Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present
Lady Eleanor Douglas
-
Standard Name: Douglas, Lady Eleanor
Birth Name: Eleanor Touchet
Styled: Lady Eleanor Touchet
Married Name: Lady Eleanor Davies
Married Name: Lady Eleanor Douglas
Self-constructed Name: Eleanor Audelie
The known tracts and prophecies of LED
(formerly Davies), published during the long political crisis of the mid seventeenth century, numbered at last count 69 extant texts and 77 including those which have apparently not survived, though they have left traces.
Feroli, Teresa, and Lady Eleanor Douglas. “Introduction”. Eleanor Davies, Ashgate, 2000, p. ix - xii.
xi
Cope, Esther S. Handmaid of the Holy Spirit: Dame Eleanor Davies, Never Soe Mad a Ladie. University of Michigan Press, 1992.
169-72
They are vehement, opinionated, and hard to read, for Douglas's handling of words and syntax takes little account of rules or norms. Her theological and political beliefs are idiosyncratic and her imagery, steeped in that of bible prophecy, is sometimes impenetrable.
Brought up an Anglican
, she was initially disturbed at the King
's execution. In the bloody City of London she lived like the prodigal son after his riotous period had ended, feeding ....
Family and Intimate relationships
Ann Thicknesse
Philip Thicknesse was a somewhat shady character, one of the greatest self-publicists of the eighteenth century.
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray, Brian Harrison, and Lawrence Goldman, editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
under Philip Thicknesse
After travelling the world in various capacities he had eloped with an heiress in 1742...
Friends, Associates
Bathsua Makin
BM
's brother-in-law John Pell called her a woman of great acquaintance.
Teague, Frances. Bathsua Makin, Woman of Learning. Bucknell University Press, 1998.
82
She was a lifelong friend of diarist and antiquarian Sir Simonds D'Ewes
, who had been at her father's school, and of...
He is not to be confused with Sir John Davies
, husband of the prophecy writer who later became Lady Eleanor Douglas
Intertextuality and Influence
Mary Davys
MD
makes skilful use of letters to project character, political issues, and gender interaction. Her use of significant dates (All Saints' Day, November the fifth) links her with the prophetic tradition of Lady Eleanor Douglas
Literary responses
Margery Kempe
The year 2018 was a high point in MK
studies, with the first academic conference devoted to her, and the establishment of the Margery Kempe Society
. Diane Watt
summarized the growth of her reputation...
Occupation
Bathsua Makin
the interregnum period.) Meanwhile she probably combined teaching the princess (who must have had ability, since at nine she had some grasp of Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French, and Italian) with taking other pupils, including grandchildren...
Author summary
Mary Fage
MF
shared her passion for anagrams with Lady Eleanor Douglas
and many others in the earlier seventeenth century. She was unique in publishing a book of verse incorporating anagrams and acrostics on the names of...
Textual Features
Mary Fage
MF
is a close observer and fulsome celebrator of rank: her dedication opens, Pardon powerfull Princes and potent Potentates, my presumption, in pressing into your presence.
Fage, Mary. Fames Roule. R. Oulton, 1637.
prelims
Besides the king and queen, she includes the...
Textual Features
M. Marsin
MM
suggests that the comet which had appeared in 1663 was perhaps a sign that the world was entering its last phase, as written by the prophet Daniel (a prophet much favoured by Lady Eleanor Douglas
Textual Production
Bathsua Makin
BM
wrote elegies on the deaths of two children of Lady Huntingdon
. Her Latin elegy for Henry, Lord Hastings
(grandson of Lady Eleanor Douglas
, who died on 24 June 1649), was never printed...
Theme or Topic Treated in Text
Antonia Fraser
The chapter When Women Preach discusses Lady Eleanor Douglas
and (in more detail) Anna Trapnel
. Petticoat-Authors (about the Restoration period) makes a number of mis-statements (understandable errors that would not have been made at...
Many Protestants (but perhaps not so many as reported) were killed in a Rebellion or massacre in Ulster.
25 March 1645
In the first case of witchcraft managed by Matthew Hopkins
, Elizabeth Clarke
of Manningtree in Essex (who had probably been deprived of sleep during interrogation) confessed to using familiars.