Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

The Image of Governance and Other Dialogues of Counsel (1533–1541) by Thomas Elyot

The Image of Governance and Other Dialogues of Counsel (1533–1541) by Thomas Elyot Downloaded from http://read.dukeupress.edu/common-knowledge/article-pdf/27/1/122/867436/0270122.pdf by DEEPDYVE INC user on 30 March 2022 and sciences is named for him in North Carolina, as is a crater on the moon’s dark side, forever unobservable from Earth. Still, he is mostly forgotten. And so thank you ever so much, Robyn Arianrhod, for digging up his lost papers in a castle in Northumberland, among other places, and producing a wonderfully lucid and rich new account. Rescuing a brave mind from the talons of time is a special kind of service. Finally, for all to see, Harriot comes to light. — Oren Harman doi 10.1215/0961754X-8723279 Thomas Elyot, The Image of Governance and Other Dialogues of Counsel (1533 – 1541), ed. David R. Carlson (Cambridge, UK: Modern Humanities Research Association, 2018), 354 pp. The English diplomat, moralist, administrator, and scholar Sir Thomas Elyot wrote these dialogues during some of the most turbulent years in Tudor history. Henry VIII went through five of his six wives; triggered decades of ecclesiasti - cal instability by severing England’s ties with the Catholic Church; dissolved the monasteries that had provided charity, education, and medical care within the localities; beheaded his Reformation’s chief legislative architect; and carried out an erratic foreign policy that almost bankrupted his realm. Elyot observed it all; quietly sympathized with Henry’s first repudiated queen, Katherine of Aragon; probably harbored doubts about the king’s religious policy; and, despite all, man - aged to avoid political disaster. Although Elyot lived in interesting times, his writing is pointedly nontop- i cal. He draws heavily both in his masterpiece, The Governor, and in these col- lected dialogues on classical histories and ethical treatises to express what purport to be timeless truths about government, the relationships between princes and the men who advise them, and even relations between the sexes. The value here lies not in the originality of Elyot’s pronouncements, which are for the most part translations and paraphrases of ancient texts, but in their typicality. If you want to get a good sense of what most English Renaissance writing is like, do not bother with Shakespeare. Read Elyot. The social and political vision is resolutely hierarchical, the morality conventional, and the prose unaffected. Elyot’s writing contrasts with that of his friend Thomas More, who voices truly revolutionary opinions in his Utopia. More was beheaded. Elyot was not. — J ohn W atkins doi 10.1215/0961754X-8723291 C OM MO N K N O W L E D G E 12 2 http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Common Knowledge Duke University Press

The Image of Governance and Other Dialogues of Counsel (1533–1541) by Thomas Elyot

Watkins, John
Common Knowledge , Volume 27 (1) – Jan 1, 2021
Download PDF
1 page

Loading next page...
 
/lp/duke-university-press/the-image-of-governance-and-other-dialogues-of-counsel-1533-1541-by-L4SsrxZwKI
Copyright
Copyright © 2021 Duke University Press
ISSN
0961-754X
eISSN
1538-4578
DOI
10.1215/0961754x-8723291
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Downloaded from http://read.dukeupress.edu/common-knowledge/article-pdf/27/1/122/867436/0270122.pdf by DEEPDYVE INC user on 30 March 2022 and sciences is named for him in North Carolina, as is a crater on the moon’s dark side, forever unobservable from Earth. Still, he is mostly forgotten. And so thank you ever so much, Robyn Arianrhod, for digging up his lost papers in a castle in Northumberland, among other places, and producing a wonderfully lucid and rich new account. Rescuing a brave mind from the talons of time is a special kind of service. Finally, for all to see, Harriot comes to light. — Oren Harman doi 10.1215/0961754X-8723279 Thomas Elyot, The Image of Governance and Other Dialogues of Counsel (1533 – 1541), ed. David R. Carlson (Cambridge, UK: Modern Humanities Research Association, 2018), 354 pp. The English diplomat, moralist, administrator, and scholar Sir Thomas Elyot wrote these dialogues during some of the most turbulent years in Tudor history. Henry VIII went through five of his six wives; triggered decades of ecclesiasti - cal instability by severing England’s ties with the Catholic Church; dissolved the monasteries that had provided charity, education, and medical care within the localities; beheaded his Reformation’s chief legislative architect; and carried out an erratic foreign policy that almost bankrupted his realm. Elyot observed it all; quietly sympathized with Henry’s first repudiated queen, Katherine of Aragon; probably harbored doubts about the king’s religious policy; and, despite all, man - aged to avoid political disaster. Although Elyot lived in interesting times, his writing is pointedly nontop- i cal. He draws heavily both in his masterpiece, The Governor, and in these col- lected dialogues on classical histories and ethical treatises to express what purport to be timeless truths about government, the relationships between princes and the men who advise them, and even relations between the sexes. The value here lies not in the originality of Elyot’s pronouncements, which are for the most part translations and paraphrases of ancient texts, but in their typicality. If you want to get a good sense of what most English Renaissance writing is like, do not bother with Shakespeare. Read Elyot. The social and political vision is resolutely hierarchical, the morality conventional, and the prose unaffected. Elyot’s writing contrasts with that of his friend Thomas More, who voices truly revolutionary opinions in his Utopia. More was beheaded. Elyot was not. — J ohn W atkins doi 10.1215/0961754X-8723291 C OM MO N K N O W L E D G E 12 2

Journal

Common Knowledge – Duke University Press

Published: Jan 1, 2021

There are no references for this article.