The Time Traveller's Guide to Elizabethan England (13 page)

If you look in the London taverns and alehouses, you will see women there – sometimes in greater numbers than the men. Women help their husbands run such establishments, acting as ‘ale-wives’ and brewsters, and if they are widowed they will often run them single-handedly. It is unusual to see a woman in a tavern or alehouse by herself (unless she is an ale-wife), and lone female customers in such premises will be assumed to be either drunkards or immoral, or both; but groups of women, and women with their husbands, form a significant proportion of any tavern’s clientele.
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The one area in which some women can claim a degree of parity is in literature. The educated ladies of Elizabethan England are making
their biggest impression through translations, for noble and gentry families choose to educate their daughters in languages and music above all other things. The daughters of Sir Anthony Cooke are foremost among these. The formidable Anne, who marries Sir Nicholas Bacon, publishes a translation from the Latin of no less a work than John Jewel’s
Apologie of the Church of England
in 1564. Her sister, Mildred, the wife of Sir William Cecil, can speak Greek as fluently as English and translates several works. Another of Sir Anthony’s daughters, Elizabeth, Lady Russell, publishes her translation from the French of
A Way of Reconciliation touching the true nature and substance of the body and blood of Christ in the Sacrament;
and a fourth daughter, Katherine, is renowned for her ability to translate from the Greek, Latin and Hebrew. Other families also produce female scholars. Mary Bassett, granddaughter of Sir Thomas More, is well-versed in the classics and translates works by Eusebius, Socrates and several other ancient writers, not to mention a book by her grandfather. Jane, Lady Lumley, publishes a translation of Euripides. Margaret Tyler publishes
The Mirror of Princely deeds and Knighthood
(1578), translated from the Spanish. And so on. The educated ladies of Elizabethan England are far freer to reveal the fruits of their intellect than their mothers and grandmothers.

Alongside translation you will come across published volumes of original writings by Elizabethan women. In 1582 Thomas Bentley brings out two volumes called
The Monument of Matrones
, an anthology of religious writing by women for women. It is an extraordinary publication: religion, of all things, is an area in which men presume dominance. Yet many women confidently put forward original lines of theological thinking in this work. Dorcas Martin, the wife of the lord mayor, writes a piece in which a
woman
is catechising her daughter, even though this is normally the role of a clergyman. Frances Neville, Lady Bergavenny, composes her ‘Praiers in prose and verse’ for the same volume. Anne Wheathill and Elizabeth Grymeston are examples of less aristocratic ladies who write of their faith. In 1584 Anne publishes
A Handful of Wholesome (though Homely) Herbs
, being a collection of forty-nine prayers; Elizabeth dies just before her
Miscelanea: Meditations, Memoratives
(1604) appears in print. Most remarkable of all these pioneering female religious writers is Anne Locke. Just before the start of the reign she leaves her husband in London and sets off with two infant children to Geneva to translate the sermons of the French
Protestant theologian, Jean Calvin; two books of translations follow. In a telling line from the preface to her second book she reasons that, because she is a woman, great things are denied her; yet that makes it all the more important for her to accomplish what little she is permitted to do.
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The fullest exposition of this new female freedom to write and publish is to be found in poetry. The first published volume of verse by an Englishwoman is Isabella Whitney’s
The Copy of a Letter lately written by a gentlewoman in metre to her unconstant lover
(1566–7). This is followed by her
A sweet Nosegay, or pleasant posie, containing a hundred and ten philosophical flowers
(1573). Remarkably, Isabella is not actually of gentle birth, but a Cheshire lass who comes to London, works as a servant and teaches herself to write. Her wit is straightforward and honest, and thus all the more powerful. Consider her ‘philosophical flower’ no. 65:

The lover’s tears will soon appease

His lady’s angry mood

But men will not be pacified

If women weep a flood.

Better still is the title poem from
The Copy of a Letter
, in which she lambasts her lover for taking another woman as his wife:

And if you cannot be content

To lead a single life

(although the same right quiet be)

Then take me to your wife;

So shall the promises be kept

That you so firmly made:

Now, choose whether thou will be true,

Or be of Sinon’s trade

Whose trade if that you long shall use,

It shall your kindred stain:

Example: take by many a one

Whose falsehood now is plain.

As by Aeneas first of all,

Who did poor Dido leave

Causing the queen by his untruth

With sword her heart to cleave.

Also I find that Theseus did

His faithful love forsake:

Stealing away within the night

Before she did awake.

Jason that came of noble race

Two ladies did beguile

I muse how he durst show his face

To them that knew his wile.

For when he by Medea’s art

Had got the fleece of gold

And also had of her that time

All kind of things he would

He took his ship and slid away

Regarding not the vows

That he did make so faithfully

Unto his loving spouse.

