Analyses how the political career of Sir Thomas Overbury exposes the changing systems of power at the English court between 1603 and 1613 Presents a new edited collection of courtly and diplomatic letters surrounding the Overbury scandal, many transcribed and published for the first time Interprets letter-writing between 1609 and 1613 in the light of modern scholarship in classical reception and humanist learning Contributes to recent work in Law and Literature by examining the role of kingly prerogative in Jacobean legal thinking, and the impact of this on contemporary drama Contextualizes Jacobean homosociality and examines its representation on the stage Explores the mechanism by which men succeeded at the English court, arguing a practical and conceptual shift from Elizabethan courtiership to Jacobean Examines the role of social mobility at the beginning of the Stuart regime Through an analysis of the career of the eminent courtier Sir Thomas Overbury, Epistolary Courtiership and Dramatic Letters re-examines what is meant by courtiership in the Jacobean period. With a particular focus on the years between 1609 and 1613, the book brings together many of the letters surrounding the scandal leading to Overbury's murder and provides an examination of epistolarity in the context of humanist and legal learning. Defining key themes of social mobility, homosociality and the legal power of James VI and I, it exposes the mechanisms by which men rose at his court and provides a context for a new reading of contemporary dramatic texts by Shakespeare, Webster and Chapman. The book argues that the changing performance of courtiership at James's court, the wider knowledge of that reflected in contemporary letters and consequently shifting attitudes, all alter the performance of courtiership in the playhouse.