monarch. While Elizabeth’s parallels with various biblical figures—including Deborah, Esther, Judith, David, Solomon, and Daniel—have all received varying levels of attention in the scholarship, this is the first analysis of how biblical analogy functioned as a religio-political tool for Elizabeth across her reign. Taking both a chronological and thematic approach, this book addresses this gap by analyzing Elizabeth and her supporters’ use of the Old Testament to provide justification for decisions (or the lack thereof), to offer counsel to the Queen, and to vindicate both female kingship and the royal supremacy. It argues that biblical analogies were a vital component of Elizabethan royal iconography, and that their widespread use demonstrates their potency as a tool for legitimizing and sustaining her power.
Although there have been numerous studies connecting Queen Elizabeth I and Old Testament figures, this is the first book to trace biblical typology over the course of her reign from 1558 to 1603. For the Elizabethans, typology was more than an analogy. It was “prefigurative of the present” (2). It conflated the present and the biblical past. Seeing their queen as a Deborah or Solomon chosen by God to execute his providential design meant that the English, or at least Elizabethan Protestants, were themselves God’s chosen people. Aidan Norrie argues that defining Elizabeth’s actions as God’s actions removed gender as a barrier to her royal supremacy.[...]
Elizabeth I and the Old Testament: Biblical Analogies and Providential Rule is an impressively learned study that adds a fresh voice and a provocative point of view to the ongoing scholarly debate about whether Elizabeth’s female kingship was or was not a vital component of the Elizabethans’ own religiopolitical debate.
-- Ilona Bell * Early Modern Women 20, no. 2 (Spring 2026): 370-ISBN: 9781641893817
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
216 pages
New edition