Spenser’s Defence of Elizabeth

SPENSER'S DEFENCE OF ELIZABETH DOUGLASA.NORTHROP Edmund Spenser's praise of his sovereign's justice and mercy is clearly indicated at many points in the allegory of his "Legend of Justice," Book v of The Faerie Queene, and thus joins the many other artistic and popular glorifications of Elizabeth that appeared during the last two decades of her reign.' It should be noted, however, that much of this glorification was not idle adulation, but was designed to answer specific criticisms of the Queen, to encourage loyalty, and, indeed, to protect the realm from foreign attack. In 1595, when the second three books of The Faerie Queene were published, protestant England was engaged in a continuing battle with Roman Catholicism and Spain. This battle had its propagandistic and theoretical side, and praise of Elizabeth was very important for the issues raised in this controversial literature. It is the thesis of this study that Book v of The Faerie Queene is more closely related to this controversial literature than has been previously recognised . There were two controversies that involved the defence of Elizabeth. One fairly speCific controversy, occurring early in her reign, had its background in the puritan attack on Mary Tudor and Mary Stuart and was concerned with the right of women to rule. This controversy and Spenser's use of it in Book v have been extensively analyzed by Professor James E. Phillips, Jr. Phillips distinguishes three positions: that of the extreme puritans (e.g. John Knox before Elizabeth's accession), . which attacks the rule of women as contrary to nature; that of the "government" (e.g. John Aylmer, later Bishop of London), which defends the rule of women as in accord with nature; and that of the "moderate" puritans (e.g. Knox after the accession) which insists on the natural inferiority of women but allows for divinely permitted exceptions . Spenser's agreement with the moderate puritan position is explicitly stated in the Radigund episode when he declares that women are bound by nature to obey men's rule ''Vnlesse the heauens them lift to lawfull soueraintie." (v, v, 25, 9)2 Spenser's contribution to the gynaecocratic controversy was to see the exceptions created by God as an instance of equity, in which the law of men's rule is put aside so that the principle Volume XXXVIlI, Number 3, April 1969 278 DOUGLAS A. NORTHROP of the rule of the superior will be followed by conferring sovereignty on the divinely endowed woman.' Britomart's dream at the Temple of Isis identifies her with the principle of equity that will lift her C or Elizabeth) to "lawfull soueraintie." The second controversy was concerned more generally with the justice of Elizabeth's actions as ruler. Throughout the 1580s and 1590s the justice of Elizabeth was an important controversial issue. The execution of Mary Stuart is the best known incident in this controversy, but other actions were also relevant: the persecution of Jesuits, the expulsion of Mendoza for his part in the Ridolfi Plot, the intervention in the Netherlands , and the treatment of Ireland. To understand how the Queen could be attacked or justified for these actions it is necessary to prOVide some of the background that existed in international law or the "lawes of armes" as it was often called. Three forms of law were recognized as limiting the actions of a prince: the laws of God, of nature, and of nations. The content of all three categories of law was obscure and controversial, but there were substantial points of agreement in the analyses of such men as Albertico Gentili, Jean Bodin, and Innocent Gentillet.4 The criteria derived from these three categories of law allow one to distinguish three forms of monarchy. There is first the lordly monarchy in which the ruler has conquered the country by just war and thus has control over the lives and goods of all the subjects of the realm. This type of monarchy is contrary to the law of nature, but all nations agree it is proper. The situation parallels the conflict between the laws of nature and nations in regard to slavery. Although men are by nature free, all nations agree...