The Rule of Manhood: Tyranny, Gender, and Classical Republicanism in England, 1603-1660

by Jamie A. Gianoutsos

Overview

Through stories of lustful and incestuous rulers, of republican revolution and of unnatural crimes against family, seventeenth-century Englishmen imagined the problem of tyranny through the prism of classical history. This fuelled debates over the practices of their own kings, the necessity of revolution, and the character of English republican thought. The Rule of Manhood explores the dynamic and complex languages of tyranny and masculinity that arose through these classical stories and their imaginative appropriation. Discerning the neglected connection between concepts of power and masculinity in early Stuart England, Jamie A. Gianoutsos shows both how stories of ancient tyranny were deployed in the dialogue around monarchy and rule between 1603 and 1660 and the extent to which these shaped English classical republican thought. Drawing on extensive research in contemporary printed texts, Gianoutsos persuasively weaves together the histories of politics and manhood to make a bold claim: that the fundamental purpose of English republicanism was not liberty or virtue, but the realisation of manhood for its citizens.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781108746243
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	02/08/2024
Series:	Cambridge Studies in Early Modern British History
Pages:	438
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.91(d)

About the Author

Jamie A. Gianoutsos is Associate Professor of History at Mount Saint Mary's University, Maryland. She has been a recipient of IHR Mellon Pre-Dissertation, Huntington Library, and Charles Singleton Center Fellowships, and has published articles in History of Education and Renaissance Quarterly.

Table of Contents

Part I. Emasculated Kingship: 1. Tyranny, manhood, and the study of history; 2. A chaste Virginia: tyranny and the corruption of law in Jacobean England; 3. 'And thus did the wicked sonne murther his wicked mother': Nero and the tyrannical household in late Jacobean England; 4. Neronian corruption in Caroline England; Part II. The Masculine Republic: 5. John Milton, marriage, and the realisation of Republican manhood; 6. 'Begin now to know themselves men, and to breath after liberty': Marchamont Nedham and the Republican empire; 7. 'So much power and piety in one': Oliver Cromwell and the masculine republic.

Editorial Reviews

‘This ambitious and engaging book offers a salutary reminder of how English culture, at least as absorbed by boys with grammar-school educations, was steeped in classical history.’ Ann Hughes, The Journal of Interdisciplinary History

‘Gianoutsos offers perceptive rereadings of key republican thinkers, and by placing gender at the core of analysis makes important interventions in long-standing debates among historians of republican thought.’ Alastair Bellany, American Historical Review

‘This is an ambitious and ground-breaking book, carefully argued and built on a lot of fresh evidence. In linking the English Revolution with masculinism, Gianoutsos makes it into a deeply conservative, reactive phenomenon.’ David Norbrook, Global Intellectual History

‘The elegance of Gianoutsos’s study is to reveal how much extant evidence there is that gender was at the center of this political conflict. … [an] impressively researched book…’ Emelye Keyser, Renaissance Quarterly

‘… a welcome and timely contribution to our understanding of the intellectual and cultural origins of English republicanism.’ Gregory Chaplin, JBS Review

From the Publisher