Mary Wroth’s Urania and the Editorial Debate over Philip Sidney’s Arcadia

Abstract

Mary Wroth’s romance The Countess of Montgomery’s Urania (1621) is a tribute to, and possibly an imitation or a continuation of, her uncle Philip Sidney’s The Countess of Pembroke’s Arcadia (first composed c. 1580, later revised and expanded, and first published in 1590). Wroth’s romance not only proves her insight into her uncle’s work, but also testifies to her awareness of the editorial debate over the first publications of Arcadia. Sidney’s immensely successful romance first came to the public through two posthumous and competing editions, designed respectively by his friend Fulke Greville and his sister and dedicatee Mary Sidney Herbert, Countess of Pembroke. Wroth emulated her aunt’s gesture in claiming authority over Sidney’s romance as a member of the Sidney circle, but did so indirectly while creating her own original work.