“The Description of Cooke-ham” is one of several texts Aemilia Lanyer writes from a distinctly female perspective. Although Lanyer wrote several centuries before the establishment of feminist theory, her works are rich examples of early-modern proto-feminist writing.
Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum, Lanyer’s first and only book and the collection to which “Cooke-ham” belongs, is an assembly of writings dedicated to the cause of female representation as well as female readership and patronage. The collection features letters, written in both prose and verse, dedicated to aristocratic women including Queen Anne of Denmark, Princess Elizabeth Stuart, and even the poet Mary Sidney, Countess of Pembroke. Among these letters is also one titled “To all vertuous Ladies in generall.”
Alongside these laudatory and celebratory letters to women, Lanyer positions her title poem, “Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum,” which narrates the life of Jesus Christ from the perspectives of various women including Pilate’s wife, a female spectator of the crucifixion, and the women visiting Christ’s tomb to embalm his body. The poem is prefaced with a tribute to both Queen Elizabeth and Margaret Clifford, Countess of Cumberland (the addressee of “Cooke-ham”), and concludes by likening Clifford to the Bride of Canticles (the Spouse of Christ and an exceptional female figure). Lanyer thus proposes radicalized readings of the Bible that include and acknowledge women.
