Early Modern Women's Writing

The sermon Thomas Gataker gave at the wedding of Brilliana Conway and Sir Robert Harley in 1623, was published under the title “A Wife in Deed” (1623). Gataker defines marriage as an affective contract between two agents with responsibilities to one another, and offers practical and generic precepts for conduct.  The dedication to Robert Harley honouring Brilliana Harley as a ‘mirror’ of the ideal wife, links those ideals, rhetorically at least, to the Harleys. Harley’s extensive extant correspondence (1625-44), allows us to consider the practical day-to-day significance of the sermon’s teachings.  The essay reviews letters Harley wrote to her husband in the 1620s, early in the marriage; and in the 1640s, later in the marriage.  Throughout she employs a deferential tone.  During the 1640s, when civil war raged and her husband was absent, Harley governed the household, sheltered a godly community, and withstood a royalist siege justifying her position in terms of natural law. Gataker’s sermon provides a fresh lens upon the disjunction between the submissive rhetoric of Harley’s marital letters, and the stridency of her defence of Brampton Bryan.

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In 1589, Jane Seager presented Elizabeth I with a small volume containing Filippo Barbieri’s Sibyllarum et prophetarum de Christo vaticinia (1481) which she had translated into English verse. It is a short collection: ten poems (Seager omitted two of the Latin texts), written in Seager’s beautiful italic hand, bound in a velvet cover which she had embroidered, and—a great novelty—containing the same texts copied in the new shorthand system devised the previous year by Timothy Bright. The poem have been printed twice in recent years, once with a brief introductory note in Early Modern Women’s Manuscript Poetry, eds. Millman and Wright (2005), and once by Jessica L. Malay (in ELR 2006, pp. 173-193) in an article which explores the manuscript’s place in the gift economy of books.
The literary aspects of the text—particularly of the text as a translated piece—have not, however, been explored. Nonetheless, I think these are significant. Firstly, the choice of Seager’s source-text is unusual: other women active in translation typically chose scriptural works, like the psalms, or rendered new doctrinal works into English. Seager’s decision to work on the sibylline prophecies points to the traditional status of the sibyls as the prophets sent to the pagans, and it is interesting to see her choose poems uttered by female figures. Perhaps it is more telling that her translation demonstrates some particularly Protestant convictions: she interpolates biblical references at various points, turning a faithful translation into a paraphrases; and (beyond the names of the sibyls) she carefully omits pagan references, so that, for instance, ‘Olympus’ is translated as ‘heaven’. This decision aligns her with a school of Protestant poetry which insisted on the segregation of sacred and secular material—although, ironically, this approach was already diminishing, in part due to the popularity of figures like the sibyls, who transcended such divisions.
Seager’s sibyl translations can also usefully be seen in the context of other contemporary versions of the same poems. John Napier’s use of the sibyls as anti-papal authorities in 1593, and his decision to set his source-text to verse, demonstrates that her work, with its emphasis (not present in her source) on the risk posed by foes to true religion, is part of the same Protestant polemical movement. On the other hand, Richard Verstegan’s inclusion of his version of the texts in a Catholic compendium of verse in 1601 serves to highlight the suppression of visual icons of the sibyls in both Protestant versions, but also casts into relief the—perhaps unexpected—Marian emphasis of Seager’s version, suggesting another important model and authority for sixteenth-century women, regardless of denominational allegiance.

Born and bred a courtier, Anne Killigrew (1660-1685) gravitated to poetic complaint as a formally propitious and yet decorous way to represent female expression as melancholic and critical at the libertine court of Charles II. Killigrew’s acute sense of the gendered motives of complaint produces repetition with variation but without progression; a new appearance of an antique strain aligned with the ambivalent pleasures of maiden self-possession and poetic vocation. My interest has a double focus: the early modern women who used the affordances of complaint to address and conjure ‘intimate publics’ (Lauren Berlant’s coinage), and the contemporary feminist and queer scholars who do likewise by embedding these women and their texts within their own framed complaints, claiming a relationship to authorship, language and genre as minoritized subjects.

Although-unusually, for an early modern woman writer-Vittoria Colonna has long been considered part of the canon, several factors have inhibited a true appreciation of her importance as a literary innovator and model. The current critical moment is conducive to a re-examination of her significance, in the light of recent research on the early modern Italian tradition of women's writing, on the Catholic Reform movement and its literary expression, and on developments in Italian literature in the last four decades of the sixteenth century. Consideration of these factors reveal Colonna as a figure of wide-reaching influence in her time and a powerful shaping influence on later traditions of Italian literature, in the late Renaissance and beyond.

