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''Leicester's Commonwealth'' (originally titled ') (1584) is a scurrilous book that circulated in Elizabethan England and which attacked Queen Elizabeth I's favourite, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. The work was read as Roman Catholic propaganda against the political and religious policy of Elizabeth I's regime, in particular the Puritan sympathies fostered by Leicester. In doing so it portrayed Leicester as an amoral opportunist of "almost satanic malevolence",〔Haynes, Alan: ''The White Bear: The Elizabethan Earl of Leicester'', Peter Owen, ISBN 0-7206-0672-1, p. 151〕 and circulated lurid stories of his supposed scandalous deeds and dangerous plots. The text is presented as "a letter written by a Master of Art of Cambridge to his friend in London, concerning some talk passed of late between two worshipful and grave men about the present state and some proceedings of the Earl of Leicester and his friends in England." The title "Leicester's Commonwealth" was first used in the 1641 edition. The book seriously influenced Leicester's historical reputation in the ensuing centuries. ==Content== The book takes the form of a dialogue between a Cambridge scholar, a lawyer, and a gentleman; it begins as a plea for religious toleration, by asserting that Catholics who are loyal to the queen and country should be free to profess their religion. The lawyer, who professes to be a moderate "papist", expresses the view that religious differences do not undermine the patriotism of citizens, giving examples of religiously divided populations who have united to defend their country against external enemies. The text quickly veers into an attack on the Earl of Leicester, making all kinds of accusations against him, most notably a number of murders. His first is that of his wife Amy Robsart, who according to the tract was found at the bottom of a short flight of stairs with a broken neck, her headdress still standing undisturbed "upon her head".〔Jenkins, Elizabeth (2002): ''Elizabeth and Leicester'', The Phoenix Press, ISBN 1-84212-560-5, pp. 65, 291〕 Leicester's hired assassin later confesses while on his death-bed, as "all the devils in hell" tear him in pieces. Meanwhile the assassin's servant, who witnessed the deed, has already been dispatched in prison by Leicester's agents before he could tell the story. With the expert help of his Italian physician, Dr. Giulio, Leicester goes on to remove the husbands of his lovers Douglas, Lady Sheffield and Lettice, Countess of Essex (ladies referred to as "his Old and his New Testaments"〔Jenkins 2002 p. 291〕). The Cardinal of Chatillon, Nicholas Throckmorton, Lady Margaret Lennox, and the Earl of Sussex are dispatched in the same manner, by poison.〔Wilson, Derek (1981): ''Sweet Robin: A Biography of Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester 1533–1588'', Hamish Hamilton, ISBN 0-241-10149-2, pp. 255〕 After the murder of Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex, Leicester pays Francis Drake to kill Thomas Doughty, who knows too much about it (Doughty had been executed by Drake for mutiny at sea). The work also reveals Leicester's monstrous sexual appetite and his and his new wife's lewd private lives, including abortions, illnesses, and other shortcomings.〔Jenkins 2002 pp. 212, 287, 293, 294; Wilson 1981 p. 255〕 The death of their little son, which occurred shortly before the book's publication, is commented on with a biblical allusion in a stop press marginal note: "The children of adulterers shall be consumed, and the seed of a wicked bed shall be rooted out."〔Jenkins 2002 p. 294〕 A born traitor in the third generation who has "nothing of his own, either of his ancestors, or of himself",〔 Leicester is also accused of systematically despoiling the lands the queen has granted him, and of ruthlessly extorting money from those unluckily enough to be in his power. The mathematician Thomas Allen is said to be employing the art of "figuring" to further the earl's unlawful designs and of having endeavoured to bring about a match between his patron and Queen Elizabeth by the black art. Leicester, a "perpetuall dictator"〔Burgoyne, F.J. (ed.) (1904): (''History of Queen Elizabeth, Amy Robsart and the Earl of Leicester, being a Reprint of "Leycesters Commonwealth" 1641'' ), Longmans, p. 255〕 who hates and terrorizes the helpless queen, is to blame that England has no heir of Elizabeth's body since he has prevented her marriage to a foreign prince. This he did by falsely claiming to be engaged to her and showing her suitors' ambassadors "a most disloyal proof" thereof.〔Jenkins 2002 p. 202〕 Having failed to attain the supreme power through marriage, he—who is of no religion himself—is building up a party of misled Puritans that will assist him to dethrone Elizabeth in favour of his brother-in-law, the Earl of Huntingdon. On achieving this, he will get rid of Huntingdon and place the crown on his own head.〔Wilson 1981 pp. 254, 258–259; Burgoyne 1904 p. 20〕 Leicester's immediate arrest and execution is recommended as the most beneficial act the queen could ever do to her country.〔Wilson 1981 pp. 261〕 As the book progresses, it increasingly becomes a defense of Mary Stuart's succession rights, which by 1584 had become imperilled due to her involvement in several plots to assassinate Elizabeth.〔Wilson 1981 pp. 253–254〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Leicester's Commonwealth」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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