Frenee-HutchinsS_fm - Open Research Exeter (ORE)

EXETER UNIVERSITY AND UNIVERSITÉ
D’ORLÉANS
The Cultural and Ideological Significance Of
Representations of Boudica During the reigns
of Elizabeth I and James I.
Submitted by Samantha FRENEE-HUTCHINS to the universities of Exeter and
Orléans as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English, June 2009.
This thesis is available for library use on the understanding that it is copyright
material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper
acknowledgment.
I certify that all material in this thesis which is not my own work has been
identified and that no material has previously been submitted and approved for
the award of a degree by this or any other University.
..................................... (signature)
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Abstract in English:
This study follows the trail of Boudica from her rediscovery in Classical texts
by the humanist scholars of the fifteenth century to her didactic and nationalist
representations by Italian, English, Welsh and Scottish historians such as Polydore
Virgil, Hector Boece, Humphrey Llwyd, Raphael Holinshed, John Stow, William
Camden, John Speed and Edmund Bolton. In the literary domain her story was
appropriated under Elizabeth I and James I by poets and playwrights who included
James Aske, Edmund Spenser, Ben Jonson, William Shakespeare, A. Gent and John
Fletcher. As a political, religious and military figure in the middle of the first
century AD this Celtic and regional queen of Norfolk is placed at the beginning of
British history. In a gesture of revenge and despair she had united a great number of
British tribes and opposed the Roman Empire in a tragic effort to obtain liberty for
her family and her people.
Focusing on both the literary and non-literary texts I aim to show how the
frequent manipulation and circulation of Boudica's story in the early modern period
contributed to the polemical expression and development of English and British
national identities, imperial aspirations and gender politics which continue even
today. I demonstrate how such heated debate led to the emergence of a polyvalent
national icon, that of Boadicea, Celtic warrior of the British Empire, religious
figurehead, mother to the nation and ardent feminist, defending the land, women, the
nation and national identity.
Today Boudica‘s story is that of a foundation myth which has taken its place in
national memory alongside Britannia; Boudica‘s statue stands outside the Houses of
Parliament in London as a testament to Britain‘s imperial aspirations under Queen
Victoria whilst the maternal statue of her protecting her two young daughters claims
a Welsh haven in Cardiff.
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Résumé en français:
Cette thèse suit la trace de Boudica depuis la redécouverte de ce personnage
dans les textes classiques par des savants humanistes du quinzième siècle jusqu‘aux
représentations didactiques et nationalistes de ce personnage par des historiens
italiens, anglais, gallois et écossais tels que Polydore Virgil, Hector Boece,
Humphrey Llwyd, Raphael Holinshed, John Stow, William Camden, John Speed,
Edmund Bolton. Ensuite l‘appropriation de son histoire par des poètes et des
dramaturges sous Elizabeth I et James I couvre le travail de James Aske, Edmund
Spenser, Ben Jonson, William Shakespeare, A. Gent et John Fletcher.
En tant que personnage politique, religieux et militaire au milieu du premier
siècle de notre ère cette reine celte de la région de Norfolk est placée au début de
l‘histoire de la Grande Bretagne. Lors d‘un geste tragique de revanche et de
désespoir elle a réuni un grand nombre de tribus britanniques afin d‘opposer
l‘Empire Romain et obtenir la liberté pour sa famille et son peuple.
Se concentrant sur les textes littéraires et non-littéraires j‘essaie de montrer
comment la manipulation fréquente et la circulation de l‘histoire de Boudica au début
de la période moderne ont contribué aux polémiques autour des identités anglaises et
britanniques, l‘aspiration impériale et la politique entre les sexes ; polémiques qui
continuent aujourd‘hui. Je démontre comment de tels débats ont mené à l‘apparition
d‘une icône national et polyvalente, telle Boadicea, guerrière celtique de l‘Empire
britannique, mère de la nation et féministe ardente œuvrant pour la défense de la
terre, de la femme, de la nation et de l‘identité nationale.
Aujourd‘hui l‘histoire de Boudica est celle d‘un mythe de fondation qui prend
place dans la mémoire collective à côté de Britannia; la statue de Boudica debout
devant le parlement à Londres, témoigne des aspirations impériales sous la reine
Victoria, tandis que la statue maternelle de Boudica en train de protéger ses deux
jeunes filles, prétend à un havre gallois à Cardiff.
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CONTENTS
Abstract in English
P. 2
Abstract in French
P. 3
Acknowledgements
P. 5
List of Illustrations
P. 6
Introduction
P. 7
Chapter 1: Retrieving British History
P. 28
Classical Visions of Boudica
Early Modern Receptions
Bookmakers and Gambles with History
Anxiety over Native Origins
Humphrey Llwyd, Raphael Holinshed & William Camden
Stow, Speed, Daniel, Clapham & Edmund Bolton
The Social Circulation of Boudica
Chapter 2: Female Emancipation: force, freedom, and fallacy
Reclaiming Women‘s History
In mirrours more then one
An Illusion of Empowerment?
