Henry Peacham utilized ideas publicized in Basilicon Doron by King James I in order to create some emblems depicted in Minerva Britanna, one of which includes Emblem 171, entitled Sanctitas simulata (Counterfeit Sanctity), which is modeled after a passage selected from Section 24 of Basilicon Doron. This passage appears to the left of the emblem itself in the margin along with a long note on the Earle of Gourie. The emblem consists of a centered table, on which rests a crown that is partially covered by a Puritan's black bonnet. Peacham covered the crown with the hat to signify that the Puritans do not acknowledge the King's power and divine authority, or even their belief that their opinion overrules that of the King.
In Basilicon Doron, King James warned his son (and future kings) about the false sanctity of the Puritans, as he considered them "verie pests in the Church and Commonwealth, whom no deserts can oblige neither oaths or promises bind, breathing nothing but sedition and calumnies, aspiring without measure, railing without reason, and making their own imagination (without any warrant of the world) the square of their conscience." From this, we can gather that King James absolutely hated the Puritans, and considered them a great threat to his authority. However, this section of Basilicon Doron does not offer Peacham a chance to come up with a pictorial representation of King James's' feelings very easily. Luckily, King James spends a lot of time talking about the Puritans in his book, and thus Peacham was able to find a passage for his purpose (Tung, p. 208). This section is written in the margin of Emblem 171 and reads "There is more pride, under one of their black Bonnets, the` under Alexanders Diademe." The original passage from King James reads, "Surely, there is more pride under such a ones black bonnet, then under Alexander the great his Diademe." Thus, Peacham found the perfect passage on which to base a pictorial representation of King James hatred of Puritans.
Accompanying this quotation in the margin, Peacham has added a long note on the Earle of Gourie. Peacham uses this passage to show an example of "puritanical zeal and crown-threatening ambition" (Tung, p. 209). The passage reads, "Earle Gourie, one of the greatest Puritanes of his time in Scotland, in his travails through France and Italy, used with his Diamond, (for the most part) to draw in his Chamber window, a man in armor, with a sword in his right hand, pointing towards a Crowne, adding this or the like word Te Solum [yourself alone], which yet remains in many places to be seen. What he meant hereby it might easily have been guessed." In effect, what Peacham has done is describe Gourie's impresa, that of a throne-aspiring antagonistic religious warrior (Tung, p.209).
The first part of the verse accompanying Emblem 171 states, "Upon a Crowne with precious Jemmes beset / Say what's the reason thus a hat we see / Since Diadem's of Princes ever yet / From base control, have been exempt and free: / There is a sect, whom Puritans they call / Whose pride this figure fitteth best of all." This statement reveals that the main reason Puritans can be considered "unworthy" is that they are too proud and ignore the King and all for which he stands. Thus, we see here how Peacham transformed James's' remarks about Puritans into verse, showing the pride and contempt the Puritans hold for the King. Yet Peacham, in the second verse, explains that not all Puritans are "fanatic spirits." The verse states, "Not such I mean, as are of faith sincere / And to do good endeavor all they can / Would all the world of their religion were / We tax th' aspiring Puritan: / Whose Parity doth worst confusion bring / And Pride presumes to overlook his King." Here, Peacham reveals that only the aspiring Puritans, such as Earle Gourie, are evil and the sincere ones are not. Peacham's "unwillingness to offend his own Puritan friends" is the main reason that this second verse explains the difference between the two types of Puritans (Tung, 209).
The emblem presented here shows exactly how Peacham used one of many of King James's ideas in order to create an emblem. King James believed in the divine right, whereas the Puritans desired parity under God. Consequently, James wrote in Basilicon Doron about their false sanctity, for they should be obedient to a ruler appointed by God. Peacham created an emblem picturing he Puritans' violation of the crown, and succeeded in denouncing the aspiring Puritans, defending the "sincere" Puritans, and reemphasizing the divine right, winning approval from the present King, or Prince.
-Sean Ramsdell
Icon Class
44B1911 Diadem/Symbol of Sovereignty
41C37 Tablecloth
11Q624 Pilgrim's dress/attributes (e.g. hat)
57AA611 Simulation
11P132 Sanctity
Works Cited
James I. Basilikon Doron or His Majesties Instrvctions To His Dearest Sonne, Henry the Prince. [Edinburgh 1599, 7 copies only; Edinburgh, London (2 edns) 1603; London, Hanoviae, 1604 (Latin); Paris 1603, 1604 (French), according to Introduction, p ciii]. Poitical Works of James I. Ed. Charles Howard McIlwain. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1918. 3-52. (www.stoics.com)
Peacham, Henry. Minerva Britanna, or, A Garden Of Heroical Devises, furnished, and adorned with Emblemes and Impresa's of sundry nature / Newly devised, moralized, and published, By Henry Peacham, Mr. of Artes. [London : Printed in Shoe-lane at the signe of the Faulcon by Wa: Dight., 1612].
Tung, Mason. "From Theory to Practice; A Study of the Theoretical Basis of Peacham's Emblematic Art." Studies in Iconography, Volume 18, 1997.
