Geopolitical Players: Diplomacy, Trade, and English Itinerant Theater in Early Modern Europe
Date of Award
Spring 2024
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
English Language and Literature
First Advisor
Kastan, David
Abstract
English itinerant actors found receptive audiences at courts and commercial centers across early modern Europe, from Amsterdam, Utrecht, and the Hague to Dresden, Heidelberg, and Berlin, Warsaw and Gdánsk, Stockholm and Copenhagen, Vienna and Prague. The traveling players built flexible and shifting relationships with a wide cast of powerful European rulers, including the Prince of Orange, Elector of Saxony, Duke of Braunschweig, Elector Palatine, King of Denmark, Sweden, and Poland-- eventually, even the Holy Roman Emperor himself-- at times establishing themselves as "court performers" in residence and taking positions as servants and minor officials, carrying out errands, delivering messages, and even collecting intelligence. My dissertation reevaluates the English traveling players as diplomatic agents, participating in a broader transnational economy of patronage and clientelism in which the boundary between pageantry, hospitality, and formal international relations was porous. Following the international movements of three late Elizabethan troupes, who came from the English acting companies Leicester's Men, the Admiral's Men, and the Queen's Men, I demonstrate links to international relations activity, including participation in diplomatic occasions and state ceremonial, as well as participation in "informal diplomacy" of many kinds.
Recommended Citation
Glider, Emily, "Geopolitical Players: Diplomacy, Trade, and English Itinerant Theater in Early Modern Europe" (2024). Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertations. 1398.
https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/gsas_dissertations/1398
