My Troubling Conclusions

I found no greater joy than researching Bess of Hardwick's journey from humble farm girl to Countess of Shrewsbury. Transcribing her letters and charting her course across Britain brought me great pleasure. She is fraught with drama and intrigue. Her plethora of marriages and her connections to royalty were beyond anything Bess could have imagined for herself as she set off for Cadnor Castle. Bess's ability to rise high and befriend not one but two queens while amassing the wealth to rival most persons in England is proof of Bess's intellect regardless of it was taught or learned.

The burning of heretics - often associated with Anne Askew

The woman who lead me on a hunt for her spatial significance for my StoryMap was Anne Askew. Due to Anne's outspoken and demanding presence it seems as if Anne was everywhere and no where in time. When looking at her letters he does not add locations or dates. We, as the reader, must use the context clues to try and find and order. For some of her lesser "important" letters Anne gives no context clues and therefore we are left to wonder. Even more interesting are the letters about "Anne" themselves. For she is placed in more than one location at identical times.

Anne was prominently known for bravery and her devout beliefs. She was willing to die for her beliefs and refused to give up the names of others who shared them. She was shuffled from prison to prison as well as estate to estate often times spreading her word and hiding from those who wished to remove her and yet trying to track her spatially is nearly impossible. I had to eventually abandon my StoryMap of Anne as there was equally too much information as well as not enough to create a StoryMap that was accurate and functional.

The StoryMap I did create focused solely on the correspondence of Bess of Hardwick. I looked and her rise through social ranks and charted her real estate acquisitions. While investigating I noticed when she was of lower station her letters were quick and to the point leaving little love for format and structure. However, as her station rose and the recipient of her correspondence became higher born her use of formatting and structure - mainly her salutations - began to follow the patterns most usually associated with this time.

I'm still left with the question of whether this is taught or learned behavior and wanted to analyze other women of this time to try and form a more well rounded argument. I am was lucky to find so many letters throughout the Countess's lifetime to be able to form any argument at all.

I am hopeful that by looking at women of the 17th century will allow me to gain a better understanding as well as answer questions that I still have regarding women letter writers throughout time.

Until Next time...

Would looking at the education and letters of Royalty help me get a fully picture of the educated women writers of this time or just add more confusing questions to the mix?

Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!