This international and interdisciplinary volume investigates Protestant 'devotional identities' in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century England. Divided into two sections, the book examines the 'sites' where these identities were forged - the academy, printing house, household, theatre and prison - and the 'types' of texts that expressed them - spiritual autobiographies, religious poetry and writings tied to the ars moriendi - providing a broad analysis of social, material and literary forms of devotion during England's Long Reformation. Through archival and cutting-edge research, a detailed picture of 'lived religion' emerges, which re-evaluates the pietistic acts and attitudes of well-known and recently discovered figures. To those studying and teaching religion and identity in early modern England, and anyone interested in the history of religious self-expression, these chapters offer a rich and rewarding read.

RESUMEN
Este artículo incide en la relación que durante siglo XVI se estableció entre la mujer y la escri- tura epistolar. Concretamente, este estudio tiene por objeto la correspondencia que mantuvo Ana de Dietrichstein —condesa de Villanueva del Cañedo— con su madre, Margarita de Cardona —baronesa de Dietrichstein—, durante los años que sirvió como dama en el Alcázar madrileño. A lo largo de estas páginas el análisis del epistolario descansa, funda- mentalmente, en sus aspectos materiales (grafía, manos que lo componen...) para asi recons- truir esta práctica de escritura (su aprendizaje, los momentos y lugares, periodicidad, fun- ción...).
PALABRAS CLAVE
Historia de la Cultura Escrita, escritura epistolar, carta, mujer, Ana de Dietrichstein, Margarita de Cardona, s. XVL
ABSTRACT
This article deals with the relation established during the sixteenth century between women and epistolary writing. Concretely, it examines the correspondence ofAna de Dietrichstein —countess ofVillanueva del Cañedo— with her mother, Margarita de Cardona, baroness Dietrichstein, during her years of service as lady-in-waiting in Madrid's Royal Palace. Analysis ofthese letters focuses above all on its material aspects (penmanship and the inter- vention ofdifferent hands) in the aim of reconstructing diverse aspects ofthis writingprac- tice, especially how, when and where it was learned, as well as its periodicity and functions.
KEY WORDS
History of written culture, epistolary writing, letter, women, Ana de Dietrichstein, Margarita de Cardona, sixteenth century.

Soon after the death of Teresa de Avila, her close friend and collaborator María de San José went on to found a Discalced Carmelite convent in Lisbon. María was an excellent administrator, and in spite of attacks  during the Anglo-Dutch War and constant harassment from Carmelite superiors, the convent thrived. However, some of the disciplinary measures implemented by María, such as flogging and public humiliation, may surprise modern readers.

This essay considers the once prominent, later neglected Boston Catholic literary scholar, poet and editor, Louise Imogen Guiney (1861–1920), editor of a “little volume” of Philips’ Selected Poems for the English publisher, editor and antiquary, J.R. Tutin. Although Saintsbury’s inclusion of Philips as the only woman in his 1905 edition of Minor Poets of the Caroline Period for the Clarendon Press was undoubtedly an important juncture in the history of Philips’ reception, I argue that Guiney’s Selected points the way forward to the surge of recent interest in Philips from queer and feminist perspectives, both following and diverging from the critical example of her mentor, Edmund Gosse. Two centuries apart, both Philips and Guiney were praised as English Sapphos. I offer a queer reading of the meeting of these two Sapphos in Guiney’s edition of Philips’s Poems (1904) through their shared orientation to the practice and poetics of queer female virtu “buried or completed in The Friend”.

Isabel de Villena, author of Humanism, offers a female paradigm of government in her Vita Christi: the Virgin Mary as queen and as pope. Through queenship, she formulates a new political ethic that she presents as a model to power male holders. Its study confirms the participation of the author in the “Querelle of Femmes” and show coincidences with contemporary courts of queens like Isabel I.
Isabel de Villena, autora del Humanismo, presenta un paradigma femenino de gobierno en su Vita Christi: la Virgen María reina y papisa. Mediante la reginalidad formula una nueva ética política a seguir por los titulares masculinos del poder. Su estudio refrenda la participación de la autora en la Querella de las Mujeres y muestra sintonías con cortes de reinas contemporáneas como Isabel I.

La messa in discussione di Tullia d’Aragona come autrice de Il Meschino, altramente detto il Guerrino (Sessa, 1560) inizia solo con l’edizione delle sue rime da parte di Enrico Celani nel 1891, ma da allora si è estesa anche al suo dialogo Della infinità di amore (Giolito, 1547). Questo articolo esamina l’attribuzione del poema epico (e in parte anche del dialogo) alla scrittrice romana e offre testimonianze contemporanee ‑ sia inedite che ignorate ‑ per rispondere alle obiezioni dei critici precedenti. Inoltre, richiama l’attenzione su una lettera autografa di Tullia d’Aragona ‑ ancora irreperibile ma riassunta in un catalogo d’asta ‑ in cui sono rivelati dettagli biografici pertinenti agli ultimi anni di vita della scrittrice.

