Languages

You are here

Three powers in the tyranny controversy at the accession of James I Stuart

Научные исследования: 
Выпуски: 


For citation: Mikeladze N., Ralph Metlow. Three powers in the tyranny controversy at the accession of James I Stuart // Mediascope. 2021. Issue 1. Available at: http://www.mediascope.ru/2692

DOI: 10.30547/mediascope.1.2021.4

 

@ Natalia E. Mikeladze

Doctor of Philology, Professor at the Chair of Foreign Journalism and Literature, Faculty of Journalism, Lomonosov Moscow State University (Moscow, Russia) fornatalia@bk.ru

 

Abstract. The image of a tyrant and the problem of tyranny run through all of Shakespeare's work. In the Jacobian period he considered this topic beyond the context pre-determined by the chroniclers. Controversy about good rule and tyranny broke out with the accession of the new Stuart dynasty in 1603. The parties involved - royal, ecclesiastical and “third” powers (humanist artists) - allow us to speak about its sample character. King James in Basilikon Doron (1599, 1603) revived himself the discussion. The Bishop of Winchester took part in the Sermon at the Coronation (1603), and the playwright William Shakespeare participated in the problem play Measure for Measure (1603/04). For a king a tyrant is a usurper and oppressor of his subjects; for a bishop, he is an apostate from God. Bishop Bilson finds his model of an ideal king in the Old Testament, King James - in Aristotle and in the New Testament, admitting popular resistance to the tyrant. Shakespeare's ideas keep up with the traditions of medieval common piety, are closer to the ideas of James I, but go further. He defines tyranny through the equality of men before God and the law (Rom. 2:1). In Measure for Measure the topic is developed in doctrina, in Macbeth the theory is accompanied by an example. Both of these plays will be published only in the posthumous Folio 1623. Measure for Measure deserves a special place among the works “against tyrants”. It brings Epistle to Romans back to its true meaning.

Keywords: tyranny, Basilikon Doron, Bishop Bilson, Sermon at the Coronation, Epistle to Romans, “against tyrants”, Measure for Measure

 

Notes

Aristotel'. (1983) Politika. Per. S.A. Zhebelyova. Aristotel'. Sochineniya: V 4 t. [Aristotle. Politics. Collected works in 4 vol.]. Moscow, Misl’ Publ., Vol. 4, pp. 376-644. (In Rus)

Bilson T. (1603) A sermon preached at Westminster before the King and Queenes Maiesties, at their coronations on Saint Iames his day, being the 28. of Iuly. 1603. London. [44 pages] Available at:https://ota.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/repository/xmlui/bitstream/handle/20.500.12024/A16148/A16148.html?sequence=5&isAllowed=y

Bilson T. (1585) The True Difference Betiveene Christian Subjection and Unchristian Rebellion. Oxford. [820 pages] Available at: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A16152.0001.001/1:1?rgn=div1;view=toc

Canino C.G. (2004) Review // The Sixteenth Century Journal, Vol. 35, No. 1, pp. 269-270.

Gless D.J. (2003) Review // Shakespeare Quarterly, Vol. 54, No. 3, pp. 330 – 333.

James I. (1918) Basilikon Doron or His Majesties Instrvctions To His Dearest Sonne, Henry the Prince // Political Works of James I. Ed. Charles Howard McIlwain. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, pp. 3 - 52.

Lamont W.M. (1966) The Rise and Fall of Bishop Bilson // Journal of British Studies, Vol. 5, No.2, pp. 22–32.

Mikeladze N.E. (2020a) Pritchi Iisusa, Deyaniya i Poslaniya apostolov v idejnoj i obraznoj strukture p'esy «Mera za meru». [Parables of Heaven, Acts and Epistles of the Apostles in Measure for Measure]. Studia Litterarum  Vol. 5, № 1, pp. 94 - 117. (In Rus)

Shakespeare W. (2004) Measure for Measure. Ed. J.W. Lever. London: Thomson Learning (The Arden Shakespeare, 2nd ser. 1st ed. 1965).

