 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
||||||||||
|
Opening Page
Augustana College Library Augustana History Department Augustana College |
Pole-as-Prophet: the Creation of Identity and the Nature of Authority in Renaissance Europe.
By: Chris Sweet Andras Dudic, one of Reginald Pole's early biographers concludes his account of the life of Reginald Pole with the following entreaty, "and so if anyone considers in spirit his whole life, and thinks it over diligently, how he bore so many calamities and labors for the sake of the church, he I believe, easily will inscribe him in the number of martyrs of Christ, to whom be honor and glory in all eternities." Given the hagiographic nature of the early Pole biographies, perhaps it is not surprising that Dudic would attempt to group Pole with the martyrs and by association with the saints. This was not an uncommon maneuver for prominent medieval and renaissance figures who had any saintly aspirations. In the 15th and 16th centuries these popular biographies were often collected and published in anthologies known as the lives of the saints. The exaggerated elements of hagiographic biographies helped more than a few saints, including St. Francis of Assisi, St. Augustine, and many other notables to achieve that status. Of greater interest to the historian may be the fact that Pole had a direct hand in shaping the portrait of himself in Dudic's biography. According to Stephen Greenblatt's theory of 'Renaissance self-fashioning,' prominent Renaissance figures such as Pole recreated their personae through literary means. To desire sainthood is certainly a commendable goal and may partially explain why Pole would put forth this particular persona but, the image of martyr with its corresponding connotations of prophet is not by any means limited to Pole's biographies. Examining his life more closely through the available documents, one discovers these images carefully interwoven throughout the fabric of Pole's adult life, frequently appearing in both his private and public correspondence. Furthermore, he maintained a public demeanor that was conducive with the prophet / martyr image. Pole so thoroughly surrounded himself with these images that they are nearly inseparable from the "real" Pole. The "real" Pole can be distinguished from the Pole created through a lifetime of writing. The Pole that was created in writing was a character created for specific purposes. In a forthcoming biography of Reginald Pole, Dr. Thomas Mayer argues that this fabricated, "'Pole' arose through a process in which its author tried on in writing a series of identities, often several at once, until the original Pole (so to say) established a consistent image and maybe even a consistent personality." One of the recurring identities in this "trying on" process has to be Pole-as-prophet. Through Pole's public persona and his writings, both public and private, he created a carefully constructed image of himself as a prophet. The development of this image enabled Pole to claim authority from the highest source. To varying degrees Pole's contemporaries believed in Pole-as-prophet as indicated by their writings. The correspondence surrounding Pole's legation for the Reconciliation of England (1553-1557) and his legation for peace (1553-1557) provides further evidence of the process by which Pole created a prophet-like image of himself. This image found its culmination in the early hagiographic biographies, which Pole heavily influenced. In this essay I attempt to determine the status of prophets and prophecy in sixteenth century Italy and then place Pole in this context. I will show that Pole developed the prophet image as a means of increasing his personal authority. Through an examination of Pole's correspondence and other's writings to and about Pole, I establish how this image was developed throughout Pole's lifetime. Next-->
|