Seeking the Stuarts? 17th century secondary sources
As part of a recent interview with the Historical Novel Society, historian Johanna Luthman, author of LOVE, MADNESS & SCANDAL: THE LIFE OF FRANCES COKE VILLIARS, VISCOUNTESS PURBECK (O.U.P. 2017), recommended secondary sources for lovers of all things 17th century. Some of the titles are harder to find at an affordable price than others. Not all are in print. Secondhand booksellers or inter-library loans might be required. But for those who are ready to dive into the early Stuart period, here are Luthman’s suggestions.
The monarchy
GREAT BRITAIN’S SOLOMON: JAMES VI AND I IN HIS THREE KINGDOMS, Maurice Lee, University of Illinois Press, 1990, 978-0252016868
THE CRADLE KING: THE LIFE OF JAMES VI AND I, THE FIRST MONARCH OF A UNITED GREAT BRITAIN, Alan Stewart, St Martin Press, 2003, 978-0312274887
For James’s Queen, Anna of Denmark:
ANNA OF DENMARK: A CULTURAL BIOGRAPHY, Leeds Barrols, University of Pennsylvania, 2000, 978-0812235746
Good books on Charles I and his Queen, Henrietta Maria:
CHARLES I: THE PERSONAL MONARCH, Charles Carlton, Routledge, 1995, 978-0415125659
THE PERSONAL RULE OF CHARLES I, Kevin Sharpe, Yale University Press, 1996, 978-0300065961
HENRIETTA MARIA: PIETY, POLITICS AND PATRONAGE, Erica Gaffney (ed.), Routledge, 2008, 978-0754664208
HENRIETTA MARIA, CHARLES I’s INDOMITABLE QUEEN, Alison Plowden, Sutton Publishing, 2001, 978-0750918824
If you are interested in scandals and their meaning:
THE POLITICS OF COURT SCANDAL IN EARLY MODERN ENGLAND, Alastair Bellany, Cambridge University Press, 2002, 978-0521782890
THE MURDER OF KING JAMES, Alastair Bellany and Thomas Cogswell, Yale University Press, 2015, 978-0300214963
A HOUSE IN GROSS DISORDER: SEX, LAW, AND THE SECOND EARL OF CASTLEHAVEN, Cynthia Herrup, Oxford University Press, 2001, 978-0195139259
UNNATURAL MURDER: POISON AT THE COURT OF KING JAMES, Anne Somerset, Phoenix Books, 1998, 978-0753801987
Good biographies:
COURT LADY AND COUNTRY WIFE: TWO NOBLE SISTERS IN SEVENTEENTH CENTURY ENGLAND, Lita-Rose Betherman, Harper Perennial, 2006, 978-0060762896
BUCKINGHAM: THE LIFE AND POLITICAL CAREER OF GEORGE VILLIERS, FIRST DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM 1592-1628, Roger Lockyer, Routledge, 1984, 978-0582494152
MARY SIDNEY, LADY WROTH, Margaret Hannay, Routledge, 2010, 978-0754660538
Sex and gender in the early Stuart period
BLOOD, BODIES, AND FAMILIES IN EARLY MODERN ENGLAND, Patricia Crawford, Routledge, 2004, 978-0582405134
APHRODISIACS, FERTILITY, AND MEDICINE IN EARLY MODERN ENGLAND, Jennifer Evans, Royal Historical Society, 2014, 978-0861933242
MEANINGS OF MANHOOD IN EARLY MODERN ENGLAND, Elizabeth Foyster, Clarendon Press, 2006, 978-0199299348
CHURCH COURTS, SEX, AND MARRIAGE IN ENGLAND 1570-1640, Martin Ingram, Cambridge University Press, 1990, 978-0521386555
RITUAL AND CONFLICT: THE SOCIAL RELATIONS OF CHILDBIRTH IN EARLY MODERN ENGLAND, Adrian Wilson, Routledge, 2013, 978-1409468127
Have you read any of these works? What did you think? What other titles would you add?
About the contributor: Kate Braithwaite is the author of Charlatan, a story of poison and intrigue in 17th century Paris.
