Abstract
Why is it so important to remember early modern monarchs? First, because the ways in which they were represented after their death show us how societies have evolved and shaped their ruling model from premodern monarchs’ own style of rulership. Second, it also demonstrates that representations are intertwined with reputations and influence, shedding light on the cult of power but also on the cult of personalities. European premodern kings and queens were important political players and were remembered as such but through memory other images take form and are remembered as celebrities in their own right. Remembering can take place through different spectrums: reputation, reinterpretation, and reincarnation. This collection features a series of case studies that offer new examinations of particular historical monarchical figures through these various lens: reputation through literature, reinterpretation through arts, and reincarnation in popular culture.
I am incredibly indebted to Jo Eldridge Carney and Carole Levin, who have revised drafts of this introduction. Thank you so much for your help.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Paul Ricoeur, translated by Kathleen Blamey and David Pellauer, Memory, History, Forgetting (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 2004, paperback edition 2006), 280.
- 2.
Milina Banerjee, “Spectral sovereign and divine subalterns,” https://jhiblog.org/2018/11/07/spectral-sovereigns-and-divine-subalterns/?fbclid=IwAR3Yx-CQaoz1I1twhkQGHLWO2IFfCpjaYczFLkGnRnJX6Ogi2Aw6Tv_z0LU, last accessed on November 10, 2018.
- 3.
On the importance of representations, see: Thomas N. Corns (ed.), The Royal Image: Representations of Charles I (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999); Carole Levin, “Elizabeth’s Ghost: The Afterlife of the Queen in Stuart England,” Royal Studies Journal 1 (2014): 1–17; Janice North, Karl C. Alvestad, and Elena Woodacre (eds.), Premodern Rulers and Postmodern Viewers (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018). On the link between monarchy and national identity, see Milinda Banerjee, “The Royal Nation and Global Intellectual History: Monarchic Routes to Conceptualizing National Unity,” in Milinda Banerjee, Charlotte Backerra, and Cathleen Sarti (eds.), Transnational Histories of the ‘Royal Nation,’ (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017), 21–43.
- 4.
Oxford Dictionary Online, https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/reputation, accessed on July 13, 2018.
- 5.
On the links between collective memory and history, see Jeffrey Andrew Barash, Collective Memory and the Historical Past (Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 2016), 168–210.
- 6.
See Julie Sanders, The Cambridge Introduction to Early Modern Drama, 1576–1642 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014), 1–16.
- 7.
Linda Hutcheon, A Theory of Adaptation (New York: Routledge, 2006), 4. Also see, Marc Ferro, “Film as an Agent, Product and Source of History,” Journal of Contemporary History, 18, 3 (1983): 357–364.
Bibliography
Banerjee, Milinda. “The Royal Nation and Global Intellectual History: Monarchic Routes to Conceptualizing National Unity,” edited by Milinda Banerjee, Charlotte Backerra, and Cathleen Sarti, Transnational Histories of the ‘Royal Nation,’ 21–43. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017.
Barash, Jeffrey Andrew. Collective Memory and the Historical Past. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 2016.
Cannadine, David. “The Context, Performance and Meaning of Ritual: The British Monarchy and the ‘Invention of Tradition’, c. 1820–1977,” edited by Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger. The Invention of Tradition, 101–164. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983.
Corns, Thomas N. ed. The Royal Image: Representations of Charles I. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
Ferro, Marc. “Film as an Agent, Product and Source of History.” Journal of Contemporary History, 18, 3 (1983): 357–364.
Hutcheon, Linda. A Theory of Adaptation. New York: Routledge, 2006.
Levin, Carole. “Elizabeth’s Ghost: The Afterlife of the Queen in Stuart England.” Royal Studies Journal 1 (2014): 1–17.
North, Janice, Alvestad, Karl C. and Woodacre, Elena, eds. Premodern Rulers and Postmodern Viewers. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018.
Ricoeur, Paul. Translated by Kathleen Blamey & David Pellauer, Memory, History, Forgetting. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 2004, paperback edition 2006.
Sanders, Julia. The Cambridge Introduction to Early Modern Drama, 1576–1642. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014.
Online Sources
Banerjee, Milinda. “Spectral sovereign and divine subalterns.” https://jhiblog.org/2018/11/07/spectral-sovereigns-and-divine-subalterns/?fbclid=IwAR3Yx-CQaoz1I1twhkQGHLWO2IFfCpjaYczFLkGnRnJX6Ogi2Aw6Tv_z0LU
“Danny Boyle calls for beaches tribute for Armistice centenary.” https://news.sky.com/story/danny-boyle-calls-for-beaches-tribute-for-armistice-centenary-11518362
Oxford Dictionary Online, https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/reputation
“Souvenons-nous, pour demain” (let’s remember, for tomorrow). http://www.centenaire.org/fr
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Paranque, E. (2019). Introduction: Remembering, Forgetting, and the Power of Memory. In: Paranque, E. (eds) Remembering Queens and Kings of Early Modern England and France. Queenship and Power. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22344-1_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22344-1_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-22343-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-22344-1
eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)