Lady Arbella Stuart

Sara Jayne Steen (Plymouth State College)

Ed. by Jacqueline Eales, Canterbury Christ Church University
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.03: English Writing and Culture: Renaissance (Elizabethan and Jacobean periods) , 1485-1625.
Vol. editors: William M. Hamlin (Washington State University), J A Roe (University of York), Virginia Mason Vaughan (Clark University), Ema Vyroubalova (Trinity College Dublin)

Dates

Born 1575
Died 1615
Activity 1587-1611

Places

Born in England
Active in England

Activities

Primary

Letter-writer/ Diarist

Resources

Stuart's Works

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Lady Arbella Stuart (1575-1615) was a claimant to the English throne and a letter-writer whose actions and words reveal a powerful personal and public drama. More than one hundred letters written to her husband, members of the royal family, court officials, and friends still exist; and most were written during times when Arbella Stuart’s noble birth and demands for independence put her in direct opposition to Queen Elizabeth and then to King James, first in 1603, when she attempted to make a clandestine marriage, and again in 1610 when she did marry, then escaped from her subsequent incarceration cross-dressed as a man, and was recaptured and confined in the Tower of London. In her letters, Stuart uses her considerable rhetorical skill to justify her actions, to express her anger at the…

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1285 words

Citation: Steen, Sara Jayne. "Lady Arbella Stuart". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 17 August 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=12224, accessed 24 November 2024.]