Princesses Mary and Elizabeth Tudor and the Gift Book Exchange

Valerie Schutte has published widely on royal Tudor women and book dedications. She has edited or co-edited four volumes on Mary I, Shakespeare, and queenship.

• Introduction: Partners in Both Book and ManuscriptChapter 1 – Pre-accession Book Dedications to Mary and ElizabethChapter 2 – Mary’s Pre-Accession TranslationsChapter 3 – Elizabeth’s Pre-Accession TranslationsChapter 4 – New Year’s Gifts Given and Received by Mary and ElizabethChapter 5 – Publishing Princess ElizabethConclusionSelect BibliographyIndex

In this concise, well-written book, Valerie Schutte examines the ways that Mary and Elizabeth participated in England’s literary world before they became queens. Additionally, Schutte argues that Elizabeth’s translations must be analyzed within the larger context of courtly gift-giving to fully understand the princess’s motivations behind her translations. By evaluating both young women’s translations together with the number of works dedicated to them, it is clear that Mary was considered much more important at the royal court than was Elizabeth. This important study redresses the imbalance created by past scholarship that tended to focus on Elizabeth’s scholarly accomplishments while either minimizing or ignoring Mary’s.