Resumen de Salvatrix Mundi: Representing Queen Elizabeth I as a Christ Type
In speeches, public ritual, and pictorial imagery, Queen Elizabeth I used the metaphors of corporeal suffering and salvation to align herself with Christ, through whose loving sacrifice the world might be saved. The iconography that surrounded Elizabeth I in the 44 years of her reign was multifaceted and intricate, and the idea that she represented herself, or was represented by others, in ways that likened her to the divine is not a new one. In light of recent scholarship on some of the strategies used by Queen Elizabeth and her supporters to justify the controversial notion of female rule, the writer considers how and why masculine images of divinity were incorporated into her iconography. He explores the ways in which two interrelated concepts (Christlike self-sacrifice and the promise of salvation) contributed to Elizabeth's public image, and how these concepts functioned to enhance her claims to power. In doing so, he focuses particular attention on three symbols traditionally associated with Christ but also employed in the queen's iconography: the pelican, the phoenix, and the orb.
