Empire and Nation in Early English Renaissance Literature

The complex topics of colonialism, empire and nation run throughout English Renaissance literature. Here, the author moves beyond recent work on England's `British' colonial interests, arguing for England's self-image in the sixteenth century as an `empire of itself', part of a culture which deliberately set itself apart from Britain and Europe. In the first section of the book he explores England's self-image as an empire in the Arthurian and classical pageants of two Tudor royal entries into the City of London: Charles V's in 1522 and Anne Boleyn's in 1533. Part Two focuses on the culture of English Bible-reading and its influence on England's imperial self-image in the Tudor period. He offers fresh new readings of texts by Richard Morison, William Tyndale, John Bale, Nicholas Udall, and William Lightfoot, among other authors represented