“[An] old battle constantly re-fought”: Why Language Matters when Editing Early Modern Women’s Letters: A Case Study Of the Holograph Letters of Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scots (1489–1541)

Abstract

ABSTRACTThrough a case study of the holograph letters of Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scots (1489–1541), this article examines the centuries-old editorial debate of whether to modernise or preserve the old-spelling of early modern texts. I examine how historical biographers and editors have approached and presented the language of Margaret Tudor’s letters and consider the implications their editorial approaches have on how readers perceive the figure and epistolary voice of Margaret Tudor. I then draw upon two recent studies in the field of linguistics to show how the detailed analysis of diplomatic transcriptions of Margaret Tudor’s holograph letters can provide important new insights and a fuller understanding of Margaret’s sociolinguistic history, her dual identity as English princess and Queen of Scots, and the processes and agents involved in the production of her holograph correspondence. This article argues for the necessity of diplomatic editions and for an editorial approach that carefully attends to and contextualises the language of early modern women’s letters. The article contends that such an approach is central to developing more advanced and nuanced understandings of early modern women and their letters.