Shakespeare W. (2020) Measure for Measure. Ed. A.R. Braunmuller, R.N. Watson. Bloomsbury Publ. L., N.Y. (The Arden Shakespeare, 3rd ser.)

Shuger D.K. (2001) Political Theologies in Shakespeare's England: The Sacred and the State in 'Measure for Measure'. Basingstoke.

The Mirror for Magistrates by William Baldwin et all.(1938)  Ed. L.B. Campbell. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Archive.

Watson R.N. (2020) Introduction // Measure for Measure / Ed. A.R. Braunmuller, R.N. Watson. Bloomsbury Publ. L., N.Y., pp. 1 - 148.

 

References

Aristotel'. (1983) Politika. Per. S.A. Zhebelyova. Aristotel'. Sochineniya: 4 vols. [Aristotle. Politics. Collected works in 4 vol.]. Moscow, Misl’ Publ., Vol. 4., pp. 376-644. (In Rus)

Bibliia. (2008) Knigi Sviashchennogo Pisaniia Vetkhogo i Novogo Zaveta. [Books of the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments]. Moscow, Russian biblical society Publ. (In Rus)

Bilson T. (1603)  A sermon preached at Westminster before the King and Queenes Maiesties, at their coronations on Saint Iames his day, being the 28. of Iuly. 1603. London. Available at: https://ota.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/repository/xmlui/bitstream/handle/20.500.12024/A16148/A16148.html?sequence=5&isAllowed=y

Burdah K (2004). Reformacija. Renessans. Gumanizm. Per. M. Levina. [Reformation. Renaissance. Humanism]. Moscow, ROSSPEN Publ. (In Rus)

James I. (1918) Basilikon Doron or His Majesties Instrvctions To His Dearest Sonne, Henry the Prince. Political Works of James I. Ed. Charles Howard McIlwain. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, pp. 3 - 52.

Lever J.W. (2004) Introduction. Measure for Measure. Ed. J.W. Lever. London, pp. xi – xcviii.

Mikeladze N.E. (2020a) Pritchi Iisusa, Deyaniya i Poslaniya apostolov v idejnoj i obraznoj strukture p'esy «Mera za meru». [Parables of Heaven, Acts and Epistles of the Apostles in Measure for Measure]. Studia Litterarum, Vol. 5, № 1, pp. 94 - 117. (In Rus)

Mikeladze N.E. (2020b) Komu «svoj mech vruchaet Bog»? (Shekspir i episkop Bilson). [“He who the sword of heaven will bear”? (Shakespeare and Bishop Bilson)]. Vestnik of Moscow Univ. Ser. 9. Filologiya. In print

Mor T. (1973) Epigrammy. Istorija Richarda III. Podg. M. Gasparov, E. Kuznecov i dr. [Epigrams. History of Richard III]. Moscow, Nauka Publ. (In Rus)

Shakespeare W. (2004) Measure for Measure. Ed. J. W. Lever. London: Thomson Learning.

Shakespeare W. (2020) Measure for Measure. Ed. A.R. Braunmuller, R.N. Watson. London, New York: Bloomsbury Publ.

Shakespeare W. (2016) Richard III. Ed. by J.R. Siemon. London, New York: Bloomsbury Publ.

Shekspir U. (1990) Mera za meru. Korol' Lir. Buria, Per. O. Soroki. [Shakespeare W. Measure for Measure. King Lear. The Tempest]. Moscow, Izvestiia Publ., pp. 7 – 87. (In Rus)

Shekspir V. (1949) Mera za meru. Per. M. A. Zenkevicha [Shakespeare W. Measure for Measure]. Shekspir V. Poln. sobr. soch.: 8 vols. Pod red. A.A. Smirnova. Moscow, Leningrad. Academia Publ., Vol. 7. pp. 377–504.

Watson R.N. (2020) Introduction. Measure for Measure. Ed. A.R. Braunmuller, R.N. Watson. London, New York: Bloomsbury Publ., pp. 1 - 148.