Elizabeth I is one of England's most admired and celebrated rulers. She is also one of its most iconic. This wide-ranging interdisciplinary collection of essays examines the origins and development of the image and myths that came to surround the Virgin Queen. The essays question the prevailing assumptions about the mythic Elizabeth and challenge the view that she was unanimously celebrated in the literature and portraiture of the early modern era. They explain how the most familiar myths surrounding the queen developed from the concerns of her contemporaries and continue to reverberate today. Published to mark the 400th anniversary of the queen's death, this volume will appeal to all those with an interest in the historiography of Elizabeth's reign and Elizabethan, and Jacobean, poets and dramatists.

This important volume in onomastics, the study of names, presents a listing of Yiddish first names in the modern period: 1750 to the present day. Yiddish Given Names: A Lexicon resumes, collects, documents, and corrects the available body of research on Yiddish given names. It aims to establish the modern corpus and give the origins of the names therein. Rella Israly Cohn has amassed and preserved a number of names that have become extremely rare, almost to the point of disappearing, and correctly identified their sources using a number of works both commonly available and difficult to find. The book begins with preliminary material that orients the reader, explains technical terms and classifications, and describes the evolution of Yiddish names throughout their history. Following is the lexicon itself, which is comprised of over 250 names with variant forms and alphabetized according to the English transliteration. Each entry relates the Yiddish name to its source language, shows a source form, and gives the attestations of the name in its various forms in the earliest written works. Concluding with several appendixes that offer additional information and assist in reference and accessibility, this significant work will serve scholars in onomastics, linguistics, and Yiddish and will be of interest to both scholars and laypersons researching their family history or the cultural legacy of the Jewish community worldwide.

This book combines linguistic and historical approaches with the latest techniques of DNA analysis and show the insights these offer for every kind of genealogical research. It focuses on British names, tracing their origins to different parts of the British Isles and Europe and revealing how names often remain concentrated in the districts where they first became established centuries ago. In the process the book casts fresh light on the ancient peopling of the British Isles. The authors consider why some names die out, and how others have spread across the globe. They use recent advances in DNA testing to discover whether particular surnames have a single, dual or multiple origins and whether various forms of a name have a common origin. They show how information from DNA can be combined with historical evidence and techniques to distinguish between individuals with the same name and different names with similar spellings and to identify the name of the same individual or family spelt in various ways in different times and places. Clearly written and illustrated with hundreds of examples, this book will be welcomed by all those engaged in genealogical research, including everyone seeking to discover the histories of their names and families.

Will the British retain the monarchy and the English church establishment into the 21st century? The preservation of the monarchy and of the establishment of the church of England is a matter that cuts deep in fact and theory. The monarchy and the church are symbols of civil liberty, and as such they carry the freight of British national identity. Yet it is difficult to take those institutions seriously now because Britons give too little consideration to serious reforms of any kind for the monarchy or the church. This book suggests possible reforms.

This is the story of the Lally family between 1818 and 1848. It could just as easily be your story if you have ancestors who were among over a million people who left the beautiful and tragic land of Ireland in the 1840s. This family lived in the Loughrea area, County Galway, Ireland, and their story is similar to that of so many Irish families as they struggled against the odds, were overwhelmed by the tragedy of the Great Famine, and were forced to leave their beloved homeland. This book explores how the Irish lived at this time, how they thought, and the reasons for their situation in Ireland. It brings together the many strands of Irish society and the economics, politics, and philosophy that dominated their lives. It describes the terrible journeys that members of the family undertook to reach England, America, Canada, and Australia.