The Oxford Handbook of Holinshed's Chronicles
The Oxford Handbook of Holinshed's
Chronicles, edited by Paulina Kewes,
Ian W. Archer, and Felicity Heal was published in December 2012 by
Oxford University Press.
The Chronicles of England, Scotland,
and Ireland (1577, 1587), issued
under the name of Raphael Holinshed, was the crowning achievement of
Tudor historiography, and became the principal source for the
historical writings of Spenser, Daniel, and above all, Shakespeare.
While scholars have long been drawn to Holinshed's Chronicles as an
important source for later writers, they typically dismissed it as a
baggy collection of materials, lacking coherent form and analytical
insight. This condescending verdict has only recently given way to an
appreciation of the literary and historical qualities of these
chronicles.
The Handbook is a major
interdisciplinary undertaking which gives the
lie to Holinshed's detractors, and provides original interpretations of
a book that has lacked sustained academic scrutiny. Bringing together
leading specialists in a variety of fields - literature, history,
religion, classics, bibliography, and the history of the book - the
Handbook demonstrates that the
Chronicles powerfully reflect the nature
of Tudor thinking about the past, about politics and society, and about
the literary and rhetorical means by which readers might be persuaded
of the truth of the narrative. The volume shows how distinctive it was
for one book to chronicle the history of three nations of the British
archipelago.
The various sections of the Handbook
analyze the making of the two
editions of the Chronicles;
the relationship of the work to medieval
and early modern historiography; its formal properties; genres and
audience; attitudes to politics, religion, and society; literary
appropriations; and the parallel descriptions and histories of England,
Scotland, and Ireland. The result is a seminal study that shows
unequivocally the vitality and complexity of the chronicle form in the
late sixteenth century.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface and Acknowledgements
List of Illustrations
Abbreviations
Note on References to the Chronicles
Notes on Contributors
Prologue
IAN W. ARCHER, FELICITY HEAL, AND PAULINA KEWES
PART I: THE MAKING OF HOLINSHED
1. The Genesis of the Two Editions
FELICITY HEAL AND HENRY SUMMERSON
2. Printers, Publishers, and the Chronicles as Artefact
DAVID SCOTT KASTAN AND AARON T. PRATT
3. Censorship
CYNDIA SUSAN CLEGG
4. Sources: 1577
HENRY SUMMERSON
5. Sources: 1587
HENRY SUMMERSON
6. Harrison's 'Chronology' and Descriptions of Britain
GLYN PARRY
7. Illustrations in the 1577 Edition
JAMES A. KNAPP
PART II: HISTORIOGRAPHY
8. Holinshed and the Native Chronicle Tradition
ALEXANDRA GILLESPIE AND OLIVER HARRIS
9. Holinshed and Mythical History
LAURA ASHE
10. Holinshed and the Middle Ages
HARRIET ARCHER
11. Leland and Other Precursors
JAMES CARLEY
12 Holinshed and Hall
SCOTT LUCAS
13. Holinshed and Foxe
THOMAS S. FREEMAN AND SUSANNAH MONTA
14. Later Historians and Holinshed
WYMAN HERENDEEN
15 The Wider World of Chronicling
DANIEL WOOLF
PART III: FORM, STYLE, AND RECEPTION
16. Genres
TRICIA McELROY
17. Rhetoric
JENNIFER RICHARDS
18. Holinshed and the Classics
JUDITH MOSSMAN
19. Shows and Pageants
ELIZABETH GOLDRING AND JAYNE ELISABETH ARCHER
20. Narrative Voice and Influencing the Reader
MATTHEW WOODCOCK
21 Readership and Reception
FELICITY HEAL
PART IV: POLITICS, SOCIETY, AND RELIGION
22. Monarchy
JOHN WATTS
23. Social Order and Disorder
IAN W. ARCHER
24. Religious Ideology
PETER MARSHALL
25. Providentialism
ALEXANDRA WALSHAM
26. War
PAUL E. J. HAMMER
27. The International Context
STEVEN GUNN
28. Tudor Kings and Queens
SUSAN DORAN
PART V: LITERARY APPROPRIATIONS
29. History Plays and the Royal Succession
PAULINA KEWES
30. Shakespeare and Medieval History
IGOR DJORDJEVIC
31. Shakespeare and British History
RICHARD DUTTON
32. Spenser and Holinshed
RICHARD A. McCABE
33. Daniel and Holinshed
GILLIAN WRIGHT
34. Later Appropriations
BART VAN ES
PART VI: ARCHIPELAGIC HOLINSHED
35. Archipelagic History
PHILIP SCHWYZER
36. Mapping England and Wales
ALFRED HIATT
37. England
RALPH HOULBROOKE
38. Scotland
ROGER MASON
39. Ireland
COLM LENNON
40. Wales
RALPH GRIFFITHS
Appendix A: Contents of the two
Editions of the Chronicles by Signature
TIM SMITH-LAING
Appendix B: Raphael Holinshed: New
Light on a Shadowy Life
HENRY SUMMERSON
Bibliography
Index