Martha Moulsworth (10 November 1577), born Martha Dorsett, was an English writer who spent much of her life in

Hoddesdon Hoddesdon () is a town in the Borough of Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, lying entirely within the London Metropolitan Area and Greater London Urban Area. The area is on the River Lea and the Lee Navigation along with the New River. Hoddesdon is ...

, Hertfordshire. Her only known literary work, ''Memorandum of Martha Moulsworth, Widow'' (1632), an

autobiographical An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...

poem, is one of the earliest known autobiographies in English.

Life

Moulsworth was likely a landowner, as she alludes in her poem to her father's passing and the fact that he 'had, & left lands of his owne possession'. Moulsworth was well educated: according to the ''Memorandum'', she learned Latin, and her text evinces a wealth of biblical knowledge. Evans suggests that Moulsworth was a

Laudian Laudianism was an early seventeenth-century reform movement within the Church of England, promulgated by Archbishop William Laud and his supporters. It rejected the predestination upheld by the previously dominant Calvinism in favour of free will, ...

; he notes in later work, however, that she was godmother to

William Prynne William Prynne (1600 – 24 October 1669), an English lawyer, voluble author, polemicist and political figure, was a prominent Puritan opponent of church policy under William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury (1633–1645). His views were presbyte ...

, which may seem to cast doubt on this view. A sermon delivered in honour of Moulsworth's death notes that her academic interests included history and

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

Jane Stevenson Jane Barbara Stevenson (born 12 February 1959) is a British historian, literary scholar, and author. Since 2017, she is Senior Research Fellow at Campion Hall, Oxford. From 2007 to 2017, she was Regius Professor of Humanity at the University of ...

and Peter Davidson argue that ' r poem suggests a life of reading and thinking about religious issues, and is in the tradition of

spiritual autobiography Spiritual autobiography is a genre of non-fiction prose that dominated Protestant writing during the seventeenth century, particularly in England, particularly that of Dissenters. The narrative follows the believer from a state of damnation to a s ...

'. One puzzle about the ''Memorandum'' is Moulsworth's claim that her father taught her Latin. This is impossible, as scholarship has revealed that Moulsworth's father was Robert Dorsett, who died 29 May 1580—when Moulsworth was not even three years old. Dorsett was an

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

minister and

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western ca ...

of Christ Church, who graduated Oxford with an MA in 1567 and was a tutor of

Robert The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...

and

Philip Sidney Philip, also Phillip, is a male given name, derived from the Greek language, Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philip ...

. Depas-Orange suggests that Moulsworth casts her father as her teacher out of a 'desire to emulate her father's achievements'; Evans, due to a 'sense of the need for

patriarchal Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of Dominance hierarchy, dominance and Social privilege, privilege are primarily held by men. It is used, both as a technical Anthropology, anthropological term for families or clans controll ...

sanction'. Moulsworth was widowed three times; her favourite husband, Bevill Moulsworth, was her last. Bevill was a

goldsmith A goldsmith is a Metalworking, metalworker who specializes in working with gold and other precious metals. Nowadays they mainly specialize in jewelry-making but historically, goldsmiths have also made cutlery, silverware, platter (dishware), pl ...

, merchant, and member of the

Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths, commonly known as the Goldsmiths' Company and formally titled The Wardens and Commonalty of the Mystery of Goldsmiths of the City of London, is one of the Great Twelve Livery Companies of the City of Londo ...

Works

Moulsworth is known to have written only one work—the ''Memorandum'' (1632)—but Steggle has argued that another poem should be attributed to her.

''Memorandum''

Moulsworth wrote her ''Memorandum'' on 10 November 1632, on the occasion of her 55th birthday. At 110 lines, it assigns one

couplet A couplet is a pair of successive lines of metre in poetry. A couplet usually consists of two successive lines that rhyme and have the same metre. A couplet may be formal (closed) or run-on (open). In a formal (or closed) couplet, each of the ...

to each year of her life. Wilcox and Evans have drawn particular attention to a passage of the ''Memorandum'' in which Moulsworth explains her notably progressive views on

women's education Female education is a catch-all term of a complex set of issues and debates surrounding education (primary education, secondary education, tertiary education, and health education in particular) for girls and women. It is frequently called girls ...

. The passage, with a transcription in modern English, is as follows: Post distinguishes Moulsworth from contemporaries including

Lady Mary Wroth Lady Mary Wroth (née Sidney; 18 October 1587 – 1651/3) was an English noblewoman and a poet of the English Renaissance. A member of a distinguished literary family, Lady Wroth was among the first female English writers to have achieved an en ...

and

Emilia Lanier Emilia Lanier (also Aemilia or Amelia Lanyer, 1569–1645), ''née'' Aemilia Bassano, was an English poet and the first woman in England to assert herself as a professional poet, through her volume ''Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum'' (''Hail, God, King ...

, noting that while Wroth and Lanier wrote with the concerns and pressures of courtly life in mind, Moulsworth had other preoccupations: ' r both

Anne Bradstreet Anne Bradstreet (née Dudley; March 8, 1612 – September 16, 1672) was the most prominent of early English poets of North America and first writer in England's North American colonies to be published. She is the first Puritan figure in Am ...

and Martha Moulsworth', he writes, 'it is not the court or the patronage system that motivates their poetry ... is the circumstantial relationship with other members of their family that lies at the core of their poetry'. Wilcox compares the ''Memorandum'' to the '' Devotions'' of

John Donne John Donne ( ; 22 January 1572 – 31 March 1631) was an English poet, scholar, soldier and secretary born into a recusant family, who later became a clergy, cleric in the Church of England. Under royal patronage, he was made Dean of St Paul's ...

(1624), published two years after the ''Memorandum'' was written. There is only one known copy of the ''Memorandum'', which is included in a

commonplace book Commonplace books (or commonplaces) are a way to compile knowledge, usually by writing information into books. They have been kept from antiquity, and were kept particularly during the Renaissance and in the nineteenth century. Such books are simi ...

at the

Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library The Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library () is the rare book library and literary archive of the Yale University Library in New Haven, Connecticut. It is one of the largest buildings in the world dedicated to rare books and manuscripts. Es ...

that belonged to

Marmaduke Rawdon Sir Marmaduke Roydon (also Rawdon and Rawden, with Royden a contemporary spelling) (1583 – 28 April 1646) was an English merchant-adventurer and colonial planter, known also as a Royalist army officer. Life The son of Ralph Roydon or Rawdon o ...

(1610–1669). The ''Memorandum'' was apparently unknown until the 1990s, and published for the first time shortly thereafter.

Other works

Steggle argues that a poem titled 'Thou who dost all my earthly thoughts employ', previously attributed to Mary Molesworth Monck (d. 1715) should in fact be attributed to Martha Moulsworth.

Notes

Sources

* * * * * *

External links

Commonplace book in which the ''Memorandum'' was included
an
finding aid for the manuscript
at the

Entry for Moulsworth's known writings
at the Catalogue of English Literary Manuscripts 1450–1700 {{DEFAULTSORT:Moulsworth, Martha 1577 births 1646 deaths 17th-century English poets 17th-century English women writers 17th-century English writers English autobiographers People from Hoddesdon English women poets Women autobiographers