Lady Harley's Letter

The letter dated September 1643 which was sent from Lady Brilliana Harley from Brampton Bryan, located in Herefordshire, to her husband Lord Robert Harley, who is currently in London one can guess taking his part in the ensuing conflict, provides a lot of details about the time. The British Civil War, which had started the previous year, seemed to have affected the country much more than it affected the city of London. This can be seen in Lady Harley’s letter when she tells her Lord “I hope…that the Lord has been gracious to us, and has sent our enemies away from before Brampton” (Gowing, 152). With her husband a part of the Parliamentarians, it would be natural of the time for Lady Harley to also support Parliament in the current conflict. Therefore the enemy that she is writing her husband about which had been “before Brampton” can be construed as Royalists or even Royalist supporters hoping to gain another country manor.
Most puritans at this time would have been in support of the Parliamentary cause; they were a facet of Protestantism which was dissatisfied with the Catholic Church and the episcopacy system of the Church of England. They believed in paying attention to the scriptures without using other books, thus they did not agree with the Church of England’s use of the Book of Common Prayer, they also wanted to adhere to a strict “godly” moral with a distinct lack of ceremony (Bucholz, 222). As a result of these beliefs, the Puritans were in support of a “godly reform” which they thought the King and his evil advisors were preventing, they also wanted to rid religion of anything that relates to Catholicism, including the clergy, the tithe system, and the Book of Common Prayer (Rosenheim, 2/24/2014). As such, the Puritans...

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...asking him to not think her afraid but to see that she is doing what is best for him and as any wife of the time would states that “I must be most pleased when you are pleased” (Gowing 153). So after everything she has asked for in her letter she is still looking to her husband for guidance on what actions to take. She even adds a note reminding her Lord for a new gown that she has asked for. Clearly she is an opinionated woman who will question her Lord but she is one who knows her role and does not overstep her place.

Works Cited

1. Bucholz, Robert and Key, Newton. Early Modern England 1485-1714 (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2004). Print.
2. Gowing, Laura. Gender Relations in Early Modern England (Harlow, Essex: Pearson Education Limited, 2012), pp. 152-154.
3. Rosenheim, James. Lecture. History 436. Texas A&M University. College Station, February 24, 2014