The ‘strange and dangerous Poynado’ of Georges Villiers, Duke of Buckingham: Weaponry, propaganda, and political identity

Nathalie Rivère de Carles (1, 2)

1 UT2J - Université Toulouse - Jean Jaurès
2 CAS - Cultures anglo-saxonnes

In 1627, an alleged murder plot involving a dagger targeted Georges Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham during his expedition to the Isle of Ré. In 1628, John Felton, a veteran of that same expedition, killed Buckingham with a dagger. This article examines the failure of Buckingham's branding strategy based on the transformation of real weapons into fictional items. It considers three of Buckingham's political self-fashioning objects: his armour in the Mytens portrait, a dagger and a coranto of news. These are contrasted with their reception in Thomas Heywood's tragicomedy The Royal King and the Loyal Subject, diplomatic relations, and libels.

Mots clés: Buckingham; Weapons; propaganda; Fake News; Diplomacy - history; Theatre XVI-XVII; Early modern English theatre; Early modern England; Early modern France; Early modern Europe; Armoury; Charles I of England

Domaines: Sciences de l'Homme et Société; Art et histoire de l'art; Histoire; Littératures

Nathalie Rivère de Carles. The ‘strange and dangerous Poynado’ of Georges Villiers, Duke of Buckingham: Weaponry, propaganda, and political identity. Cahiers Élisabéthains, 2023, 110 (1), pp.3-22. ⟨10.1177/01847678231155081⟩. ⟨hal-04353375⟩