Ideal for courses, this Companion examines the range, historical importance, and aesthetic merit of women's writing in Britain, 1500 1700.

Introduction: critical framework and issues Laura Lunger Knoppers; Part I. Material Matters: 1. Women's handwriting Heather Wolfe; 2. Reading women Edith Snook; 3. Manuscript miscellanies Victoria E. Burke; 4. Women, the material book, and early printing Marcy L. North; Part II. Sites of Production: 5. Women in educational spaces Caroline Bowden; 6. Women in the household Wendy Wall; 7. Women in church and in devotional spaces Elizabeth Clarke; 8. Women in the royal courts Karen Britland; 9. Women in the law courts Frances E. Dolan; 10. Women in healing spaces Mary E. Fissell; Part III. Genres and Modes: 11. Translation Danielle Clarke; 12. Letters James Daybell; 13. Autobiography Ramona Wray; 14. Lyric poetry Helen Wilcox; 15. Narrative poetry Susanne Woods; 16. Prophecy and religious polemic Hilary Hinds; 17. Private drama Marta Straznicky; 18. Public drama Derek Hughes; 19. Prose fiction Lori Humphrey Newcomb.