Elizabeth's bedfellows : an intimate history of the queen's court
Whitelock, Anna2013
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Elizabeth I acceded to the throne in 1558, restoring the Protestant faith to England. At the heart of the new queen's court lay Elizabeth's bedchamber, closely guarded by the favoured women who helped her dress, looked after her jewels and shared her bed. Elizabeth's private life was of public, political concern. Her bedfellows were witnesses to the face and body beneath the make-up and elaborate clothes, as well as to rumoured illicit dalliances with such figures as Robert Dudley. Their presence was for security as well as propriety, as the kingdom was haunted by fears of assassination plots and other Catholic subterfuge. For such was the significance of the queen's body: it represented the very state itself. This riveting, revealing history of the politics of intimacy uncovers the feminized world of the Elizabethan court. Between the scandal and intrigue the women who attended the queen were the guardians of the truth about her health, chastity and fertility. Their stories offer extraordinary insight into the daily life of the Elizabethans, the fragility of royal favour and the price of disloyalty.
Main title:
Elizabeth's bedfellows : an intimate history of the queen's court / Anna Whitelock.
Author:
Whitelock, Anna, author
Imprint:
London : Bloomsbury, 2013.©2013.
Collation:
462 p., [8] p. of plates : ill., ports. ; 24 cm.
Notes:
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents:
Machine generated contents note: 1.The Queen's Two Bodies -- 2.The Queen is Dead, Long Live the Queen -- 3.Familia Reginae -- 4.Not a Morning Person -- 5.Womanish Infirmity -- 6.Disreputable Rumours -- 7.Ruin of the Realm -- 8.Carnal Copulation -- 9.Arcana Imperii -- 10.Smallpox -- 11.Devouring Lions -- 12.Menage a Trois -- 13.Visitor to the Bedchamber -- 14.Sour and Noisome -- 15.Untouched and Unimpaired -- 16.Greatly Grieved -- 17.Suspicious Mind -- 18.The Elixir of Life -- 19.Barren Stock -- 20.Wicked Intentions -- 21.Secret Enemies -- 22.Want of Posterity -- 23.Compass her Death -- 24.Beside her Bed -- 25.Lewd Fantasy -- 26.Blows and Evil Words -- 27.Kenilworth -- 28.Badness of Belief -- 29.Toothache -- 30.Amorous Potions -- 31.Froggie Went A-Courtin' -- 32.Semper Eadem -- 33.The Die is Cast -- 34.The Enemy Sleeps Not -- 35.In Defence of the Queen's Body -- 36.Agent Provocateur? -- 37.Unseemly Familiarities -- 38.Especial Favour -- 39.The Deed shall be Done --Contents note continued: 40.Blow up the Bed -- 41.Nightmares -- 42.Secret Son? -- 43.Satan's Instruments -- 44.Barricaded from Within -- 45.Suspected and Discontented Persons -- 46.Age and Decay -- 47.Abused her Body -- 48.The Physician's Poison -- 49.Love and Self-Love -- 50.Privy Matters -- 51.Foolish and Old -- 52.Mask of Youth -- 53.The Poisoned Pommel -- 54.Crooked Carcass -- 55.Lese Majeste -- 56.Dangerous and Malicious Ends -- 57.No Season to Fool -- 58.Age Itself is a Sickness -- 59.All are in a Dump at Court -- 60.Deathbed -- 61.Regina Intacta -- 62.The Queen's Effigy.
ISBN:
9781408836613 (pbk)9781408808801 (hbk)
Dewey class:
942.055
Language:
English
Subject:
Elizabeth I, Queen of England, 1533-1603 -- Sexual behaviorQueens -- England -- Social conditions -- 16th centuryLadies-in-waiting -- England -- History -- 16th centuryQueens -- England -- BiographyGreat Britain -- History -- Elizabeth, 1558-1603Great Britain -- Politics and government -- 1558-1603Great Britain -- Social conditions -- 16th century
BRN:
18439