The Cult of Elizabeth
Chapter 3: Unity, Harmony and Empire: an English Agenda?
King of Great Britain
The English Empire
The Historiographical Revolution
Early Modern Nationalism
Locating Cymbeline‘s Queen
The Relegation of Women
Chapter 4: Domesticating the Heart of the Wild
The Second Sex
Taming the Heart of the Wild
The Masculine Embrace
The Roman Embrace
P. 33
P. 38
P. 42
P. 52
P. 59
P. 75
P. 88
P. 97
P. 101
P. 110
P. 129
P. 140
P. 149
P. 152
P. 160
P. 174
P. 184
P. 193
P. 201
P. 210
P. 214
P. 229
P. 246
P. 267
Conclusion
P. 285
Appendix : Petruccio Ubaldini's Le Vite Del Le Donne Illustri
Del Regno D'Inghilterra, & dell Regno di Scotia
(Translated from Italian into English and French).
P. 302
Bibliography
P. 311
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Acknowledgements
I need to thank a number of people for their help, advice and support; namely
Dr Tracey Miller-Tomlinson, New Mexico State University, who sent me some of
her work and allowed me to refer to it in my study. Dr Catherine Henze from the
University of Wisconsin-Green Bay gave me advice about Jacobean music
particularly that for Fletcher‘s plays. For the information on education I am indebted
to Professor Nicholas Orme, Exeter University, who recommended a reading list to
me. Thank you to Professor Malcolm Todd for allowing me to interview him at his
home in Exeter; he gave me invaluable insights into the historical Boudica and
Cartimandua, as did Dr Nicola Royan, lecturer in medieval and renaissance literature
at Nottingham University. Dr Royan helped me with Boece's account, and William
Craw identified the French translator of Hector Boece‘s Chronicles for me.
For the translations of Petruccio Ubaldini into English and French I was given
advice and help from Téa Couche-Facchin, Italian teacher at the Lycée-en-forêt, and
from Professor Frank La Brasca, Director of the Italian Department at FrançoisRabelais University, Tours. The texts were translated into English by myself and Dr
Valentina Vulpi. Dr Sandrine Soltane-Castellana translated Ubaldini into French.
Mrs Barraton at Orléans University library has always helped me to locate and
borrow obscure documents, so thank you. I am also grateful to Dr Claire Bouchet,
Lycée-en-forêt, who proofread my work and made some invaluable suggestions.
Thank you equally to Dr Carolyn Lyle-Williams at Reading University, Professor
Richard Hingley at Durham University, Dr Ben Winsworth at Orléans University,
chantal Lévy at the Lycée-en-forêt, Montargis, and Vanessa Collingridge for ideas and
encouragement. I would like to give a huge mark of recognition to my own research
directors, professor Tom Pughe, who set me on the right path and was a source of
great encouragement and succor, and to Dr Philip Schwyzer who has always been
available, supportive and very helpful.
On the home front I must say ‗thank-you‘ to my sister, Beastie, who has always
put me up, and put up with me, during my stays at Exeter. And last, but not least, I am
greatly indebted to my husband, Eric for his moral and domestic support over the last
few years.
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Illustrations
Figure n° 1: Woodcut showing Boudica addressing her troops
just before battle is joined with the Romans.
Holinshed’s Chronicles: the History of England (1577)
P. 67.
Figure n° 2: Woodcut showing the final battle between the Romans
and the British warriors.
Holinshed’s Chronicles: the History of England (1577)
P. 68.
Figure n° 3: Woodcut showing Voada leading her army of ladies against
the Romans. Holinshed’s Chronicle: the History of Scotland (1577)
P. 68.
Figure n° 4: Woodcut showing the execution of Voada's daughter, Vodicia. P. 69.
Holinshed’s Chronicles: the History of Scotland (1577)
Figure n° 5: Woodcut of an ancient British woman called Boudica.
John Speed‘s History of Great Britaine (1611) and his
Theatre of the empire of Great Britaine (1612)
P. 77.
Figure n° 6. The gold coin Speed attributes to Boudica.
P. 80.
Figure n° 7: Thomas Thornycroft's bronze statue in London (1902).
P. 287.
Figure n° 8: James Harvard Thomas‘s marble statue of Boudica and her
Daughters (1916), Cardiff Civic Hall.
P. 289.
Figure n° 9: Newspaper cartoon of Margaret Thatcher during the Falklands P. 290.
War; The Daily Express (24 June 1982)
Figure n° 10: Newspaper cartoon of Margaret Thatcher; the General
Elections of 1987. The Daily Telegraph (11 June 1987)
P. 291.
Figure n° 11: An advertisement for the Ford Motor Company
published in The Independent 10th August, 2003.
P. 292.