Elizabeth I’s Virginity and the Body of Evidence
Jonson’s Notorious Crux
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 10412905 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Kaara L Peterson (Miami University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2015 |
| Volume | 68 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 840-871 |
| Publication date | 2015-09-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Renaissance Quarterly (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0034-4338 • E-ISSN: 1935-0236 |
| Publisher | University of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1086/683853 |
| OpenAlex | W2322715551 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 21 |
In a famous, frequently quoted statement, Ben Jonson claims that Queen Elizabeth I “had a membrana on her which made her uncapable of man.” This essay reinvestigates the basis for Jonson’s 400-year-old crux and, more broadly, argues for the relevance of an unexplored area of critical studies on Elizabeth: what early modern medicine and culture thought about lifelong virginity and its distinctive perils for the queen’s aging body natural. Finally, looking at the inner-circle gossip about Tudor and Stuart queens’ health and various records documenting Elizabeth’s identified illnesses, including hysterica passio, the essay uncovers how virgins’ diseases were thought to afflict Elizabeth over her reign and possibly contribute to her death
Art · Biology · Gossip · Literature · Psychoanalysis · Queen (butterfly · Reign · Relevance (law · Virginity test · Zoology · Historical Art and Culture Studies · Historical Economic and Social Studies · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · History · Law · Psychology
The politics and poetics of transgression
The Renaissance Notion of Woman
Making Women's Medicine Masculine
The Body Embarrassed
Medical Ethics in the Renaissance
The Rhetoric of Medicine
The Life of the Corpse
Gleanings From Local Criminal-Court Records
Attitudes to Menstruation in Seventeenth-Century England
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |