The Intellectual and Cultural World of the Early Modern Inns of Court

This is a collection of essays on an important but overlooked aspect of early modern English life: the artistic and intellectual patronage of the Inns of Court and their influence on religion, politics, education, rhetoric, and culture from the late fifteenth through the early eighteenth centuries. This period witnessed the height of the Inns' status as educational institutions: emerging from fairly informal associations in the fourteenth century, the Inns of Court in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries had developed sophisticated curricula for their students, leading to their description in the early seventeenth century as England's "third university." Some of the most influential politicians, writers, and divines - as well as lawyers - of Tudor and Stuart England passed through the Inns: men such as Edward Hall, Richard Hooker, John Webster, John Selden, Edward Coke, William Lambarde, Francis Bacon, and John Donne.This is the first interdisciplinary publication on the early modern Inns of Court, bringing together scholarship in history, art history, literature, and drama. The book is lavishly illustrated and provides a unique collection of visual sources for the architecture, art, and gardens of the early modern Inns

Jayne Elisabeth Archer is Lecturer in Medieval and Renaissance Literature at Aberystwyth University.

Elizabeth Goldring is an Associate Fellow of the Centre for the Study of the Renaissance, University of Warwick.

Sarah Knight is Senior Lecturer in Shakespeare and Renaissance Literature at the University of Leicester.

List of IllustrationsNotes on ContributorsAcknowledgmentsJayne Elisabeth Archer, Elizabeth Goldring, and Sarah KnightAbbreviationsIntroductionPreface; Jayne Elisabeth Archer, Elizabeth Goldring, and Sarah Knight1. The third university 1450-1550: Law school or finishing school?: J. H. BakerI. HISTORY: EDUCATION, RELIGION, POLITICS, AND THE LAWIntroduction: Education, Religion, Politics, and Law at the Early Modern Inns of Court;Jayne Elisabeth Archer2. The Inner Temple Revels (1561-62) and the Elizabethan Rhetoric of Signs: Legal Iconography at the Early Modern Inns of Court; Paul Raffield3. Gospel, Law, and Ars Prædicandi at the Inns of Court, c.1570-c.1640; Hugh Adlington4. The Inns of Court and the Common Law Mind: The Vase of James Whitelocke; Damian X. Powell5. 'The Sinful History of Mine Own Youth': John Donne Preaches at Lincoln's Inn; Emma Rhatigan6. Readers' Dinners and the Culture of the Early Modern Inns of Court; Wilfrid PrestII. ART, ARCHITECTURE, AND GARDENSIntroduction: The Art, Architecture, and Gardens of the Early Modern Inns of Court; Elizabeth Goldring7. The Halls of the Elizabethan and Early Stuart Inns of Court; Mark Girouard8. Professional Pride and Personal Agendas: Portraits of Judges, Lawyers, and Members of the Inns of Court, 1560-1630; Tarnya Cooper9. The Evolution of the Early Gardens of the Inns of Court; Paula Henderson10. The Rebuilding of the Inns of Court, 1660-1700; Geoffrey TyackIII. LITERATURE AND DRAMAIntroduction: Literature and Drama at the Early Modern Inns of Court; Sarah Knight11. Lyric Poetry at the Early Elizabethan Inns of Court: Forming a Professional Community; Jessica Winston12. The Evidential Plot: Shakespeare and Gascoigne at Gray's Inn; Lorna Hutson13. Locating the Comedy of Errors: Revels Jurisdiction at the Inns of Court; Bradin Cormack14. Law Sports and the Night of Errors: Shakespeare at the Inns of Court; Richard McCoy15. New Light on Drama, Music, and Dancing at the Inns of Court to 1642; Alan H. NelsonSelect Bibliography of Secondary CriticismIndex