Anthony Munday: A modern edition of selected early work

Armstrong, Wendy Ann (2025). Anthony Munday: A modern edition of selected early work. University of Birmingham. Ph.D.

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Abstract

ABSTRACT
This thesis offers a modern edition of two of Anthony Munday’s early pamphlets: 'A View of Sundry Examples' (1580) and 'A Watchword to England' (1584). These pamphlets are examined both as individual pieces of literature and as products of the author’s engagement as a political operative in the government of the day. Attention is drawn to how the first pamphlet exhibited the author’s potential as a government agent and hints that his ambitions were about to come to fruition, while the second pamphlet was an accomplished demonstration of an established agent using his talents for the benefit of his new employers.
The Introduction gives information on the pamphlets as physical objects as well as their place in Munday’s broader career. Each text has been edited for the modern reader with standardized spelling and punctuation. There are footnotes to gloss the text, a Commentary with further information on the people and places Munday writes about and interpretation of the more difficult passages of text, and Textual Notes highlighting significant differences between Munday’s text and those upon which he has drawn, or which have been drawn from him.
The Afterword looks beyond the edited texts. Putting these pamphlets into the context of Munday’s occupation at the time they were written has unlocked deeper levels of meaning within them. These early pamphlets are the output of a young man on a mission, carefully choosing his stories in order to protect and promote the fragile Protestant hold on power. They were written at the start of a whole lifetime of Munday’s engagement in the business of counter-intelligence and government propaganda supporting the Protestant cause. Understanding Munday’s personal choices concerning his documented membership of religious communities pointed to an unexpected deduction about Munday’s own political preferences in the changing environment of London under the Stuarts.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Doctorates > Ph.D.)

Award Type:

Doctorates > Ph.D.

Supervisor(s):