Early modern English noblewomen and self-starvation : the skull beneath the skin / Sasha Garwood.

Abingdon, Oxon : Routledge, 2020.

xii, 247 pages : black and white illustrations ; 24 cm.

Introduction -- Part I: Contexts. Modern vs early modern bodies: Anorexia nervosa and other historically situated forms of self-starvation -- Fasting and food in early modern society: 'At dinner, supper, or in taverns' -- Women, food, and early modern households: 'None other wyse than the captaine of a garison' -- The female body in eary modern England: 'Oh, that we may call these delicate creatures ours/and not their appetites' -- Women and self-starvation on the Renaissance stage: 'Dead' 'Dead!' 'Starved!' -- Part II: Case Studies. Catherine of Aragon and Mary Tudor: Eating and identity, royalty, and resistance -- 'The body of a weak and feeble woman': Elizabeth I and eating, power, politics, and penetration -- 'With my body, I thee worship': The tragedy of Lady Katherine Grey -- 'So Wilfully Vent': Arbella Stuart, starvation, strategy, and survival -- Conclusion: The skull beneath the skin: starvation and embodied selfhood then and now.

Includes bibliographical references and index.