Malcolm in the Middle: James VI and I, George Buchanan and the Divine Right of Kings

Markku Peltonen examines humanist and republican themes in English political thinking between the mid-sixteenth century and the Civil War. He challenges the dominant view that humanism fizzled out in the middle of the sixteenth century only to re-emerge during the 1650s in the writings of such classical republicans as James Harrington and John Milton. The English continued to use central notions of the humanist tradition such as the virtuous civic life and vera nobilitas to portray themselves as citizens, characterizing their life as one of participation rather than subjection. They often resorted to openly republican themes - notably that governors be elected rather than hereditary - and the classical idea of the mixed constitution was profoundly influential. Dr Peltonen casts an important new perspective on these humanist and republican themes, and locates their uses in specific historical circumstances.

This 2001 book examines the ways in which books were produced, read and received during the reign of King James I. It challenges prevailing attitudes that press censorship in Jacobean England differed little from either the 'whole machinery of control' enacted by the Court of Star Chamber under Elizabeth or the draconian campaign implemented by Archbishop Laud, during the reign of Charles I. Cyndia Clegg, building on her earlier study Press Censorship in Elizabethan England, contends that although the principal mechanisms for controlling the press altered little between 1558 and 1603, the actual practice of censorship under King James I varied significantly from Elizabethan practice. The book combines historical analysis of documents with literary reading of censored texts and exposes the kinds of tensions that really mattered in Jacobean culture. It will be an invaluable resource for literary scholars and historians alike.