| Description |
Scholars have labored too long under the mistaken notion that the vast literary outpourtng of the Elizabethan Renaissance owed more to "exuberance" or "vitality" than to conscious nourishment and enlightened encouragement.· Two recent studies, John Buxton's Sir Philip Sidney and the English Renaissance (London, 1954) and Eleanor Rosenberg's Leicester Patron of Letters (New York, 1955)f have demonstrated the degree to which two of Elizabeth's more important courtiers provided active support and encouragement to literally hundreds of English authors. By concentrating on the patronage of a third Elizabethan notable, Robert Devereux, second Earl -of Essex, I have attempted to document further the thesis advanced by Professors Rosenberg and Buxton, and thus to add to our understanding of the Elizabethan system of literary patronage. Of the ninety-six works dedicated to Essex, sixty were dedicated to him alone, and were written either entirely in English or in a combination of English and Latin. Through close examination of the dedicatory and ad lectorum epistles of these sixty volumes, I have attempted to answer three questions: Why was a particular book written? Why was it dedicated to the Earl of Essex? Why might he have been willing to accept the dedication and encourage its author? For both patron and protege alike, the key motivation seems to have been enlightened selfinterest. |
