Women’s History
This part of the research guide focuses primarily on the history of women writers, with a particular eye towards religious women writers. The final section provides some potential subtopics for research within this area, and related books.
History of Women’s Writing in Tudor England
These are a few of the many volumes that explore women’s writing during the English Reformation. To find others, try searching for some of the keywords found in these titles.
(Pro-tip: try searching under “Tudor”, “English Renaissance”, or “English Reformation” to find sources that explore this period from different fields.)
The History of British Women's Writing, 700-1500
Liz Herbert McAvoy and Diane Watt, eds. Vol. 1. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015.
‘This Double Voice’: Gendered Writing in Early Modern England
Danielle Clarke and Elizabeth Clarke, eds. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 2001.
Women, Writing, and the Reproduction of Culture in Tudor and Stuart Britain
Mary E. Burke, et al, eds. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2000.
The Cambridge Companion to Early Modern Women's Writing.
Laura Lunger Knoppers. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009.
Religion & Tudor Women Writers
These volumes give a sense of the diversity of women writers during this period! To find women writers of a particular religious persuasion, try searching “catholic”, “puritan”, “reformed” or “church of england” with your keywords.
Religion, Reform, and Women’s Writing in Early Modern England
Kimberly Anne Coles. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.
The Intellectual Culture of Puritan Women, 1558-1680
Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011.
Heresy Trials and English Women Writers, 1400-1670
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012.
Patterns of Piety:
Women, Gender, and Religion in Later Mediaeval and Reformation England.
Christine Peters. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
The Embodied Word: Female Spiritualities, Contested Orthodoxies, and English Religious Cultures, 1350-1700
Nancy Bradley Warren. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2010.
English Women, Religion, and Textual Production, 1500-1625.
Micheline White. Burlington: Ashgate, 2011.
Other Subtopics to Explore
In addition to searching for things like “heresy” or particular categories of religious affiliation, here are some areas for exploration in women’s writing during this time period.
For “book dedications” or “paratexts” try:
Mary I and the Art of Book Dedications: Royal Women, Power, and Persuasion
Valerie Schutte. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015.
Early Modern Women's Writing and the Rhetoric of Modesty
For “modesty rhetoric” try:
Patricia Pender. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.
Writing Renaissance Queens: Texts by and About Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots
For information about “Elizabeth I” as a writer try:
Lisa Hopkins. Newark: University of Delaware Press, 2002.
For “women martyrs” during this period, try:
Making Women Martyrs in Tudor England
Megan Hickerson. Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.