The Ashgate Research Companion to The Sidneys, 1500-1700

Presented in two volumes, The Ashgate Research Companion to The Sidneys, 1500-1700 assesses the current state of scholarship on members of the Sidney family and their impact, as historical and/or literary figures, in the period 1500-1700. Volume 2: Literature, begins with an exploration of the Sidneys' books and manuscripts and how they circulated, followed by an overview of the contributions of family members -Sir Philip Sidney; Mary Sidney Herbert, Countess of Pembroke; Lady Mary Wroth; Robert Sidney, Earl of Leicester; and William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke - in the genres of prose romance, drama, poetry, psalms and prose. These essays outline major controversies and areas for further research, as well as conducting literary analysis.

Margaret P. Hannay, Professor of English (Emerita) at Siena College, is the author of Mary Sidney, Lady Wroth and Philip's Phoenix: Mary Sidney, Countess of Pembroke, editor of Silent but for the Word: Tudor Women as Patrons, Translators, and Writers of Religious Works, and editor, with Susanne Woods, of Teaching Tudor and Stuart Women Writers. With Noel J. Kinnamon and Michael G. Brennan, she has edited The Collected Works of Mary Sidney Herbert, Countess of Pembroke; Selected Works of Mary Sidney Herbert, Countess of Pembroke; Domestic Politics and Family Absence: The Correspondence (1588-1621) of Robert Sidney, First Earl of Leicester, and Barbara Gamage Sidney, Countess of Leicester; The Correspondence of Dorothy Percy Sidney, Countess of Leicester; and The Letters (1595-1608) of Rowland Whyte. Michael G. Brennan, Professor of Renaissance Studies at the University of Leeds, is the author of Literary Patronage in the English Renaissance: The Pembroke Family, and has edited Lady Mary Wroth's Love's Victory: The Penshurst Manuscript. With Noel Kinnamon he has published A Sidney Chronology: 1554-1654 and has published extensively on Renaissance travel writings, Graham Greene and Evelyn Waugh. With Margaret P. Hannay and Noel J. Kinnamon he has edited The Collected Works of Mary Sidney Herbert, Countess of Pembroke; Selected Works of Mary Sidney Herbert, Countess of Pembroke; Domestic Politics and Family Absence: The Correspondence (1588-1621) of Robert Sidney, First Earl of Leicester, and Barbara Gamage Sidney, Countess of Leicester; The Correspondence of Dorothy Percy Sidney, Countess of Leicester; and The Letters (1595-1608) of Rowland Whyte. He is also the author of The Sidneys of Penshurst and the Monarchy, 1500-1700. Mary Ellen Lamb is Professor of English (Emerita) at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, USA. She is the author of Gender and Authorship in the Sidney Circle (1990) and The Popular Culture of Shakespeare, Spenser, and Jonson (2006), co-editor of Oral Traditions and Gender in Early Modern Literary Texts (2007) and Staging Early Modern Romance: Prose Fiction, Dramatic Romance, and Shakespeare (2009). She is General Editor of the seven-volume reference library Ashgate Critical Essays on Women Writers in England, 1550-1700 (2009). She has also authored numerous essays on women writers and on Shakespeare in such journals as English Literary Renaissance, Shakespeare Quarterly, Shakespeare Survey, Review of English Studies, and Criticism, as well as in numerous collections. She is currently on the Editorial Board of English Literary Renaissance and is the editor of the Sidney Journal. She is collaborating on an edition of poetry by William Herbert, third Earl of Pembroke, for the Renaissance English Text Society.

Contents: Preface; Part I Overview: The Sidneys and their books, Joseph L. Black. Part II The Sidneys and the Circulation of Their Works in Manuscript and Print: The circulation of the Sidney Psalter, Noel J. Kinnamon; The circulation of Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadia, H.R. Woudhuysen; The circulation of writings by Mary Sidney Herbert, Countess of Pembroke, Garth Bond; The circulation of writings by Lady Mary Wroth, Ilona Bell. Part III Prose Romance: Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadias, Kenneth Borris; Continuations and imitations of the Arcadia, Clare R. Kinney; Lady Mary Sidney Wroth: The Countess of Montgomery's Urania, Helen Hackett. Part IV Prose: Sir Philip Sidney: The Defence of Poesy, Robert E. Stillman; Tudor political theory and Sidneian prose, Joel B. Davis; Mary Sidney Herbert, Countess of Pembroke: A Discourse of Life and Death, Elaine V. Beilin. Part V Drama: Mary Sidney Herbert, Countess of Pembroke: Antonius (1592), Barry Weller; Lady Mary Wroth: Love's Victory, Alison Findlay. Part VI Poetry: Sir Philip Sidney: Astrophil and Stella, Danila Sokolov; Robert Sidney's poetry, Mary B. Moore; Lady Mary Wroth's poetry, Paul Salzman; The Poetry of William Herbert, Third Earl of Pembroke, Mary Ellen Lamb. Part VII Psalms: Sir Philip Sidney's psalms, Anne Lake Prescott; The psalms of Mary Sidney Herbert, Countess of Pembroke, Danielle Clarke; The influence of Sidney Psalter, Hannibal Hamlin. Part VIII Conclusion: Future directions for Sidney Studies, Mary Ellen Lamb. Index.