"Since the Bible left little room for speculation on prehistory - in fact, no room at all for the concept itself - this study concentrates on myth and legend outside of the biblical context and on those who conjured prehistory out of these sources. A subtle conflict between belief and skepticism emerges from these pages, as Ferguson reveals how some Renaissance writers struggled with the ancient explanations that flouted reason and experience, while others sidestepped such doubts by relating prehistory to man's social evolution. By isolating and analyzing such topics as euhemerism (the interpretation of myths as traditional accounts of historical events and persons), skepticism, rationalism, and poetic history, Ferguson clarifies Renaissance attempts to find in poetic expression a way of "mediating" between a version of the past preserved in myth and legend and one that might square with historical scholarship." "Written in an accessible and eloquent style, Utter Antiquity illuminates the development of historical consciousness in early modern England, and, in doing so, contributes significantly to an understanding of the Renaissance mind."--BOOK JACKET.

In Cultures of Forgery, leading literary studies and cultural studies scholars examine the double meaning of the word "forge"-to create or to form, on the one hand, and to make falsely, on the other.

This study locates the main cause for this abiding presence of the British History in its relevance to Protestant patriotism."

The Chinese Impact upon English Renaissance Literature examines how English writers responded to the cultural shock caused by the first substantial encounter between China and Western Europe. Author Mingjun Lu explores how Donne and Milton came to be aware of England’s participation in ’the race for the Far East’ launched by Spain and Portugal, and how this new global awareness shaped their conceptions of cultural pluralism. Drawing on globalization theory, a framework that proves useful to help us rethink the literary world of Renaissance England in terms of global maritime networks, Lu proposes the concept of ’liberal cosmopolitanism’ to study early modern English engagement with the other. The advanced culture of the Chinese, Lu argues, inculcated in Donne and Milton a respect for difference and a cosmopolitan curiosity that ultimately led both authors to reflect in profound and previously unexamined ways upon their Eurocentric and monotheistic assumptions. The liberal cosmopolitan model not only opens Renaissance literary texts to globalization theory but also initiates a new way of thinking about the early modern encounter with the other beyond the conventional colonial/postcolonial, nationalist, and Orientalist frameworks. By pushing East-West contact back to the period in 1570s-1670s, Lu’s work uncovers some hitherto unrecognized Chinese elements in Western culture and their shaping influence upon English literary imagination.

A distinguished scholar explores innovations in art and attitudes in this classic of cultural history. It chronicles the revival of humanism, church/empire conflicts, and the rise of modern government and individualism.

A Companion to Tudor Britain provides an authoritative overview of historical debates about this period, focusing on the whole British Isles. An authoritative overview of scholarly debates about Tudor Britain Focuses on the whole British Isles, exploring what was common and what was distinct to its four constituent elements Emphasises big cultural, social, intellectual, religious and economic themes Describes differing political and personal experiences of the time Discusses unusual subjects, such as the sense of the past amongst British constituent identities, the relationship of cultural forms to social and political issues, and the role of scientific inquiry Bibliographies point readers to further sources of information

Lost Knowledge: The Concept of Vanished Technologies and Other Human Histories examines the idea of lost knowledge, reaching back to a period between myth and history. It investigates a peculiar idea found in a number of early texts: that there were civilizations with knowledge of sophisticated technologies, and that this knowledge was obscured or destroyed over time along with the civilization that had created it. This book presents critical studies of a series of early Chinese, South Asian, and other texts that look at the idea of specific “lost” technologies, such as mechanical flight and the transmission of images. There is also an examination of why concepts of a vanished “golden age” were prevalent in so many cultures. Offering an engaging and investigative look at the propagation of history and myth in technology and culture, this book is sure to interest historians and readers from many backgrounds.

