Women during the English Reformations: Renegotiating Gender and Religious Identity

Introduction; Julie A. Chappell 1. "To the Illustrious Queen": Katherine of Aragon and Early Modern Book Dedications; Valerie Schutte 2. 'Rather a Strong and Constant Man': Margaret Pole and the Problem of Women's Independence; Janice Liedl 3. Religious Intent and the Art of Courteous Pleasantry: A Few Letters from Englishwomen to Heinrich Bullinger (1543-1562); Rebecca A. Giselbrecht 4. Elizabeth Cary and Intersections of Catholicism and Gender in Early Modern England; Lisa McClain 5. Eleanor Davies and the New Jerusalem; Amanda L. Capern 6. The Failure of Godly Womanhood: Religious and Gender Identity in the Life of Lady Elizabeth Delaval; Sharon L. Arnoult 7. Haunting History: Women, Catholicism, and the Writing of National History in Sophia Lee's The Recess; Kaley A. Kramer 8. Stripped of Their Altars: Film, Faith, and Tudor Royal Women from the Silent Era to the Twenty-First Century, 1895-2014; William B. Robison

"This collection of essays offers a wide-ranging survey of English women's religious thinking, writing, and activities in the early modern period. Particularly stimulating are several close readings of the work of well-known early modern figures, including Katherine of Aragon and Eleanor Davies, while other essays give welcome attention to the activities and mentalities of Catholic women. We also find diverting speculative work on representations of early modern women in modern and post-modern culture and film." - Phyllis Mack, Professor of History and Women's Studies, Rutgers University, USA"This is an exciting collection that considers women's religious and gender identity in the English Reformation from a range of perspectives: women's actions, their writings, and their more modern representations in fiction and films. Julie A. Chappell and Kaley A. Kramer argue persuasively that women and their bodies became contested space during times of religious change. The eight fine essays in this collection discuss powerful, brave, and impressive women across the Catholic/Protestant divide in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. While some focus on specific women - such as Margaret Pole, Elizabeth Cary, Eleanor Davies, and Elizabeth Delaval - others consider book dedications, letters, gothic literature, and twentieth century films." - Carole Levin, Willa Cather Professor of History, University of Nebraska, USA and author of The Reign of Elizabeth I and Dreaming the English Renaissance