Description
Book SynopsisIn The Excommunication of Elizabeth I, Aislinn Muller examines the excommunication and deposition of Queen Elizabeth I of England by the Roman Catholic Church, and its political afterlife during her reign. Muller shows that Elizabeth’s excommunication was a crucial turning point for both Catholics and Protestants, one that irrevocably changed attitudes towards the queen, widened political participation and resistance, and posed a destabilising threat to her regime. The Excommunication of Elizabeth I demonstrates how this event exacerbated religious tensions in England’s foreign and domestic politics, and how Elizabeth’s conflict with the papacy shaped the development of anti-Catholicism in post-Reformation England.
Trade Review“The Excommunication of Elizabeth I presents an arresting narrative of queried legitimacy, reactive politics, and subversion that informs of the wider tumults of the revolutionary age and stands as an object lesson in maintaining cordial relations.” Patrick J. Murray, in: Renaissance and Reformation, Vol. 44, No. 2 (2021), pp. 261–263.
Table of ContentsAAcknowledgements List of Figures Abbreviations Note on the Text Introduction 1 Queen Elizabeth’s Excommunication in Post-Reformation Politics 2 Elizabeth’s Excommunication in Surviving Records 1 The Excommunication of Elizabeth I in International Politics 1 Making the Case for Elizabeth's Illegitimacy, 1558–1569 2 Interpreting and Executing Regnans in Excelsis 2 Transmitting the Excommunication of Elizabeth I 1 Distribution and Reception in the 1570s 2 Catholic Missions and the Circulation of Regnans in Excelsis, ca. 1580–1603 3 Debating the Excommunication’s Legitimacy 3 Spreading the Word? Regnans in Excelsis in Protestant Discourse 1 Humour, History, and Anxiety in Printed Responses to Regnans in Excelsis 2 Protestant Translations of Regnans in Excelsis 4 The Excommunication in Foreign and Domestic Policy 1 Threats from Spain and Scotland, ca. 1570–1579 2 Regnans in Excelsis and the Coming of War, ca. 1580–1588 3 Wars with Spain, France, and Ireland, ca. 1589–1603 5 Political Engagement, Subversion, and Resistance in England and Ireland 1 Sedition as Resistance: Perceptions of Elizabeth after 1570 2 Alternatives to Violence: Prohibited Objects, Recusancy, and Public Disobedience 3 Regnans in Excelsis and Resistance in Ireland Conclusion Bibliography Index
