Henry VIII, Shakespeare, and the Jacobean Royal Court

Early Stuart history plays by William Shakespeare and Samuel Rowley join an ongoing debate over the continued cultural relevance of Henry VIII to the Stuart Court. In anachronistic representations of the Tudor king, both playwrights lodge typological arguments designed to flatter the perceived interests and agendas of their respective patrons, King James and Prince Henry Frederick. This evidence raises larger implications concerning the potential of Shakespearean-era plays to offer royal counsel and shape opinion. At stake are competing narratives of the Henrician Reformation that could legitimate differing ideological commitments concerning history and English Protestant orthodoxy.