Alice Sutcliffe

Alice Sutcliffe (fl. 1624 – 1634), born Alice Woodhouse or Woodhows, was an English religious writer. Her only known literary work, Meditations of Man's Mortalitie, or, A Way to True Blessednesse, was first published in 1633.

Life

Little is known about Sutcliffe's life. Her father was Thomas Woodhouse (or Woodhows), of Kimberley, Norfolk. Alice married John Sutcliffe, a Yorkshire landowner and nephew of Matthew Sutcliffe, c. 1624.[1] As John became Groom of the Privy Chamber to Charles I and had been a squire to James I, Alice was likely at Charles' court around that period,[2] although she may also have been at the court of James. John was associated with George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham (Katherine's husband) and his faction.[3][4]

Meditations of Man's Mortalitie
Katherine and George Villiers, Duchess and Duke of Buckingham, by Anthony van Dyck, c. 1620–21. The Meditations is dedicated to Katherine, and Alice's husband John was a member of George's circle.

Sutcliffe is known to have published only one work, Meditations of Man's Mortalitie, or, A Way to True Blessednesse, entered on the Stationers' Register on 20 January 1633 and first published in 1633.[3][5] Its second edition was prefaced with appreciations from Ben Jonson, George Wither, and Thomas May. Maynard suggests that these poems were probably intended to boost Sutcliffe's reputation at court;[1] Walker concurs, observing that Sutcliffe's text "loudly promotes the novelty value of this woman's work".[6]

Sutcliffe was likely an intimate of Katherine Villiers, Duchess of Buckingham, given that she dedicates her meditations to Villiers and her sister-in-law Susan Feilding, Countess of Denbigh.[2][3][5][7] Another poem in the work is dedicated to Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke.[8]

Her Meditations includes six meditations in prose followed by "Of Our Losse by Adam, and Our Gayne by Christ", a poem in 88 sestets.[1][5][6] Stevenson and Davidson describe the poetic portion of the work as a "summary of Christian belief".[4]

As its title suggests, the Meditations is concerned with mortality: Patricia Demers notes its "sheer abundance of images of transience";[5] Germaine Greer observes that its prose portions are preoccupied with the Last Judgment.[3] The work evinces a depth of religious knowledge.[2]

Salzman likens Sutcliffe's Meditations to Miscellanea (1604) by Elizabeth Grimston, given that both works are structured as a combination of prose meditations and poetry.[9] Longfellow suggests a comparison with Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum (1611) by Emilia Lanier, as Sutcliffe and Lanier both apparently seek to elevate their social status through the written word.[10]

Walker argues that, by publishing her Meditations, Sutcliffe took on a "heavy burden of defense" in the public eye, and accordingly needed to embrace patriarchal tropes in her work to avoid popular censure.[6]

Notes
  1. Maynard, Darcy (2004). Ostovich, Helen; Sauer, Elizabeth; Smith, Melissa (eds.). Reading Early Modern Women: An Anthology of Texts in Manuscript and Print, 1550–1700. New York: Routledge. p. 149. ISBN 978-0-415-96646-7.
  2. Wynne-Davies, Marion (23 September 2004). "Sutcliffe, Alice". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/46925. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  3. Greer 2000, p. 90.
  4. Stevenson, Jane; Davidson, Peter (2001). Early Modern Women Poets (1520–1700): An Anthology. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 215. ISBN 978-0-19-924257-3.
  5. Demers, Patricia (15 December 2005). Women's Writing in English: Early Modern England. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. p. 107. ISBN 978-1-4426-5810-3.
  6. Walker 1996, p. 107.
  7. Hughey 1934, p. 160.
  8. Wynne-Davies, Marion (1999). Women Poets of the Renaissance. New York: Routledge. p. 366. ISBN 978-0-415-92350-7.
  9. Salzman, Paul (30 November 2006). Reading Early Modern Women's Writing. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 14. ISBN 978-0-19-926104-8.
  10. Longfellow, Erica (2004). Women and Religious Writing in Early Modern England. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 64–65. ISBN 0-511-23062-1. OCLC 252530046.

Sources

See also
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