As a poet, Isabella is followed by Anne Dowriche, whose
The French History: that is, a lamentable discourse of three bloody broils in France for the Gospel of Jesus Christ
(1589) is a long and complex historical poem. The third published female poet is Elizabeth Melville, who brings out
A Godly Dream
in 1603; and the fourth the remarkable Emilia Lanier, who is hard at work on
Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum
, which will eventually appear in 1611. Clearly written for a female readership, and dedicated to Queen Elizabeth, this collection argues forcefully in favour of women:

It pleased our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, without the assistance of man, being free from original and all other sins, from the time of his conception till the hour of his death, to be begotten of a woman, born of a woman, nourished of a woman, obedient to a woman; and that he healed women, pardoned women, comforted women … after his resurrection appeared first to a woman, and sent a woman to declare his most glorious resurrection to the rest of his Disciples.
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The title poem describes Christ’s passion from the point of view of the female witnesses of the crucifixion. Lanier points out that it was men who crucified Christ and Pilate’s wife who tried to stop the execution. Elsewhere, she gives ‘Eve’s apology’ – an argument that the original sin of eating the forbidden fruit wasn’t Eve’s fault alone:

But surely Adam cannot be excused;

Her fault, though great: yet he was most to blame;

What weakness offered, strength might have refused,

Being Lord of all, the greater was his shame:

Although the serpent’s craft had her abused

God’s holy word ought all his actions frame,

For he was Lord and King of all the Earth

Before poor Eve had either life or breath.

This is a witty and imaginative piece of work, sustained for two hundred stanzas. But what is astonishing about it is the boldness of Lanier’s stance. She clearly rejects the idea that women are inferior to men; rather, she seems to suggest that women, being in a mystical union with Christ, are in fact
superior
. Thus women are starting to use their position as published writers to rail against their secondary status in society. It will take another three hundred years to make any significant progress against patriarchy, but the roots of feminism can be found in the public voice that women acquire in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. They can be seen in Anne Locke making her way to Geneva to take part in the Calvinist Reformation; they are apparent in Isabella Whitney’s self-confidence to publish her tirade against the lover who left her; and they are evident in the ruthless yet graceful logic of Emilia Lanier.

Even though Elizabeth herself does nothing directly to advance the cause of women, she clearly inspires her female contemporaries. In legal terms, nothing changes; but under her rule, women begin to enjoy social freedoms that they have never enjoyed in the past, and a few brave souls gain public respect – not as the wives of great men, but on account of their own intellectual and creative brilliance.

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Religion

Given the split with Rome and the establishment of a national Church, you might think that society is becoming more secular in the sixteenth century. If you look around you, there are plenty of things to suggest that this is happening. The Dissolution of the Monasteries has resulted in a reduction in the numbers of priests and churches. Huge amounts of ecclesiastical property have been confiscated. The monarch – a secular individual – is the head of the Church. Saints’ cults are outlawed, their statues smashed and their altars removed. All the chantries have been abolished – there are to be no more Masses sung for the dead who built the chapels – and the practice of laying wax or wooden images of human limbs and animals on altars and praying for their recovery is outlawed. Church ales (brewed to raise money for church funds) are discouraged and wakes for the dead are abolished. Most religious processions and fraternities are banned, as are religious indulgences. Even rosary beads are made illegal.

These prohibitions are not aimed at religion itself, but at Roman Catholicism, which is widely considered as unfit for purpose. In fact, society is becoming
more
religious, not less. Naturally, the population occupies a spectrum of religious positions, but if you talk to those at the more spiritual end, you will see that they wish to commune with God more directly, without the distractions of so many statues, images and decorations, and certainly without the money-making and political interventions of the papacy. Yes, there is a secular element to the nationalism of the Church of England, but this is largely a by-product of the desire to eliminate anything that comes between the humble Christian and God. It is this desire that creates the reforming zeal of Elizabeth’s ministers and their brand of Anglicanism. A heightened form of this passion gives rise to Puritanism and Calvinism. Conversely, for traditionalists, the sense that their spiritual values are under attack
from these fanatics reinforces their commitment to the Catholic cause and their resistance to Anglicanism, Puritanism and Calvinism. Although most people are not prepared to risk their lives for the sake of a religious viewpoint, some are. They would rather die than deny what they believe to be the truth.

For this reason, it would be deeply unwise to set off into Elizabethan England without knowing something of its religion. Religion touches upon every aspect of Elizabethan life. Not only that, but orthodox faith changes so rapidly that you need to know what is acceptable at any given time. In Mary’s reign, no fewer than 283 men and women are burnt at the stake for maintaining their Protestant beliefs – many of which would be called orthodox in Elizabeth’s reign. Although Elizabeth’s government does not burn as many people as Mary’s, proscribed views are still enough to get you killed. What is orthodox in 1558 is sufficient to have you hanged in 1570. This is something to ponder on: the religious changes of the sixteenth century are far more profound, far-reaching and rapid than those of the twentieth century, which we think of as a century of great change.

Atheism

You might think that, if you have no religion, no one will bother you. After all, the rivalry is between Catholics and Protestants – surely you can simply rise above the controversy? There you would be wrong. The atheist is the enemy of all, being utterly godless and therefore outside the scope of Elizabethan morality. As Francis Bacon writes in his essay ‘On atheism’: ‘they that deny God destroy a man’s nobility; for certainly man is of kin to the beasts by his body; and, if he be not kin to God by his spirit, he is a base and ignoble creature’.

Not believing in God is like not believing in trees. Most people simply cannot conceive of a line dividing the metaphysical and the physical. To them the two are indivisibly linked: Creation cannot exist without its Creator. However, from the middle of the century certain people start to be labelled ‘atheists’ by their enemies. Some even admit themselves to being
nulla fidians
or ‘nothing believers’. Then, in 1583, Philip Stubbes writes his
Anatomy of Abuses
, which defines atheists as people who ‘deny there is any God’.
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Atheism as we know it is born.