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Womersley, David.
Divinity and State.
Publisher: Oxford University Press, Oxford;
Date of Publication: 2010
Stock Code: 12683
FIRST EDITION. Octavo, pp. xviii 409. Publisher’s black cloth with gilt title to spine, in an unclipped, beige, pictorial dust-jacket. A near fine copy with a tidy ownership inscription to the FFEP. In 1589 the Privy Council encouraged the Archbishop of Canterbury to ‘Control the theatres’, after plays addressing matters of Divinity and of State, viewed as unfit to be suffered, were written and performed. Womersley studies the impact this event had on historical drama, drawing on examples from the time of James I and from Shakespeare’s play, in an exploration of the ramifications on the narrative of the national past, the separation of church and state, and the audacity of Shakespeare to reshape history. £48.00