To and from the queen : modalities of epistolography in the correspondence of Elizabeth 1.

This article originates from the research recently undertaken by Iannaccaro and Petrina on Elizabeth I’s foreign correspondence, and it analyses the connection between modalities of letter-writing and the relation between writer and addressee. The authors take into consideration the case of Elizabeth I of England, situated in the overall panorama of early modern European historiography. The English Queen was a prolific and skilful letter-writer, endowed with an uncommon talent for foreign languages; but she was also, thanks to her role, the willing or unwilling recipient of thousands of epistles. By selecting two different corpora of letters, from and to the Queen, it is possible to explore how personal relations, degree of acquaintance, respective status and purpose of the letter influence the very structure of the genre.