Political economy and the states of literature in early modern England

229 Pages·2009·5.381 MB·English

by  Aaron Kitch

Political Economy
and the States of Literature in
Early Modern England

Aaron Kitch
Political Economy and thE StatES of
litEraturE in Early modErn England
crossing disciplinary borders between political, religious, and economic history,
aaron Kitch’s innovative new study demonstrates how sixteenth-century treatises
and debates about trade influenced early modern English literature by shaping key
formal and aesthetic concerns of authors between 1580 and 1630. the author’s
analysis concentrates on a commonly overlooked period of economic history—
the English commercial revolution before 1620—and, utilizing an impressive
combination of archival research, close reading, and attention to historical detail,
traces the transformation of genre in both neglected and canonical texts. the
topics here are wide-ranging but are presented with a commitment to providing a
concrete understanding of the religious, political, and historic context in literary
thought. Kitch begins with the emerging wool trade and explosion of economic
writing, Edmund Spenser’s glorification of commerce and the Protestant state as
presented in The Faerie Queene, and writers such as christopher marlowe and
thomas nashe who drew on the same economic principles to challenge Spenser.
other topics include the reaction to the herring trade in prose satire and pamphlets,
the presentation of Jewish trading nations in Shakespeare and Marlowe, and the
tension between the crown and london merchants and Ben Jonson’s and anthony
munday’s pageants and court masques.
This page has been left blank intentionally
Political Economy and the
States of literature in Early
modern England

aaron Kitch
Bowdoin College, USA
© aaron Kitch 2009
all rights reserved. no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.
aaron Kitch has asserted his right under the copyright, designs and Patents act, 1988, to
be identified as the author of this work.
Published by
ashgate Publishing limited ashgate Publishing company
Wey court East Suite 420
union road 101 cherry Street
farnham Burlington
Surrey, gu9 7Pt Vt 05401-4405
England uSa
www.ashgate.com
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Kitch, aaron
Political economy and the states of literature in early modern England.
1. Economics and literature – England – history – 16th century. 2. Economics and litera-
ture – England – history – 17th century. 3. Economics in literature. 4. English literature
– Early modern, 1500–1700 – history and criticism.
i. title
820.9’3553’09031–dc22
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Kitch, aaron.
Political economy and the states of literature in early modern England / aaron Kitch.
p. cm.
includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-7546-6756-8 (alk. paper) – ISBN 978-0-7546-9483-0 (ebook)
1. English literature – Early modern, 1500–1700 – history and criticism. 2. Economics
in literature. 3. authors, English – Early modern, 1500–1700 – Political and social views.
4. great Britain – Politics and government. 5. great Britain – Economic conditions. 6.
religion in literature i. title.
Pr428.E39K58 2009
820.9–dc22
2009003417
iSBn 978-0-7546-6756-8 (hbk)
iSBn 978-0-7546-9483-0 (ebk.I)
contents
List of Abbreviations ix
Acknowledgments xi
introduction 1
1 Spenser and the “right Vsaunce” of Wealth 19
2 love’s Exchequer, or the uses of Pleasure in the English Epyllion 49
3 fishing for gold: the Political Economy of nashe’s Lenten Stuffe 75
4 Shylock’s “Sacred Nation”: Commerce, Statehood, and the Figure
of the Jew in marlowe’s Jew of Malta and Shakespeare’s Merchant
of Venice 105
5 character, credit, and Belief in middleton’s city comedies 129
6 Britain’s Burse: Jonson and the rival forms of Entertainment 155
conclusion 185
Bibliography 191
Index 211
This page has been left blank intentionally
list of figures
0.1 Franz Hogenberg, The Royal Exchange (1569). © The British
museum 2
1.1 Jean Van der noot, A Theatre for Voluptuous Worldlings (1569) 21
1.2 Vannoccio Biringuccio, De la Pirotechnia (1540) 32
1.3 geoffrey Whitney, Auri sacra fames quid non?, from A Choice of
Emblems (1586) 43
3.1 Robert Hitchcock, A Pollitique Platt for the Honor of the Prince
(1580) 82
3.2 Robert Hitchcock, A Pollitique Platt for the Honor of the Prince
(1580) 83
3.3 reproduction of an 1844 drawing from anthony munday’s
pageant scroll for Chrysanaleia, The Golden Fishing. courtesy of
fishmongers’ hall, london 93
5.1 James Peele, The Pathway to Perfectness (1569), frontispiece 133
6.1 the dutch arch for James’s royal entry, from Stephen harrison,
Arches of Triumph (1603) 158
6.2 the temple of Janus, from Stephen harrison, Arches of Triumph
(1603) 159
6.3 frontispiece of anthony munday’s London’s Love, to the Royal
Prince Henry (1610) 164
6.4 Inigo Jones, sketch for the Mountain scene of Thomas Carew’s
Coelum Britannicum (c. 1634) 183
This page has been left blank intentionally
list of abbreviations
ELH English Literary History
ELR English Literary Renaissance
JEGP Journal of English and Germanic Philology
OED Oxford English Dictionary (2nd edn)
PMLA Publications of the Modern Language Association
SEL Studies in English Literature
SP Studies in Philology
SQ Shakespeare Quarterly