Women, Reform and Community in Early Modern England: Katherine Willoughby, Duchess of Suffolk, and Lincolnshire's Godly Aristocracy, 1519-1580Katherine Willoughby, duchess of Suffolk, was one of the highest-ranking noblewomen in sixteenth-century England. She wielded considerable political power in her local community and at court, and her social status and her commitment to religious reform placed her at the centre of the political and religious developments that shaped the English Reformation. By focusing on her kinship and patronage network, this book offers an examination of the development of Protestantism in the governing classes during the period. It begins by looking at the process through which Willoughby and her associates embraced reform, arguing that the spread of Protestantism among the political elite was an intermittent and complex process shaped in part by myriad kinship and patronage relationships: Willoughby and her godly associates played a crucial role in encouraging religious change in Lincolnshire through their patronage of reformers and their support of a variety of domestic, educational, and religious institutions. It also demonstrates the importance of gender in the process of spiritual transformation, and shows how the changing religious climate provided new opportunities for women to exert greater influence in their society. MELISSA FRANKLIN HARKRIDER is Assistant Professor of History, Wheaton College. |
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Ancaster Manuscripts Anne Boleyn beliefs benefices Bindoff Brigden Cambridge Catherine of Aragon Catherine Parr Catholic Catholicism Charles Brandon Christopher clergy clerical clients Collinson conservative Coverdale Cranmer Diarmaid MacCulloch duchess of Suffolk Ecclesiastical Memorials Edenham elite Elizabeth I's Elizabethan English Reformation evangelical faith Garrett godly Gospel and Henry Grimsthorpe Gunn Hatfield House Henry VIII Hodgett household Hugh Latimer I's reign John Parkhurst Katherine Willoughby kinship and patronage Lady Willoughby LAO 1 Anc LAO LCC LAO Register Latimer's LC I f Lord Willoughby LP vol MacCulloch Maddison Marian Exiles marriage Marshall Martin Bucer ministers Oxford parishes Patronage and Piety patronage network patrons PCC PROB Pettegree political preaching Presentation Deeds Protestant Protestantism Puritan queen Register 28 f Religion religious change Religious Identities Ridley role Ryrie scripture Sermons sixteenth century spiritual STAC Strype Thomas Toynton Tudor Church Militant Tudor Lincolnshire vols London Wabuda Wesel William Cecil