Accessing texts and douments from the Stuart era is increasingly easy. On our online resources page we describe some of the best sources of reliable material, and on our independent study page we address the needs of A-Level and university students faced with the demands of working alone with such resources.
On this page we focus on some of the texts which have influenced the ‘Stuarts Online’ films. These are texts, in particular, concerned with moments of succession, from one regime to another. A selection of succession texts is available on The Stuart Successions Project website. You can also use the Stuart Successions database to trace other writing from these pivotal moments in early modern British history.
In addition, we are producing an anthology of succession literature, which will be published in print by Manchester University Press in 2017. This will make a great deal of important texts available – all modernized and annotated – and will include a substantial introduction. In advance of this publication, we offer here a short extract from each item.
James I
Richard Niccols, ‘A True Subjects Sorowe, for the Losse of his Late Soveraigne’ (1603)
Michael Drayton, To the Majesty of King James (1603)
Sir John Davies, The Kings Welcome (1603)
Robert Fletcher, ‘Our Present Sorrow and Our Present Joy’ (1603)
Thomas Dekker, 1603: The Wonderful Year (1603)
A New Song to the Great Comfort and Rejoicing of all True English Hearts (1603)
Thomas Dekker, et al., The Magnificent Entertainment (1604)
The King’s Majesty’s Speech, as it was Delivered by Him in the Upper House of the Parliament (1603)
Charles I
James Shirley, ‘Upon the Death of King James’ (1625)
John Donne, The First Sermon Preached to King Charles (1625)
William Drummond of Hawthornden, ‘Caledonia’s Welcome’ (1633)
Cromwells
Marchamont Nedham, [extract from] Mercurius Politicus (1653)
‘The Character of a Protector’ (1654)
[extract from] The Publick Intelligencer (1658)
The World in a Maze: or, Oliver’s Ghost (1659)
Charles II
Charles II, The Declaration of Breda (1660)
John Milton, The Ready and Easy Way to Establish a Free Commonwealth (1660)
[extract from] Samuel Pepys, Diary (1660)
Martin Parker, The King Enjoys His Own Again (1660)
John Dryden, Astraea Redux (1660)
John Crouch, The Muses Joy for the Recovery of that Weeping Vine Henrietta Maria (1660)
England’s Pleasant May-Flower: or, Charles the Second Came Home the Twnty-Ninth of May (1660)
George Wither, ‘To the King’s Majesty’ (1660)
James II
John Dryden, Threnodia Augustalis (1685)
John Dryden, Albion and Albanius (1685)
James II, An Account of What His Majesty Said at His First Coming to Council (1685)
Elinor James, To the Kings Most Excellent Majesty. The Humble Petition of Elinor James (1685)
William Penn(?), Tears Wiped Off (1685)
England’s Royal Renown in the Coronation (1685)
Aphra Behn, A Poem Humbly Dedicated to Catherine Queen Dowager (1685)
William III and Mary II
John Evelyn, from the Diary (1688)
Aphra Behn, A Pindaric Poem to the Reverend Doctor Burnet (1689)
Elkanah Settle, ‘Britain’s Address to the Prince of Orange’ (1689)
On the Occasion of the Descent of the Prince of Orange into England: A Pindarique Ode (1689)
The Protestants Ave Mary, On the Arrival of Her Most Gracious Majesty Mary, Queen of England (1689)
Thomas Shadwell, The Address of John Dryden, Laureate, to His Highness the Prince of Orange (1689)
A Letter from a Gentleman in the Country (1689)
Arthur Maynwaring, Tarquin and Tullia (1689)
Anne
Queen Anne, Her Majesty’s Speech to Both Houses (1702)
Albina, Or The Coronation (1702)
John Tutchin, The Observator (1702)
The Restoration: or, A Change for the Better (1702)
