ABSTRACT
Sixteenth-century humour was varied and complex. It reflected the influence of Classical ideas and strategies within contemporary political, religious, and broader social contexts that were traumatic. Although Tudor reformations were in some ways constraining, they were also an important impetus to the production and dissemination of the English Bibles that were to furnish writers with rich resources. The Bibles were texts of authority, symbolising England as a chosen nation, embodying its power and aspirations. They were also travelling companions to the age’s navigators and colonisers. Although they had in Mary’s reign been a sign of heresy for which readers and writers alike were publicly burned, about which debate had proliferated and histories had been defined, Bibles could on the Elizabethan stage be rich material for humour. The incongruous role of the Bible in the sixteenth century becomes apparent when we examine it from the perspective of humour.