In this tribute to Anthony Grafton, a preeminent historian of early modern European intellectual and textual culture and of classical scholarship, fifty-eight contributors present new research across the many areas in which Grafton has been active. The articles span topics from late antiquity to the 20th century, from Europe to North American, and a full spectrum of fields of learning, including art history, the history of science, classics, Jewish and oriental studies, church history and theology, English and German literature, political, social, and book history. Major themes include the communities and dynamics of the Republic of Letters, the reception of classical texts, libraries and book culture, the tools, genres and methods of learning. Contributors are: James S. Amelang, Ann Blair, Christopher S. Celenza, Stuart Clark, Thomas Dandelet, Lorraine Daston, Mordechai Feingold, Paula Findlen, Anja-Silvia Goeing, Robert Goulding, Alastair Hamilton, James Hankins, Nicholas Hardy, Kristine Louise Haugen, Bruce Janacek, Lisa Jardine, Henk Jan de Jonge, Diane Greco Josefowicz, Roland Kany, Thomas DaCosta Kaufmann, Arthur Kiron, Jill Kraye, Urs B. Leu, Scott Mandelbrote, Suzanne Marchand, Margaret Meserve, Paul Michel, Peter N. Miller, Glenn W. Most, Martin Mulsow, Paul Nelles, William R. Newman, C. Philipp E. Nothaft, Laurie Nussdorfer, Jürgen Oelkers, Brian W. Ogilvie, Nicholas Popper, Virginia Reinburg, Daniel Rosenberg, Sarah Gwyneth Ross, Ingrid D. Rowland, David Ruderman, Hester Schadee, Wilhelm Schmidt-Biggemann, Richard Serjeantson, Salvatore Settis, Jonathan Sheehan, William H. Sherman, Nancy Siraisi, Jacob Soll, Peter Stallybrass, Daniel Stolzenberg, N.M. Swerdlow, Dirk van Miert, Kasper van Ommen, Arnoud Visser, Joanna Weinberg and Helmut Zedelmaier.

England became a centrally important maritime power in the early modern period, and its writers – acutely aware of their inhabiting an island – often depicted the coastline as a major topic of their works. However, early modern English versifiers had to reconcile this reality with the classical tradition, in which the British Isles were seen as culturally remote compared to the centrally important Mediterranean of antiquity. This was a struggle for writers not only because they used the classical tradition to legitimate their authority, but also because this image dominated cognitive maps of the oceanic world. As the first study of coastlines and early modern English literature, Dire Straits investigates the tensions of the classical tradition's isolation of the British Isles from the domain of poetry. By illustrating how early modern English writers created their works in the context of a longstanding cultural inheritance from antiquity, Elizabeth Jane Bellamy offers a new approach to the history of early modern cartography and its influences on literature.

The Mirror for Magistrates, the collection of de casibus complaint poems in the voices of medieval rulers and rebels compiled by William Baldwin in the 1550s, was central to the development of imaginative literature in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Additions by John Higgins, Thomas Blenerhasset, and Richard Niccols between 1574 and 1610 extended the Mirror's scope, shifted its focus, and prolonged its popularity; in particular, the texts' later manifestations profoundly influenced the work of Spenser and Shakespeare. Unperfect Histories is the first monograph to consider the text's early modern transmission history as a whole. In chapters on Baldwin, Higgins, Blenerhasset, and Niccols's complaint collections, it demonstrates that the Mirror is an invaluable witness to how verse history was conceptualized, written, and read across the period, and explores the ways in which it was repeatedly reinterpreted and redeployed in response to changing contemporary concerns. The Mirror corpus encompasses topical allegory, nationalist polemic, and historiographical skepticism, as well as the macabre humour and metatextual play which have come to be known as hallmarks of Baldwin's mid-Tudor writings. What has not been recognised is the complex interaction of these themes and techniques right across the Mirror's history. Higgins, Blenerhasset, and Niccols's contributions are analysed for the first time here, both within their own literary and historiographical contexts, and in dialogue with Baldwin's early editions. This new reading offers a lively account of the texts' depth and variety, and provides insight into the extent of the Mirror's influence and ubiquity in early modern literary culture.