About the Book
During his lifetime and the four centuries following his death, King Edward II (1307-1327) acquired a reputation for having engaged in sexual and romantic relationships with his male favourites, and having been murdered by penetration with a red-hot spit. This book provides the first account of how this reputation developed, providing new insights into the processes and priorities that shaped narratives of sexual transgression in medieval and early modern England. In doing so, it analyses the changing vocabulary of sexual transgression in English, Latin and French; the conditions that created space for sympathetic depictions of same-sex love; and the use of medieval history in early modern political polemic. It also focuses, in particular, on the cultural impact of Christopher Marlowe's Edward II (c.1591-92). Through such close readings of poetry and drama, alongside chronicle accounts and political pamphlets, it demonstrates that Edward's medieval and early modern afterlife was significantly shaped by the influence of literary texts and techniques. A 'literary transformation' of historiographical methodology is, it argues, an apposite response to the factors that shaped medieval and early modern narratives of the past.
Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements, Introduction, Life of an 'unfortunate king',Writing Edward II's narrative, Reading Edward II's narrative, Structure, Chapter 1 - Riot, Sodomy, and Minions: The Ambiguous Discourse of Sexual Transgression, Introduction, Riot, Sodomy, Minions, Conclusion, Chapter 2 - From Goats to Ganymedes: The Development of Edward II's Sexual Reputation, Introduction, Lechery and goats, Sexualized stock phrases,Ganymede,The role of Marlowe, Conclusion, Chapter 3 - Edward II and Piers Gaveston: Brothers, Friends, Lovers, Introduction, Brotherhood and friendship, Romanticizing Edward and Gaveston, Conclusion, Chapter 4 - 'Is it not strange that he is thus bewitch'd?': Edward II's Agency and Culpability, Introduction,Unsuitable companions, Agency in attraction, Political agency, Evil counsel - or evil nature? Conclusion, Chapter 5 - Edward II as Political Exemplum, Introduction, Polemical invocations, Other political allusions, Conclusion, Chapter 6 - 'No escape now from a life full of suffering': Edward II's Sensational Fall, Introduction, Deposition, Imprisonment, Edward's story as de casibus narrative, Conclusion, Chapter 7 - Beyond Sexual Mimesis: The Penetrative Murder of Edward II,Introduction, Development of a consensus, Precedents for penetration, Sexual mimesis, Pain and torture, Marlowe's murder scene, Conclusion, Conclusion: The Literary Transformation of History, Introduction, Illuminating Marlowe, Literary transformations, Appendix: Accounts of and allusions to Edward II's reign, composed 1305-1697, Introduction, Index.
About the Author :
Kit Heyam is a Lecturer in English in the Department of Humanities, Northumbria University and a queer history activist. Their recent publications include ‘Paratexts and Pornographic Potential in SeventeenthCentury Anatomy Books’ (The Seventeenth Century, 2018) and ‘Gender Nonconformity and Military Internment: Curating the Knockaloe Slides’ (Critical Military Studies, 2019).
Review :
[..] Heyam's careful analysis of sources (also summarized in a detailed, critically annotated appendix) reveals a continuous interplay between literary and historical discourse, united by their manipulation of genre and their manifest appeal to a reading public. The Reputation of Edward II masterfully delineates how so many pre modern writers sought to answer the question—who was Edward II?—and to decipher what he means for us now.- Graham N. Drake, Speculum Vol. 97, No. 3 (July 2022),
[...] a thorough and ambitious study that makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the development of Edward II's reputation over the centuries, the evolution of vocabulary used to discuss sexual transgression, and the writing of medieval history in early modern England.,- Kathryn Warner, Journal of British Studies, Vol. 61, Iss. 3
