Revisiting a Sixteenth-Century ‘Erotic’ Poem Wrongly Ascribed to Elizabeth Dacre

Abstract

This article puts on trial the assumed authorship of a sixteenth-century manuscript poem reminiscent of Ovid’s Heroides, currently ascribed to Lady Elizabeth Dacre. After establishing a revised edition of the text, it provides arguments based on historical, material, literary and textual analyses of the source, strongly indicating the unlikeliness of its supposed attribution to this English noblewoman. The arguments suggest that, while Dacre was probably the scribe of the manuscript, the author of the text was most likely her husband, Sir Thomas Dacre. This outcome is used as an example evincing the fundamental importance of usable and informative text editions for historians and literary scholars alike, increasingly calling for close collaboration across disciplines, as well as a renewed appreciation of textual editing.