The Destruction of Jerusalem in Early Modern English Literature

284 Pages·2015·5.116 MB·English

by  Beatrice Groves

THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM IN
EARLY MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE
This book explores the fall of Jerusalem and restores to its rightful
placeoneofthekeyexplanatorytropesofearlymodernEnglishcul-
ture.ShowingtheimportanceofJerusalem’sdestructioninsermons,
ballads, puppet shows and provincial drama of the period, Beatrice
Grovesbringsanewperspectivetoworksbycanonicalauthorssuchas
Marlowe,Nashe,Shakespeare,DekkerandMilton.Thevolumealso
offers a historically compelling and wide-ranging account of major
shiftsinculturalattitudestowardsJudaismbysituatingtextsintheir
wider cultural and theological context. Groves examines the conti-
nuities and differences between medieval and early modern theatre,
Londonasanimaginedcommunityandthewaythatnarrativesabout
Jerusalem and Judaism informed notions of English identity in the
wake of the Reformation. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach,
thisvolumewillinterestresearchersandupper-levelstudentsofearly
modernliterature,religiousstudiesandtheatre.
beatrice groves is Research Lecturer in Renaissance Literature
at Trinity College, University of Oxford. She is the author of Texts
andTraditions:ReligioninShakespeare1592–1604(2007)andhaspub-
lishedarticlesinjournals,suchasMiltonStudies,ShakespeareSurvey,
Medieval and Renaissance Drama in England and Studies in Philol-
ogy, and her essay in The Sixteenth-Century Journal won the 2013
Sixteenth Century Society’s Literature Prize. Her essays have also
appearedineditedcollections,includingShakespeareandRenaissance
Ethics(Cambridge,2014),andShakespeareandEarlyModernReligion
(Cambridge,2015).

THE DESTRUCTION OF
JERUSALEM IN EARLY
MODERN ENGLISH
LITERATURE
BEATRICE GROVES
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Contents
Listoffigures pageviii
Acknowledgements x
Introduction 1
part i the destruction of jerusalem in early modern
literary culture
1 FromRomantoJew:Josephus,theJosipponandthe
destructionofJerusaleminearlymodernculture 13
2 Continuityandchange:stagingJerusalemandstaging‘theJew’ 55
3 Preachersandplayers:thesackofJerusalemfrompulpit
andstage 86
part ii the destruction of jerusalem in early
modern texts
4 Marlowe’sJewofMaltaandthedestructionofJerusalem 121
5 ThesiegeofJerusalemandsubversiverhetoricinShakespeare’s
KingJohn 146
6 ThefallofJerusalemandtheriseofametropolis:Nashe’s
Christ’sTearsoverJerusalem,Dekker’splaguepamphletsand
maternalcannibalisminearlymodernLondon 165
7 TheNewJerusalem:JosephanportentsandMilton’s
ParadiseLost 187
Conclusion 219
Bibliography 232
Index 262
vii
Figures
1 JamesUssher,TheAnnalsoftheWorld(1658).TheBodleian
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ThereofwiththeHistoryoftheOldandNewTestamentActed
Thereon(1650).TheBodleianLibraries,TheUniversityof
Oxford,DouceF289,book5,p.202. 25
3 JohnLeusden’sPhilologusHebraeo-Mixtus(1682).The
BodleianLibraries,TheUniversityofOxford,DouceL187,
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4 EpisodesintheStoryoftheVengeanceofOurLord.South
Netherlandish,c.1460–70.(cid:2)C 2015.ImagecopyrightThe
MetropolitanMuseumofArt/ArtResource/Scala,Florence. 30
5 StephenBatman,TheDoomeWarningAllMentothe
Judgement(1581).TheBodleianLibraries,TheUniversityof
Oxford,Wood649,p.138. 73
6 BibliaSacra:Hebraice,Chaldaice,Graece,&Latine,ed.
B.AriasMontano(1569–72).TheBodleianLibraries,The
UniversityofOxford,B2.1–8Th.Seld.,vol.vii,Aaron,final
illustration,PlateofAaron. 78
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(1689).TheBodleianLibraries,TheUniversityofOxford,
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10 JosephBenGorion,TheWonderful,andMostDeplorable
HistoryoftheLaterTimesoftheJews:WiththeDestructionof
viii