Book contents
- Royal Voices
- Royal Voices
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Part I Authentic Royal Voices
- 1 Materiality and Power in Tudor Royal Correspondence
- 2 Royal Epistolary Language
- 3 Pragmatic Perspectives on Royal Letters
- 4 Tudor Royal Proclamations
- Part II Appropriated Royal Voices
- Conclusion
- Works Cited
- Index
1 - Materiality and Power in Tudor Royal Correspondence
from Part I - Authentic Royal Voices
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 February 2020
- Royal Voices
- Royal Voices
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Part I Authentic Royal Voices
- 1 Materiality and Power in Tudor Royal Correspondence
- 2 Royal Epistolary Language
- 3 Pragmatic Perspectives on Royal Letters
- 4 Tudor Royal Proclamations
- Part II Appropriated Royal Voices
- Conclusion
- Works Cited
- Index
Summary
Chapter 2 explores the material properties of royal correspondence, focussing on evidence that correlates with the scribal/holograph provenance of the texts. Five features are examined in a corpus of over 100 royal letters issued by the Tudor monarchs: material provenance markers, handwriting, page orientation, signature placement, and signature style. The chapter finds that royal scribal letters have distinctive material features that make their royal source explicit, with these characteristics used very consistently throughout the Tudor period. Holograph royal letters show a reduced propensity to follow these material codes, and instead show a greater individuality more typical of non-royal letter-writing in the period. The differences are proposed to arise from the different production processes of the letter types, affecting the degree of institutionalised power presented to the letter's recipient. Elizabeth's correspondence shows a wider variation in material choices than that of her predecessors, potentially indicative of shifts in how correspondence was utilised, and the values placed on holograph writing by the end of the sixteenth century.
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- Royal VoicesLanguage and Power in Tudor England, pp. 35 - 61Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020