“Nella lingua sua naturale”: Elizabeth’s Italian Letters

Abstract

While evidence abounds as to Elizabeth I’s proficiency in Italian, only a fraction of her letters in this language has so far come to light, and only one has been edited in Marcus and Mueller’s Autograph Compositions and Foreign Language Originals, the well-known first extant letter by the then Princess to Katherine Parr. A research project commenced in 2009 has so far located about thirty of these, including six (three of which are also in their original drafts) entirely in the queen’s hand. Questions of authorship related to the non-holograph letters, however, clearly arise. By analyzing an unpublished letter by Elizabeth, this paper will try to cast some light on the vicissitudes of the queen’s Italian correspondence.