John Knox, First Blast of the Trumpet against the Monstrous Regiment of Women

Kenneth D. Farrow (Independent Scholar - Europe)

Ed. by Jacqueline Eales, Canterbury Christ Church University
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.03: English Writing and Culture: Renaissance (Elizabethan and Jacobean periods) , 1485-1625.
Vol. editors: William M. Hamlin (Washington State University), J A Roe (University of York), Virginia Mason Vaughan (Clark University), Ema Vyroubalova (Trinity College Dublin)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1558

Places

Scotland (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Non-Fiction
- Pamphlets/ Tracts/ Chapbooks
Religion and Spirituality (any)
- Religious writing

Resources

Inception, Composition, Contemporary Response

The question of the ultimate legitimacy of rule by a female sovereign was one that had occupied Knox’s mind some years before the composition of what is, undoubtedly, his most infamous and controversial tract, The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women. Before proceeding, however, it is important to point out that, here, “regiment” is not to be understood in its most common and vague modern sense. To Knox, it did not mean “clan, group, miscellaneous conglomeration” or any such thing. He understood the term to mean, simply, “government”, in a political sense (whatever his views about domestic and personal relationships …

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5658 words

Citation: Farrow, Kenneth D. . "First Blast of the Trumpet against the Monstrous Regiment of Women". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 November 2009 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=5142, accessed 22 November 2024.]

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