TheQuerelle des Femmes,the Overbury Scandal, and the Politics of the Swetnam Controversy in Early Modern England

Abstract

AbstractOffering a fresh reading of the texts of the so-called ‘Swetnam controversy’ of 1615–1617, this chapter explores both the history of the querelle des femmes and the historical moment in the early seventeenth century that produced an explosion of querelle texts. The first respondent to answer Joseph Swetnam, Rachel Speght, echoes earlier defences representing the female voice as a model of resistance to monarchical abuse. Mingling serious religio-political critique with a playfulness that anticipates Ester Sowernam and Constantia Munda, Speght never refers explicitly to the Overbury affair but taps into the backlash against its misogynist scapegoating of women. The chapter argues that Sowernam and Munda share Speght’s religious and political allegiances, offering a searing anti-court critique in their turn. The Swetnam controversy texts exploit the gendered discourses surrounding contemporary court scandal to offer thinly veiled criticism of the monarch, building on a tradition of real and imagined women speaking truth to power.