Editing Elizabeth I’s Italian Letters

Abstract

Much excellent scholarship has been based upon the fine editions of Elizabeth’s letters and works which have been published to date. Modern scholars, however, have unjustly neglected her Italian missives, leaving untouched a critical source for scholarly work. By means of some hitherto unpublished documents, the article will endeavour to cast some light on Elizabeth’s Italian correspondence, and will describe some of the challenges (and intriguing mysteries) one has to face when editing these letters.