This study looks at Aemilia Lanyer’s Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum (1611) as religious poetry that demands recognition of an essentially feminine spiritual wisdom and a place for women within Christianity. It argues that Lanyer invokes a type of spiritual foremother characterised by prophetic dreams, spiritual insight and weeping and that St Monica of Hippo, represented by St Augustine, is the epitome of this model. Using Lacanian psychoanalysis, it demonstrates that Augustine and Lanyer locate this feminine wisdom outside of and in opposition to the patriarchal symbolic order but show that only by its inclusion can mankind recover the wholeness of prelapsarian knowledge.

Volume Editors: Virginia Cox & Shannon McHugh
Series: Gendering the Late Medieval & Early Modern World
Publisher: Amsterdam University Press

This edited collection presents fresh and original work on Vittoria Colonna, perhaps the outstanding female figure of the Italian Renaissance, a leading Petrarchist poet, and an important figure in the Italian Reform movement. Until recently best known for her close spiritual friendship with Michelangelo, she is increasingly recognized as a powerful and distinctive poetic voice, a cultural and religious icon, and an important literary model for both men and women. This volume comprises compelling new research by established and emerging scholars in the fields of literature, book history, religious history, and art history, including several studies of Colonna’s influence during the Counter-Reformation, a period long neglected by Italian cultural historiography. The Colonna who emerges from this new reading is one who challenges traditional constructions of women’s place in Italian literature: no mere imitator or follower, but an innovator and founder of schools in her own right.

For more info, visit https://www.aup.nl/en/book/9789463723947/vittoria-colonna

This funding is Birkbeck-specific and the competition is only within Birkbeck School of Arts. Birkbeck has a strong record of supervision in the period 1450-1800.For 2018-19 the School of Arts are offering up to 12 fully funded Postgraduate Research Scholarships, which consists of a full fee waiver (capped at the Home/EU rate) and maintenance payments in line with RCUK rates.

Es tracta d’un treball panoràmic de la lírica femenina als territoris catalans durant l’edat moderna; un dels gèneres que més seguidores va tenir, després de  l’autobiogràfic i, en canvi, un dels grans oblidats per la crítica. Per fer-ho, focalitzem la mirada en l’àmbit conventual, que, durant els segles XVI-XVIII, va representar
l’àmbit privilegiat per a l’escriptura femenina. S’hi estudien les autores més representatives i conegudes del període, com ara sor Hipòlita de Jesús i Rocabertí i es donen a conèixer altres autores no tan conegudes, majoritàriament amb obra inèdita.

Early women writers took up Queen Elizabeth I’s words, ideas, and legacy in a variety of fashions. This exhibit investigates the entwined intertextual networks and historical contexts surrounding the queen to explore how women writers adapted and adopted her memory. https://wwp.northeastern.edu/context/#bennett.glory.xml

Court studies have shown how, even in the Spanish court, women's presence was not an anecdote: they occupied a special place in the female royal households. Although we know more about the composition and functions of these female royal households than before, we still barely know anything about the women who served there. This article focuses on the life and career of Margarita of Cardona (1535?-1609), who served the Empress Maria of Austria from the time when the latter was still Infanta of Spain until her death in 1603. As one of her Spanish ladies-in-waiting, Margarita moved to Vienna and got married with Adam of Dietrichstein in 1555, who also served the Emperor Maximilian II and Rudolph II in their households. By serving the Empress, Margarita of Cardona established herself and her family as powerful political players and as a loyal family to the two branches of the Habsburg dynasty, and this even after she was widowed, when she returned to Madrid in 1595, to live with Maria of Austria at the monastery of the Descalzas Reales. Thanks to their privileged position, the Dietrichsteins became cultural and political patrons not only at the Imperial court and Brussels, but also in Madrid, where the female members of the family served as ladies-in-waiting. I will argue how significant it was to serve the Empress as a lady-in-waiting for the baroness of Dietrichstein, analyzing her correspondence and pointing out the strategies developed by her, in order to reach patronage benefits, present herself as a political intermediary between the different Habsburg courts and, obviously, achieve profitable positions and marriages for her children. Could we consider Margarita of Cardona as the Empress’s favourite?

