The Beauties of the Land: Bale's Books, Aske's Abbeys, and the Aesthetics of Nationhood

• Published in: Renaissance quarterly Vol. 57; no. 1; pp. 99 - 125
• Main Author: Schwyzer, Philip
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge Renaissance Society of America 22.03.2004; Cambridge University Press
• Subjects: Aesthetics; Aske, Robert; Bale, John (1495-1563); Beauty; Churches; Conflicts; Desire; Dissolution; European literature; Libraries; Monasteries; Nationalism; Nostalgia; Pilgrimages; Renaissance art; Renaissance literature; Renaissance, 1450-1600; The 2003 Josephine Waters Bennett Lecture

Although often ignored in studies of nationalism, beauty is a central feature of every imagined nation. The conflicts surrounding the dissolution of the monasteries can be read as hinging on the question of what makes a nation beautiful. For the traditionalist rebel Robert Aske, "the beauties o...