The Faerie Queene

Spenser lived during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Her dad, Henry VIII, separated England from the Catholic church in 1533-34 so he could divorce his first wife and marry Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth’s mom, whom he later sentenced to death due to spurious allegations of treason and adultery. Anxious to produce a male heir, Henry VIII married six times and got a male heir with Edward VI, who became king at 10 and died nearly six years later. Elizabeth’s half-sister, Mary I, became queen in 1553. Her mom was Henry VIII’s first wife, and Mary I brought back Catholicism and harshly punished Catholic gainsayers.

Elizabeth took over in 1558 and adopted an ostensibly pragmatic approach to religion. She was charismatic, attractive, and intelligent. She wrote plays, poems, and translations, and, much to the chagrin of her security, she insisted on maintaining a public presence. Her captivating brand created the cult of Elizabeth. In her critical biography, Elizabeth: Renaissance Prince (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015), Lisa Hilton describes the cult as “adoring and venerating the queen, which blended the language of courtly love with that of religion, to present her a semi-divine figure” (32).

Spenser’s poem serves the cult. He dedicates the entire

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