The Politics of Court Scandal in Early Modern England: News Culture and the Overbury Affair, 1603-1660

ISBN-13: 9780521782890 / Angielski / Twarda / 2002 / 336 str.

Alastair Bellany

Opis

This is the first detailed study of the political significance of the seventeenth-century's most notorious and sensational court scandal--the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury. Insisting that images of the scandalous court had serious political importance, the book retells the tale of Overbury's rise to power, his fall and murder in 1613, and the public revelation of the murder two years later. The book examines the production and circulation of news about the scandal and assesses the political significance of contemporary depictions of the affair.

Recenzje

'[Bellany's] sensitive and scholarly account reminds us that if a single preoccupation dominated the political thinking of the English Renaissance, it was the provision of good counsel to kings.' London Review of Books

Spis treści

List of illustrations; Acknowledgements; Note on quotations and dates; List of abbreviations; Introduction: poison in the fountain - understanding the politics of Jacobean court scandal; 1. The court politics of the Overbury scandal; 2. News culture and the Overbury affair; 3. The sins of the Overbury murderers; 4. 'The powder poison': popish plots and the Overbury scandal; 5. Stamping the print of justice? Vengeance, mercy and repentance; 6. Afterlives: the Overbury affair as history and memory; Bibliography; Index.