In this project, I seek to reclaim the British Isles' sixteenth-century queens Lady Jane Grey, Mary I, Elizabeth I, and Mary, Queen of Scots as public rhetors and as teachers of rhetorical strategy through an analysis firmly based in Aristotelian and Ciceronian rhetoric. Prepared for rule by the same texts that guided male monarchs, yet lacking a history of female rule, reigning women adapted classical rhetorical strategies to establish authority. The rhetorical artifacts of these women leaders comprise a unique collection of powerful, political, and public performances by women who reigned over a male-dominated governance in which most women were silenced.
With the sudden succession of several female queens, a new mirror of female rule was created in their rhetorical acts. Specifically, this dissertation analyzes the way these women reflected and resisted male strategies of rhetorical authority. The metaphorical and material mirror, which arrived as a commonplace and inexpensive item in the early 1500s, and brought with it the mirror-of-princes genre that provided an image of male rule, frames a community of women who mirrored one another's rhetorical strategies. Finally, I argue that this community provides a legacy of women's rhetoric for political women leaders today.