From Troy to Whitehall Palace: Classical Mythology and the Creation of Early Modern English Political Culture

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Core Humanities Distinguished Lecture - Speaker Jennifer Ng

The myths of the classical world resonated in political culture for centuries after the fifth century dissolution of the Roman Empire. In particular, the early modern period embodied the humanist agenda of ad fontes, taking inspiration from Ancient Greek, Roman, and biblical sources. At the English court, myths involving political figures like Aeneas and Solomon, as well as deities such as Venus and Hymen, were especially pertinent to a kingdom concerned with establishing union on multiple levels. The unmarried Elizabeth I faced questions about her strength and legitimacy, and as a result, adopted a complex gendered persona: on the one hand, the queen regnant styled herself as possessing the heart and stomach of a king; yet she also embraced virginal and maternal identities, claiming a marital union with the English people. James VI of Scotland’s ascension to the English throne in 1603 generated similar anxieties about governance and corruption, compelling the author of the Union of the Crowns to present himself as a Rex Pacificus. Whereas earlier Tudor monarchs often stressed the native roots of their authority, the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods saw the increased fusion of British and classical traditions. Ancient myths therefore served to actuate the programmes of the late Tudor and early Stuart monarchs, serving both as justifications of their rule, and as demonstrations of British fluency in continental trends. Themes such as peace, victory, love, and temperance countered early modern English political narratives of insecurity and illegitimacy. At the Tudor and Stuart courts, then, classical references were translated to negotiate a future that was both ancient and contemporary, and national and global: a future that embraced the timely inheritance of the mythical Brutus of Troy.