The Early Years of Elizabeth I (1558–1578)

Abstract

Throughout the first four Tudor reigns, as we have seen, the dominant conception of Plato in England was the school conception, adulterated by lingering traces of the apocryphal Plato of the Middle Ages. The only important signs we have seen of English awareness of the new court conception of Plato were Colet’s brush with Ficino during the reign of Henry VII, Pole’s purchase of Ficino’s anthology during the reign of Henry VIII, and Dee’s exposure to Agrippa in Paris during the reign of Edward VI. In the third year of the reign of Elizabeth I (1560) the court conception of Plato finally found an English admirer, in Thomas Howell. Between 1560 and 1590 idealized (“Platonic”) love gradually became a modish enthusiasm at Elizabeth’s court; but by 1595 the fad had waned again, leaving the field once more to the Plato of the schools. With this brief overview in mind, we may now turn to a more detailed examination of the status of Plato during Elizabeth’s reign.