The Countess of Montgomery’s Urania was written by Mary Wroth. The genre of this book is romance. The book begins when Urania finds out that she is not the biological daughter of the shepherd couple that had raise her since she was born. Hearing this fact she mourns over her identity. She feels lost and does not know what to do or who she really is anymore. While Urania is mourning, she decides to climb a rock and go into a cave. Inside the cave she finds the weeping sad Perissus. He is mourning over his beloved Limena’s death. Urania gets curious on what happened and Perissus resists answering her questions at first however he gives in after awhile and tells her his and Limena love story. He talks about how he had visited Limena and her family and how he wrote letters to her. One day he visited her and saw that she was sad. Limena herself is ready to die because of her jealous husband. Her husband was jealous of Limena’s love for Perissus.
After Perissus told his story, he noticed that Urania was looking more like a princess and asked about her family background. Urania told him she was unsure who her real parents are. Urania also asked how Perissus ended up in the cave. He told her he was fighting his uncle’s enemies to restore him back onto the throne. He was also visiting Limena’s family to learn about her death and was told that they only found her bloody clothes in the woods. Urania almost fell in love with Perissus when he was in his armor but does not fall in love with him.
After this, the story moves to Urania comforting a lost sheep and then being saved by two foresters from a wolf. They take her to the cave where they were staying with their family to share the lamb for a meal. Once in the cave , she finds out the family was a royal family from Albania who were exiled by their own people. There she also meets Parselius, the Prince of Morea who was passing by. Parsilius made a promise to the exiled king that he would make his eldest son heir to the throne of Albania and told Urania to have his daughter accompany her on her journey. Once Parsilius made the promise the King became overjoy and died. Urania then fall in love with Parsilius who also suspected her to be the lost Princess he has been searching for, Amphilanthus’s sister. He soon found out that she was.
Urania, Parsilus and the two young Princes of Albania and their sister leaved the cave and gets onto Parsilius’s ship to Italy. Once arriving in Italy, they see Italy has been taken over by pirates. Urania gets mistakenly identified as Anitissia the lost Princess of Romania by the captain of the pirates, who in turn want to return Anitissia to her parents. Parsilius then gets attacked by the Syracusa pirates and he killed their leader. Following this one of the freed prisoner talk about his encounter with Annistia and how his friend was killed by Amphilanthus while arguing who was going to rape Annistia. Then Amphilanthus promises to return her to her father after meeting Persilius. This is when they found out Amphilanthus has been the King of the Romans. The ship then gets off course by a storm and moves toward the island of Cryptus. This is where Urania , Salarina and Urania’s maid get trapped in the Thrones of Love which is guarded by the three towers of desire, love, and constancy. They could only be save by the most valiant knight and the loyalest women. They have to come together and open the third gate to the tower of constancy . When opened the three girls will be freed. The guys then left to go see Amphilanthus.
After this Antissia falls in love and Amphilanthus and Pamphilia falls in love with him also. While Amphilanthus help restore Annitssius nephew to Annistia, to his rightful throne. Amphilanthus then announced his love for a women that he fear loves another person. On Parselius side of the story he has rescued Limena from her jealous husband Philargus. Limena is then reunited with Perissus. Her jealous husband then blessed the marriage between them as he is dying. After this, Limena tells her story of how her husband faked her death. After they go to Naples Perissus is crowned king and Perselius leaves to go join Amphilanthus. Antissia gets suspicious of Pamphilia’s love for Amphilanthus. Pamphilia deflects this suspicion by implicit denial. Anitissia then mistakes Pamphilia brother for Amphilanthus and calls her out on betrayal. She then sees it was Pamphilia brother and gets embarrassed and leaves. Pamphilia brother came to talk to Pamphilia secretly to discuss his love for Meriana, who is the rightful Queen of Macedon.
While traveling through Morea to meet Amphilanthus, Parselius visits Dalinea, the daughter of King Achaya. While visiting her, Parselius forgets about Urania and he falls in love with Dalinea and marries her. On Amphilanthus side of the story, Amphilanthus confesses to himself the his desire is inconsistent for Anisstia and loves another women. After this he climbs a hill and sees a stone door open and finds a small dwarf and its family. They were hiding from tyrannous rulers who want to kill him. The dwarf then takes him to a cave with a door on the other side. Behind the door was a garden and the place of Melissea. Melissea is a wise women who can tell people their future. While Amphilanthus complain his love to Melissea. Melissea tells him to go finish an enchantment in Cryptus and return back to her once he was finish. On Parselius side of things, while married to Dalinea he has a dream of Urania who calling him out on his love inconstancy. He wakes up full of grief and lies to his wife that danger was coming. He then leaves and sail out for anywhere. On his journey he meets a hermit and tells the story. The hermit saves him from suicide. While this is happening Rosindy, Pamphilia brother helps Merianna become Queen of Maceden and marries her. Amphilanthus makes his way to the Throne of Love in Cryptus where Luciena falls in love with him. Pamphilia also arrives to Cryptus. Once in Cryptus there is a jousting competition between the men to defend their lady beauty. Amphilanthus joins and wins the competition as he defended Pamphilia’s beauty. She then thanks him and tells him she’s now the Queen of Pamphilia. She came to Cryptus to try the enchantment. Finally, Amphilanthus and Pamphilia prove themselves to be the most valiant knight with the loyalest lady. They dissolve the enchantment of the three towers and save Urania and the others from it.
