ABSTRACT
Both kings and queens in the early modern period were deeply concerned with images of monarchy, the cluster of traditional notions that inspired reverence for royal authority and the habit of obedience to its legitimate representatives. Female heirs to the throne found the projection of a credible royal image even more difficult than their male counterparts, because of the contemporary assumption that women were ‘naturally’ incapable of monarchical rule.1 When Queen Elizabeth sought to establish her magisterial authority, she was obliged to construct a positive representation of feminine power from a mélange of popular beliefs about exceptional women, such as her identification with the Virgin Mary.2 Thanks to collective efforts of the past thirty years, early modern scholars are well acquainted with these positive depictions of the queen, termed ‘the cult of Elizabeth’.3 More recently, some scholars have begun to explore negative reactions to Elizabeth’s reign as a corrective to this catalogue of laudatory images.4
