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VIRTUOUS WIVES AND LOVING MOTHERS: EARLY MODERN ENGLISH WOMEN'S EPITAPHS

VIRTUOUS WIVES AND LOVING MOTHERS: EARLY MODERN ENGLISH WOMEN'S EPITAPHS VIRTUOUS WIVES AND LOVING MOTHERSg EARLY MOlDERN ENGLISH WOMEN~S EPITAPHS EARLY MODERN ENGLISH WOMEN'S EPITAPHS constitute a large, and largely untapped body of descriptive material. A sixteenth- or seventeenth-century woman who left any record at all is exceptional and may be reliably placed among the "better sorts"when the source is an epitaph.! A significant number among those commemorated in church monuments contributed to their own epitaphs.2 These relics belong to that body of written material by and about women. Epitaphs echo hortatory material. They assert that commemorated women did embody the ideals of contemporary sermons, conduct books, and educational treatises. True or not, epitaphs confirm that Early Modern society subscribed to published models of behavior. Survivors defined both married and unmarried women primarily in terms of family and virtue. Inscriptions seldom include individual characteristics, and exceptional capabilities are invariably qualified to affirm conformity. Engraved in brass or carved in stone and placed in parish churches, these brief records list pedigree, progeny, piety, and good works. Men's epitaphs of the period record pedigrees and achievementsdegrees, military rank, titles, elected and appointed offices, philanthropic works, and wives and children. Monuments to either sex proclaim status, and because they could provide http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Explorations in Renaissance Culture Brill

VIRTUOUS WIVES AND LOVING MOTHERS: EARLY MODERN ENGLISH WOMEN'S EPITAPHS

Wilheit, Mary Catherine
Explorations in Renaissance Culture , Volume 27 (1): 89 – Dec 2, 2001
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Publisher
Brill
Copyright
© Copyright 2001 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
ISSN
0098-2474
eISSN
2352-6963
DOI
10.1163/23526963-90000231
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

VIRTUOUS WIVES AND LOVING MOTHERSg EARLY MOlDERN ENGLISH WOMEN~S EPITAPHS EARLY MODERN ENGLISH WOMEN'S EPITAPHS constitute a large, and largely untapped body of descriptive material. A sixteenth- or seventeenth-century woman who left any record at all is exceptional and may be reliably placed among the "better sorts"when the source is an epitaph.! A significant number among those commemorated in church monuments contributed to their own epitaphs.2 These relics belong to that body of written material by and about women. Epitaphs echo hortatory material. They assert that commemorated women did embody the ideals of contemporary sermons, conduct books, and educational treatises. True or not, epitaphs confirm that Early Modern society subscribed to published models of behavior. Survivors defined both married and unmarried women primarily in terms of family and virtue. Inscriptions seldom include individual characteristics, and exceptional capabilities are invariably qualified to affirm conformity. Engraved in brass or carved in stone and placed in parish churches, these brief records list pedigree, progeny, piety, and good works. Men's epitaphs of the period record pedigrees and achievementsdegrees, military rank, titles, elected and appointed offices, philanthropic works, and wives and children. Monuments to either sex proclaim status, and because they could provide

Journal

Explorations in Renaissance Culture – Brill

Published: Dec 2, 2001

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