Urania has a few themes from our course that are presented in the first book. One of these themes are Petrarchan love. Petrarchan love is shown through the first book of Urania in many ways. For example, are two of Pamphilia poems:
Poem 1:“ Beare part with me most straight and pleasant Tree,
And imitate the torment of my smart
Which cruel Love doth send into my heart,
Keepe in thy skin this testament of me:
Which love ingrain hath with misery,
Cutting with griefe the unresiting part,
Which would with pleasure, Which would with pleasure soon have learned loves art
But wounds still curelesse, must my ruler bee,
The sap doth weepingly bewray thy paine,
My heart-blood drops with stormes it doth sustained,
Love sencelesse, neither good nor mercy knowes
Pitiles, I doe would thee, while that I
Unpitied and unthought on, wounded crie: T
Then out-live me, and testifies my woes”(Wroth 92-93).
Poem 2:“My thoughts though has supported without rest,
My tired body here hath Laine opprest
With love, and feare: yet be thou ever blest;
Spring, prosper, last; I am alone unblest”(Wroth 93).
At this moment Pamphilia is reflecting on her torment love fo Amphilanthus by writing a sonnet and a short poem into a tree. She uses the imagery of nature in her poem in the first line “Be part with me most straight and pleasant tree And imitate the torment of smart” (Wroth 92). My understanding is that she is asking a tree to help her with her unattainable love and feelings as she wants it to feel the torment of the love she has for Amphilanthus. She is also using the body parts to explain her tormented love. She used the skin, heart, blood and body to describe the torment. Her heart is feeling frustrated and tormented while she uses the skin to explain that her torment of love has no escape as it runs too deep under the skin or body. It can be easily destroyed or eliminate. For the blood, she is trying to say that there is a storm of feelings of frustration running through her body that cannot seem to clear up or calm down. Pamphilia in both poems uses a paradoxical gender politics as this poem is all about herself and not Amphilanthus. There is no sign in the poem where she mention Amphilanthus. The poem in general is about her and her tormented love and how it’s making her feel at the moment. An example of this would be, “Pitiles I doe wound thee,thee, while that I Unpitied and unthought on and wounded crie:” (Wroth 93) and “spring, prosper, last: I am alone unblest” (Wroth 93) This shows how tormented and wounded she feels and how unblessed she is by the love. She knows the love for her cousin is unattainable at this moment. This is also related by Petrarchan love is that Pamphilia is aware what she is doing. Lastly Pamphilia is aware she writing a poem into the tree and using it trunks and roots to let out how she feels. This writer feels like the trunks are all about her love for Amphilanthus, while the second poem that she writes is more how she feels like a tree root that is only seen as a support by her lover and nothing else. In conclusion, Wroth used the theme of Petrarchan love through out Urania by not just through Pamphilia but also through her other characters who mourn over their unattainable love as well. Characters like Persissus are another example as he mourn over his love for Limena which is also unattainable since she is already married.
Another theme Urania used that was taught in class is The Courtier. The Courtier is shown throughout the first book. It has many queens, princes and kings throughout the story. One way the theme courtier is shown through the book is that many of the princes and king show courage, bravery and an active life through helping others get their throne and kingdom back to the rightful ruler. An example is Persissus when he helps his uncle’s get back on the throne and fought his uncle enemies to accomplish that. Rosindy is another character that works with the theme The Courtier since he lives an active life and shows a heroic life by protecting his lover the Queen of Macedon and her kingdom from an invasion.
