The lives of William Cavendish, first duke of Newcastle, and his family including, centrally, his second wife, Margaret Cavendish, are intimately bound up with the overarching story of seventeenth-century England: the violently negotiated changes in structures of power that constituted the Civil Wars, and the ensuing Commonwealth and Restoration of the monarchy. 'Authority, Authorship and Aristocratic Identity in Seventeenth Century England' brings together a series of interrelated essays that present William Cavendish, his family, household and connections as an aristocratic, royalist case study, relating the intellectual and political underpinnings and implications of their beliefs, actions and writings to wider cultural currents in England and mainland Europe.
Author(s): Peter Edwards, Elspeth Graham (eds.)
Series: Rulers & Elites. Comparative Studies in Governance, 9
Publisher: Brill
Year: 2017
Language: English
Pages: 384
City: Leiden
Acknowledgements ix
Notes on the Editors x
List of Illustrations xi
List of Abbreviations xiv
Notes on the Contributors xv
Introduction: Authority, Authorship and Aristocratic Identity in Seventeenth Century England: William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle, and his Political, Social and Cultural Connections / Peter Edwards and Elspeth Graham 1
PART I. Aristocratic Identity
1. Setting the Scenes: The Pre-Civil War Building Works of William Cavendish in Context / Adrian Woodhouse 41
2. Whimsy and Medieval Romance in the Life and Writing of William Cavendish / James Fitzmaurice 60
3. 'An After-Game of Reputation': Systems of Representation, William Cavendish and the Battle of Marston Moor / Elspeth Graham 83
4. The Concealed Fancies and Cavendish Identity / Lisa Hopkins 111
5. Flogging a Dead Horse?: Margaret Cavendish and the Pursuit of Authority / Alison Findlay 129
PART 2. Politics and Authority
6. Courtly Rivalry: The Context for William Cavendish’s Equestrian Buildings / Malcolm Airs 151
7. William Cavendish, Galileo, Hobbes and the Mechanical Philosophy / Timothy Raylor 173
8. The Role of Honour in the Life of William Cavendish and the Philosophy of Thomas Hobbes / Lisa T. Sarasohn 196
9. William Cavendish as a Military Commander / Andrew Hopper 216
10. The Double Edged Sword: William Cavendish’s Political Career 1644–1660 / Madeline Dewhurst 237
PART 3. Horsemanship, Authority and Identity
11. 'The Epitome of Horsemanship': William Cavendish’s Method 'Anatomized' / Elaine Walker 259
12. Embodying 'Bonne Homme à Cheval': William Cavendish and the Politics of the Centaur / Monica Mattfeld 281
13. 'Manèging' to Survive: Horsemanship and the Rehabilitation of the Exiled William Cavendish, Marquis of Newcastle / Peter Edwards 300
14. William Cavendish: Riding School and Race Track / Richard Nash 317
15. William Cavendish’s Horsemanship Treatises and Cultural Capital / Karen Raber 331
Index 353
