“A Virgine and a Martyr both”: The Turn to Hagiography in Heywood’s Reformation History Play

Abstract

This article considers the narrative and theatrical strategies used by Thomas Heywood to sanctify Elizabeth I as a virgin martyr saint in the remarkable, yet understudied, Reformation history play If You Know Not Me, You Know Nobody, Part I, or the Troubles of Queen Elizabeth (ca. 1605). I examine how Heywood reads against Foxe even as he draws on the history of the English Reformation from the Book of Martyrs to create a narrative of virgin martyrdom; I discuss how the play's miraculous theatricality reforms past iterations of religious knowledge in drama, and show that the play recovers hagiography for English Protestantism. I conclude by suggesting that Heywood invented the Stuart saint play. Cet article se penche sur la narration et sur les stratégies théâtrales qu'utilise Thomas Heywood afin de sanctifier Elisabeth I ère en tant que vierge martyre et sainte, dans sa pièce If You Know Not Me, You Know Nobody, Part I, or the Troubles of Queen Elizabeth (c. 1605). Cette pièce porte sur l'histoire de la Réforme et, bien que peu étudiée, constitue une oeuvre remarquable. L'article examine comment Heywood va à l'encontre de Foxe, même lorsqu'il emprunte à l'histoire de la Réforme anglaise prise du Book of Martyrs afin de produire le récit du martyre d'une vierge. On y discute de quelle façon la théâtralité miraculeuse de la pièce dramatise des connaissances d'histoire religieuse passée, et on montre que la pièce regénère une hagiographie pour le protestantisme anglais. On propose en conclusion que le théâtre hagiographique stuartien est une invention de Heywood. Q ueen Elizabeth I died in early 1603 and reappeared shortly thereafter at the Red Bull theatre in a play produced by the newly formed Queen Anne's Men. If You Know Not Me, You Know Nobody, Part 1, or the Troubles of Queen Elizabeth (ca. 1605) dramatizes the struggles and imprisonment of Elizabeth during the Roman Catholic regime of her predecessor and half-sister, Queen Mary. Although the play has received little attention in scholarship, it proved to be one of the most popular plays of the Stuart era, enjoying eight printings between 1605 and 1639. 1 The play, like its companion If You Know Not