Amphilanthus also shows the theme of The Courtier in many ways himself. He demonstrated heroic acts, skills and has explore all over the kingdoms and world. An example of this is when he saved Anitissia from the pirates in Italy. Two of the pirates were about to rape her and Amphilanthus comes in and fights them and kills one of the pirates and leaves the other one. He also saved Urania and the others from the Throne of Love. To save them he had to prove he was the most valiant knight. The valiant knight shows are the character of a good courtier which Amphilanthus has proven and shown. Amphilanthus also is a courtier by leaving everyone who falls in love with him uncertain and unsatified. An example is when Pamphilia is talking about her tormented love for Amphilanthus. I believe at this time she was uncertain if Amphilanthus loved her or not which leave her unsatisfied. Lastly, Amphilanthus shows another characteristic of the courtier when he defended Pamphilia and her beauty in Cryptus, This event also showed he was careless and spontaneous because Amphilanthus challenged the knights to prove his strength until Pamphilia arrived on the island he disguised himself as a shepherd and defended her beauty. This shows that he somehow has feeling for Pamphilia in a loving way. He is spontaneous because he said the victor would be honored with an afternoon trial. He made himself the trial for the challenger in disguise and won. This showed he spontaneous because no one knew what he was up to or was planning.
Lastly Cryptus and Melissea both have courtier qualities because at Cryptus many knights were battling to protect their women’s beauty. They wanted to be the victory of knights. If they won it would also be an honor for their women.This could prove that their women were the beautifulest of all. Melissea also play a role as an advisor for Amphilanthus because she told him to go to Cryptus and end the enchantment to save the others. Melissa is also seen as an oracle as she also told him about the future. I believe Melissea could be a courtier because she helped the princes, kings, queens and princesses by trying help them see future problems and telling them how to solve them.
The countess of Montgomery’s Urania is unique in many ways. One way it is unique is that it was the first book that was written and publish by an Englishwoman, Mary Wroth. During the Renaissance period women were mainly discouraged from writing and publishing any books. In publishing this work, Wroth had lots of courage and took a big step to pass this obstacle. Women were looked down upon if one tried to publish a book or poem. I believe that Sir Philip Sydney influenced Wroth toward taking this big step and publishing her own work.
Another uniqueness is that this is one the first works that gender reverse Petrarchan love. This is unique because Petrarchan love is mainly men writing sonnets or poems about their frustrated love during the Renaissance. In Urania, it is all the women saying and writing sonnets and poems about their own frustrated love and about themselves. In the book the men only told stories about their frustrated love and never wrote a poem. This is unique because it went against the norm as Wroth tries to prove that women can also write about Petrarchan love and not just man. It is not just man who have unattainable love, women do too. This also shows, Wroth pushes against the traditional norms that were in the Renaissance period. An example of this is Urania, when she says a sonnet:
“Here all alone in silent might I mourn:
But how can silence be where sorrowes flow?
Sigh with complaints have poorer pains out-worne;
But broken hearts can only true griefe show.
Drops of my dearest blood shall let Love know
Such teares for her I shed, yet still do burne,
As no spring can quench least part of my woe.
Till this live earth, again to earth doe turne.
Hateful all thoughts of comfort is to me.
Despised day, let me still night possesse;
Let me all torments feele in their excesse,
And but this light allow my state to see.
Which still doth west, and wasting as this light,
Are my sad days unto eternall night.”(Wroth 2-3)
This sonnet is unique because Urania is using Petrarchan love by expressing her frustrated feeling or love toward herself and not towards a lover. Usually a Petrarchan love is about a person who has an unattainable lover but this sonnet is about Urania herself and her frustrated feeling about herself while having an identity crisis. She cannot love herself because she does not know who she truly is. This shows that Wroth is going against traditional Petrarchan love during the Renaissance time by adding a new flare to the traditional thinking. For example, it does not have to be about a lover but can also be about yourself.
The Countess of Montgomery’s Urania also contradicts the Baron Thesis. It contradicts the Baron Thesis by having every royal character not have good civic virtues. Each royal character in the book focuses on love rather that whats good for their own kingdom. An example of this was Amphilathus. He is more focused on love than his own Country. He only talks about love and his love for other women, his actions are all around love. An example of this is when he went to Mellisea to complain about his love and try get advice from her about it. He also complains about how his love for Antissia is inconstant. Another example is Rosindy, Phamphilia is brother who tries take back and defend his lover’s kingdom from being taking over and helping her get to the throne. This shows that Rosindy actions in the active life are not through civic virtue but for love and marriage. He wants to help his lover and in honor of helping her, he hopes for her to marry him. Love is not part of a civic virtue. In the book all the events and actions by the Royals is for love and only love. It’s not for the kingdom or the people. Another example would be some of the royal princes trying help family members get back on the throne by stopping riots and rebellions by the people who are against them. In the end they succeed, if people of their own kingdom are rioting then there has to be something bad about the ruler and reason why they want them gone. This shows that they are not living for the people of the nation. In conclusion Urania, contradicts the Baron Thesis because the baron thesis is all about civic humanism and doing good for the nation and Urania does not show this at all.