Iftikhar 1

Saira Iftikhar

Ma’am Saima

Classical Poetry

18 December 2023

Allegorical Representation of Religious Tension in Faerie Queene by Edmund Spencer

Introduction

Religion was employed as a tool to shape public opinion in the 16th century because of

the tight knot between the state constitution and the church. Queen Elizabeth's accession to the

throne contributed to the favor of Protestantism. The Roman Catholic Church started propaganda

against Queen Elizabeth in the form of pamphlets and other literary works. A national policy was

imposed to censor all the works that carried diverse opinions against the Crown and prevalent

religion. On the other hand, the Catholics were labeled as necromancers who follow the practices

of devil and black magic. Edmund Spencer very consciously wrote to please the Queen,

combining his religious inclinations with his masterful poetry in Faerie Queen which was later

termed the first national poem of the English nation. All the knights of Faerie Queen are enriched

with the one dominant Protestant Christian value through which they defeat the corrupt and

monstrous beings during their quest.

With the introduction of the Printing press in England, expansion of knowledge and ideas

gained rapid momentum. Books were now available to common man increasing the literacy rates

and people could make their own opinions rather than relying on any authority to dictate them

the teachings of religion and politics. The expeditious Reformation in England in 1520 was a

consequence of tremendous publications by printing houses. Though the Protestant belief itself
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favors subjective interpretation of an individual rather than the objective approach of a Pope, it

was molded by Catholics to question the uniformity of Protestantism. Catholic propaganda

spread and pamphlets were written against the Queen and Protestantism. It created a turmoil for

Protestantism which was taxing to gather foundation after the accession of Queen Elizabeth. The

heretic literature dealt with the introduction of censorship policies. Bishop's band became a

famous term in the 16th century. The formation of High Commission carried necessary

censorship by regulating and supervising the contents of any literary work before its publication.

11 statues were passed collectively by Parliament that addressed the topic of treason against

Monarch. Treason at that time was termed any sort of act or word that promoted disloyalty to the

Monarch. The existence of dual religion did not contribute much to religious toleration in the

16th century. Anabaptists were still treated with hostile policies. Yet major efforts were made to

harmonize religious tension by offering lenient punishments to the blasphemers and introduction

of a 1552 prayer book which carried the codes that were acceptable to the majority.

Errours

The first dangerous being that the Red Cross knight and Lady Una encounter is Errours in

her den. Aristotelian belief that humans who are born with deformities such that they partially

resemble animals are monsters and it is because of their mothers. The corrupted feelings and evil

thoughts of the mother seep in and contribute to the constitution of their offspring during

gestation (Huet 13). Errours is half-serpent and half-female (Spencer, 129). She is the product of

the corrupt and immoral intentions of the Roman Catholics that were passed down by previous

generations to her. Her half-serpent body carries the biblical allusion to the Devil, who sneaked

into Heaven to manipulate Eve and eventually led to the fall of mankind. Secondly, she is
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surrounded by her offspring that suck her poisonous dung. Her female half represents her ability

to reproduce, multiply, and increase the monstrosity in the world. Moreover, being shone upon

by the Christian armor of the Knight, she prefers to stay hidden in darkness (Spencer 143). This

is similar to the idea of Platonic caves which are the embodiment of human ignorance, lack of

will to change their situation, and incomprehension to the outside world. Therefore, even before

the encounter, Errours is portrayed as an evil and ignorant being.

Lady Una, being the one true faith, warns the Knight to withhold the encounter. Queen

Elizabeth never adopted brutal methods like Bloody Mary but also didn’t stop the rash activities

against the practicing Catholics and Anabaptists. The passive approach of Lady Una resembles

the Queen’s methodology. Her censorship is advocated by her stance to protect the nation against

the fallacious and distorted truth of the Catholics so they could adhere to one true faith of

Protestantism. But the Knight is full of fire and greedy hardiment and proceeds to encounter evil

(Spencer 123). Upon his encounter, he is caught by the tail of Errours and then Lady Una advises

to strangle Errours. Protestants believed that there was no need for a Protestant pope and that

one’s faith was enough to guide him through the phases of life. Therefore, Una’s voice became

the voice of his faith and he slayed the monster. Errour vomits books and papers which are

allegorical to all the literature produced by evil propagandists of Roman Catholicism. Errours is

the personification of the wicked Catholic propaganda while her offsprings embody the divisions

in the Protestant religion which were fueled by the catholic propagandists. The different sects of

the Protestant religion burst when they consumed the poisonous and false blood of Errours

because it lacked the coherence of truth. With the encounter of errors, a true Christian learns to

find the voice of faith and succeed in his trails.

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Archimago

Necromancy and the art of Black magic was common in the Middle ages. Various books

in Latin Like Arts Norotia were surfacing among the intellectual class who could read Latin.

Among that class, came the popular Priests and Bishops of the Catholic Church. During the

learning period, a clergyman is made to learn several rituals and develop a deep understanding of

Latin. With the procedure of anti-exorcism, came the idea of conjuring spirits and demons.

Therefore, most of the universities which taught theology or Latin made scholasticism an

important aspect of their system so that the students would not stray beyond the traditional

teachings. In 1563, Acts against conjurations and witchcraft were passed, legally forbidding the

practice of Black arts and demonology.

Protestants accused the Catholics as idolatry and necromancers because of the extensive

usage of art and symbols in their Churches. The excuse for the need of the Pope because of the

difficult language of Latin and usage of images to teach the common man was rejected overall by

Protestants. The clergy and ritualism of Roman Catholicism lead to the belief that Witchcraft and

Black magic was the common practice of higher Catholic authorities (Walter 281). In the view

of Protestants, they were the liberators of God’s words from the authority of the Pope, "Away

with the Altar that smacked of Roman idolatry! Away with cape and surplice and amici. . . .

Away with organs and canticles. . . . Away with incense and flowers. . . . with fair houses of

worship!" (Padlefork 86).

Archimago, the architect of images, espouses the image of an old hermit whose book was

held by his belt, knocked his breasts and recites prayers on beads (Spencer 268). The hypocrisy

of Archimago to present himself as sage and saint aligns with the Protestant beliefs of
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Catholicism. Archimago attempts to separate the Red Cross from Lady Una by questioning their

chastity. He conjures spirits and tries to seduce the Holy Knight but the celibacy of the Knight

makes him steadfast to his faith. Archimago used the fake image of Una to manipulate the knight

into believing in the illicit affair of Lady Una. Finally, he succeeds in splitting a true Christian

from his one true faith during his odyssey to gain high spiritual holiness by the use of images and

necromancy.

Conclusion

The religious tension between Catholics and Protestants, the critique of corrupt and

immoral Catholic clergy, the defense of true Christian values and the portrayal of struggle to

reach a higher spiritual morality is allegorically depicted in Faerie Queen. It became the greatest

account for the ideals of Protestantism during the 16th Century and the hostile commentary on

Catholicism.
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