Aemilia Lanyer's threads in the tapestry of dialectical devotion.

Abstract

Disparate and dialectical dialogues characterize sixteenth-century British cultural, religious, and political ideologies. Christian ideology, in its various forms and interpretations, was most commonly cited as support for various political and cultural debates, particularly the querelle des femmes, the formal controversy regarding women's equality. Aemilia Lanyer's Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum, when read in its entirety including the dedicatory and closing poems, enters the formal controversy and establishes spiritual and political equality for women, while working within existing Christian ideology and adhering to biblical source texts. Lanyer weaves a coherent woman-centered theology by creating a tapestry from the disparate dialogical threads of patriarchal ideology and medieval mystical tradition, framed by the conventions of British sonnets and Courtly Love.