Als territoris de parla catalana, les diverses contribucions dedicades a catalogar i a estudiar els textos femenins d’època moderna han revelat una important producció gestada majoritàriament a l’àmbit conventual. Foren les religioses les que, afavorides pels espais de llibertat que els va concedir el claustre, van deixar escrites més obres de diferents gèneres: fonamentalment van escriure autobiografies per encàrrec però també biografies, cròniques conventuals, epístoles, literatura mística i, fins i tot, poesia. Amb tot, la dispersió documental i la problemàtica d'accés a aquests materials escrits per dones de l’edat moderna, molts d’ells encara manuscrits i custodiats pels arxius dels mateixos convents femenins de clausura on van ser creats, ha propiciat que aquest camp d’estudi siga encara una senda poc transitada. Un d’aquests tresors inèdits pertanyent a un arxiu monàstic és el llibre de memòries de l’antic convent de Santa Clara de la Passió de Perpinyà. Aquest manuscrit, conservat avui a l’arxiu del mateix convent i del qual hi ha una còpia microfilmada a l’ADPO de Perpinyà, ha estat revisat i extractat fragmentàriament per tots els que s’han aproximat a confeccionar una història de la comunitat. Amb tot, com s’esdevé amb la majoria de documentació generada als convents femenins s’ha fet servir només com a crònica. Però és evident que el manuscrit mereix ser posat al centre mateix de la investigació com a aportació escrita femenina a la història de la cultura i la literatura catalana de l’edat moderna, ja que ofereix grans possibilitats d'estudi.

Starting from an episode of gender violence suffered by the community of Franciscan tertiaries of Santa Maria de la Cruz de Cubas and caused by its prelates, we analyze here the denounce discourse formulated by these women in the biography of the visionary Juana de la Cruz and in her sermons. Possible change proposals in these texts are also evaluated. In order to do this, we review their concept of what the Church is and the relationship model between the sexes. The prophetic nature of this feminine discourse confers to its views an undoubted political weight.
Partiendo de un episodio de violencia de género sufrido por la comunidad de terciarias franciscanas de Santa María de la Cruz de Cubas a manos de sus prelados, se analiza aquí el discurso de denuncia que estas mujeres formularon en la biografía de la visionaria Juana de la Cruz y en sus sermones. También se valoran posibles propuestas de cambio en estos textos. Para ello, se pasa revista al concepto de Iglesia y al modelo de relación entre los sexos. El carácter profético de este discurso femenino confiere a sus planteamientos una indudable carga política.

Bwriad yr erthygl hon yw cyflwyno dwy gerdd yn enw Alis sy’n rhoi rhagflas o’r bersonoliaeth eofn a chwareus sydd mor nodweddiadol ohoni. Trwy hyn, gobeithir dangos bod barddoniaeth Alis yn arf defnyddiol iawn wrth astudio cyd-destun annelwig barddoniaeth merched y Cyfnod Modern Cynnar.Y cerddi y canolbwyntir arnynt yw ‘Y gŵr delfrydol,’  ac ‘Englynion i’w thad.’  Ceir dolen gyswllt rhwng y ddwy gan mai cariad a phriodas yw prif fyrdwn eu cynnwys; dau fater cwbl wahanol i’w gilydd i lawer o bobl y cyfnod.  / This article is an introduction to two poems by Alis, giving an insight into a bold and playful personality that was so typical of her. In this way, it is hoped to demonstrate that her poetry is a very useful tool when studying the vague context of Early Modern Women's Poetry. There is a link between both poems as love and marriage are the main thrust of their content; two completely different things for many people of that time.

While Elizabeth’s linguistic excellence is widely acknowledged and easily verifiable in her writings, scholars have paid her prayers surprisingly little attention. Yet, the voice of Elisabetta supplex, of the Queen at prayer, is one of the most revealing examples of Elizabeth’s strategic gendering of her self-representation in writing as a political persona. In particular, this essay focuses on a small corpus of four prayers in vernacular attributed to Elizabeth’s authorship, which provide a crucial example of the linguistic and discursive strategies used by the Queen in her construction of a personal authorial voice directly addressing God. An idiolect of piety emerges in dialogue and confrontation with her political role, in what this essay proposes to call a form of “devotional Petrarchism”.

This essay examines marginalia and associated evidence of personal piety in two categories of prayer books: first, unreformed Latin Books of Hours or Horae produced on the continent for the English market until 1538, as exemplified here by those produced in the Paris workshops of Simon Vostre and François Regnault; secondly, reformed English primers, specifically the first state-sanctioned prayer books published in England by William Marshall, beginning in 1534.

Durante el Renacimiento y el Barroco, el género literario más cultivado por la mujer fue la poesía. En el mundo clásico grecorromano que operaba entonces como referente ideal en todo el ámbito cultural, se invocaba, por lo general, el antecedente de una poeta, Safo de Lesbos, considerada desde Platón como «la décima Musa». De Safo se reclamaron herederas las poetas de la época, con el beneplácito de sus contemporáneos; el epíteto de «décima Musa» llegó a funcionar como un verdadero recurso publicitario en la difusión impresa de sus obras.

Esta antología no hace sino rendir homenaje a una vieja e importante faceta pública de la mujer, ofreciendo un corpus representativo y contextualizado de la obra poética de las autoras más celebradas en Occidente (en italiano, francés, latín, portugués, inglés y español) durante los siglos XVI y XVII, en los albores de lo que hoy se conoce como la profesión literaria.