The period from the Reformation to the English Civil War saw an evolving understanding of social identity in England. This book uses four illuminating case studies to chart a shift from mid-sixteenth-century notions of an individually generated, spiritually motivated self, to civil war perceptions of the self as a site of civil control. Each centers on the work of an early modern woman writer in the act of self-definition and authorization, illustrating the evolving relationships between public and private selves and the increasing role of gender in determining different identities for men...

The period from the Reformation to the English Civil War saw an evolving understanding of social identity in England. This book uses four illuminating case studies to chart a shift from mid-sixteenth-century notions of an individually generated, spiritually motivated self, to civil war perceptions of the self as a site of civil control. Each centers on the work of an early modern woman writer in the act of self-definition and authorization, illustrating the evolving relationships between public and private selves and the increasing role of gender in determining different identities for men...

In 1603 an English gentlewoman, Elizabeth Grymeston, composed for her young son a series of meditations - meditations that would offer posthumous advice and reflection on everything from the nature of sin to the limits of royal authority. Six months later Grymeston was dead and her words memorialized not just for a small boy but also for an English audience eager for moral edification and enlightenment. As one of the first writers of the mother's legacy to appear in England, Grymeston looked to history to find her answers. Using life experience as her witness, she drew immediate and powerful...

In 1603 an English gentlewoman, Elizabeth Grymeston, composed for her young son a series of meditations - meditations that would offer posthumous advice and reflection on everything from the nature of sin to the limits of royal authority. Six months later Grymeston was dead and her words memorialized not just for a small boy but also for an English audience eager for moral edification and enlightenment. As one of the first writers of the mother's legacy to appear in England, Grymeston looked to history to find her answers. Using life experience as her witness, she drew immediate and powerful...