Mary Ward: First Sister of Feminism

Sydney Thorne

• Publisher: Pen and Sword History
• Year: 2021
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9781399005241
• Subtopic: Social Science Biographies
• Index: History

The little-known story of the woman who walked 1,500 miles to Rome to challenge the pope in 1621.
 
Four centuries ago, an Englishwoman completed an astonishing walk to Rome. A Catholic, Mary Ward had already defied the authorities in her native country. In 1621 she walked across Europe to ask the Pope to allow her to set up schools for girls. "There is no such difference between men and women that women may not do great things," she said.
 
But Mary's vision of equality between men and women angered the Church, and the pope threw her into prison. Her story is not only fascinating in its own right—it also shines a refreshingly new light on the Tudor/Stuart era. Mary's uncles are the Gunpowder Plotters. Her sponsors are archdukes, prince-archbishops, and the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. In Rome she spars with Pope Urban VIII and the Roman Inquisition, just as they are also dealing with the troublemaker Galileo.
 
As the story sweeps from Yorkshire to Rome, from Vienna and Munich to Prague, and back to England, we see Mary dodging pirates in the Channel, witch hunts in Germany, and the plague in Italy. We see travelers crossing the Alps, and prisoners smuggling out letters written in invisible lemon juice. Ranging from the resplendent courts in Brussels and Munich to the siege of York in the English Civil War, this biography is a remarkable portrait of seventeenth-century European life.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Dedication
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Cast of main characters
• 1 Why Mary Ward?
• 2 Recusant: Twenty unsettled years (1585–1605)
• 3 Rebellion: A frightening sequence of events (1605)
• 4 Religious: A Poor Clare in St Omer (1606–1607)
• 5 Revelation: ‘Some other thing’ (1607–1609)
• 6 Reinforcements: A formidable group of women (1609)
• 7 Remit: ‘The same of the Society’ (1610–1612)
• 8 Resilience: Covert mission in England (1612–1619)
• 9 Resolutions: No such difference between men and women (1615–1619)
• 10 Recognition: ‘A cheerful mind’ (1616–1619)
• 11 Resources: ‘More fruits of her labours’ (1618–1621)
• 12 Remedy: The first journey to Rome (1621)
• 13 Results: New schools in Italy (1621–1624)
• 14 Rebuff: Debacle in Rome (1624–1626)
• 15 Reprieve: The House of Paradise (1626)
• 16 Resurgence: Vienna, Bratislava, Prague (1627–1628)
• 17 Reality check: The second journey to Rome (1628–1630)
• 18 Wreckage: Rooted out, destroyed and abolished (1630–1631)
• 19 Reflections: In prison (1631)
• 20 Release: In the hands of the Inquisition (1631)
• 21 Resurrection: Besieged in Munich (1632–1635)
• 22 Reconciliation?: Five years in Rome (1632–1637)
• 23 Return: The longest journey (1637–1639)
• 24 Revolution: Besieged in York (1639–1644)
• 25 Repose: Death and beyond (1644–1645)
• 26 Rehabilitation: Unfinished business (1645–the present)
• Endnotes
• Plates