The editors have put together a fine collection of essays exploring aspects of the roles of women with a wide range of religious views. In explaining their purpose, the editors argue that recent interest in the ‘politicization’ of religion in the seventeenth century has led to the privileging of contemporary male activities, opinions and writings leaving the contribution of women undervalued. Both the conference, from which most of the essays originate, and this collection seek to redress the balance by discussing a framework within which to examine the contributions of women to religious debates and policy-making in the post civil war period.
The introduction establishes the parameters of the project, setting out the complexity of their chosen period while at the same time justifying its coherence. The editors argue that increased educational opportunities for women, developing urbanization and enhanced communication networks facilitated their involvement at a number of levels in diverse religious groups. The results can be seen in the essays here, with women behaving as activists and opinion formers. Women expressed opinions in High Church Anglican circles as well as Scottish Presbyterian, although there is little in the collection relating to radical sects that had emerged during the civil wars apart from Apetrei’s own essay entitled “Masculine Virgins”.
Woven into the analysis across the essays are themes covering the public sphere, enlightenment, politeness, gender roles and to some extent the lived experience of religion for women. The chapters move between studies of individual women, ranging from a queen (Mary II) to women in episcopal and dissenting households who made a particular impact and the experience of groups such as Catholic nuns in exiled convents seeking to influence the succession in England. Some of the women such as Damaris Masham and Mary Astell are well-known, others such as Susanna Centlivre (d. 1723) will be new to many readers. Sarah Hutton examines Masham’s inclusion of religious topics in her epistolary exchanges with the philosophers John Locke and Leibniz. Mary II is shown by Melinda Zook to have taken a direct interest in the selection of bishops, at times against her own inclinations with the aim of promoting moderates committed to reform. Although her reign was short, her influence lived on through her appointments. Examples of married women such as Margaret Charlton (1636–81) and Anne Wentworth (1629/30–93) are discussed by Alison Searle. Both of them found voices able to express religious opinions outside their homes. One point struck me as I was reading and that is the absence of children belonging to the women presented. Would we be looking at a very different historical landscape if the featured subjects were mothers?
To one who has spent years considering celibacy among Catholic women it was particularly interesting to read about Protestant views on the subject. Apetrei’s chapter contains a very interesting discussion of the meaning and history of virginity particularly among reforming sects in the seventeenth century. Richard Allestree was anxious to present a specifically Anglican interpretation of the celibate state, (p. 52) which he thought could have been achieved through reforming the religious orders rather than abolishing them at the Reformation. Others followed his line with small groups of followers, although support for celibacy never really caught on in the period.
Claire Walker’s chapter on support for the Stuarts in the English convents in exile develops earlier work on the political activities of enclosed nuns. Here she demonstrates the value of looking outside convent archives to find records showing that some of the nuns continued their support for the Stuarts even after the family left France in 1712. Walker also shows how the convents remained connected with England over this period, continuing to foster an English identity into the second century of exile. Emma Major uses her chapter on the life and works of Catherine Talbot (1721–70) to reveal the public after-life of the writings of a woman she describes as ‘an obscure spinster’. Taken up by the Bluestocking Elizabeth Montagu and presented in her circles as an exemplary figure, Talbot’s conduct and devotional writings were first published in 1770, the year of her death and subsequently reprinted. Major argues that ‘Talbot’s life and works exemplify the complex ways in which her identities as woman and Anglican might render private devotion of public significance’ (p. 177).
In the introduction the editors reflect on their decision to use ‘Britain’ in the title and in such a fine group of essays, it seems churlish to criticize an absence. The inclusion of a most interesting chapter on the authority of women in Scottish Presbyterianism is to be welcomed, but the lack of a chapter on Irish women in the collection is to be regretted. The focus of the collection is Anglo-centric: even the exiled nuns here are concentrating on the English succession and their continuing English identity. However, the reaction of this reviewer is overwhelmingly positive. The meticulous analysis of the editors establishes a framework for considering women’s involvement in religious debate and activism; an engagement which continues through the chapters. The book provides a model for others to extend research and writing on the period. Students will find the extensive consolidated bibliography very helpful in guiding further reading; too many collections have only rather short lists at the end of each chapter.
This is a collection which repays the close reading needed to extract the richness of the analysis provided by the authors. It is complex and nuanced and it will add significantly to our understanding of women’s importance to religious life in the long eighteenth century.
