 | This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations .(May 2016) |
Elizabeth Brooke Jocelin (sometimes spelled "Joceline" or "Joscelin") was an English writer believed to have lived from about 1595 to 1622. She is best known for her work The Mother's Legacy to her Vnborn Child. The book was first published two years after Jocelin's death in childbirth.
Elizabeth was the daughter of Sir Richard Brooke of Norton, Cheshire, and his wife Joan, daughter of William Chaderton, bishop of Lincoln. Her parents separated, and her mother returned home. Jocelin's grandfather, Bishop Chaderton, was mainly responsible for her upbringing. Elizabeth's childhood was therefore passed in the house of Bishop Chaderton, who educated her. She was extremely well versed in art, religion and language. According to her editor Thomas Goad, she had an exceptional memory.
In 1616, she married Tourell Jocelin of Cambridgeshire. Foreboding her death in childbirth, she wrote a letter which gently but earnestly exhorted her son or daughter to piety and good conduct; and a letter to her husband, giving him advice as to the bringing up of the child. These works are thought to have been written at Crowlands, Oakington. [1] She bore a daughter on 12 October 1622, and died of puerperal fever nine days afterwards. [2] The child, named Theodora, became the wife of Samuel Fortrey.
The Jocelins appeared to lead a rather happy marriage, one that appeared to be mainly based on genuine love. In The Mother's Legacy to her Vnborn Child, Jocelin writes of how excited she is to be carrying her husband's child and that they have been working together to plan the best possible life for their child
Jocelin is noted for being "one of the most notable young women of the times of James I”
The Legacie was first published in 1624 with a long Approbation by Thomas Goad, giving some account of Elizabeth Jocelin's life. The second edition is dated 1624 and the third 1625. An exact reprint of the third edition, with an introduction by an anonymous Edinburgh editor, appeared in 1852. The edition printed at Oxford, 'for the satisfaction of the person of quality herein concerned,' in 1684, and reprinted at the end of C. H. Cranford's Sermons in 1840, is an altered one, the editor having made changes in religious matters. The manuscript of the Legacie is in the British Museum (Addit. MS. 27467). It is still somewhat contentious whether the manuscript is by Jocelin, and whether Goad's editorial work brought in substantive change in the content. [3]
Jocelin wrote The Mother’s Legacy to her Vnborn Child during the Early Modern period, when women were typically defined by their existence in the domestic sphere. Jocelin's work kept in line with the expectations of women during the period because of her clear dedication to her position as a mother.
One of the idiosyncratic things about the mother's advice text is Jocelin's choice of tone and word use to insure that whether her child is a boy or a girl he or she will be able to follow the advice she leaves behind. There are clearly different expectations and techniques to raising a son or daughter and Jocelin makes sure to acknowledge these differences while leaving advice for both. For example, she addresses her daughter to respect, obey and be a good mother. Jocelin writes about her desire to protect her daughter “from a potentially difficult and uncomfortable way of life.” Jocelin has been criticised for her different approaches to raising her child based on its gender. Much like women of her time Jocelin desired for her daughter to be acceptable to society even if it meant limiting her intelligence or unhappiness.
One of the largest parts of The Mother’s Legacy to her Vnborn Child is the religious advice that Jocelin offers to her unborn child. She urges the child to pray regularly, avoid temptations, acknowledge holy days and be charitable.
The tone of the book is one filled with optimism and pride over becoming a new mother. Jocelin is clearly excited about meeting her child even though she seems to understand that birthing the child will be a great risk to herself.
Much of the books instruction is directed toward Jocelin's husband including how to properly select a wet nurse for their child if Elizabeth should die.
Excerpts from The Mother's Legacy to her Vnborn Child:
“I desire her bringing up may bee learning the Bible, as my sisters doe, good housewifery, writing, and good works: other learning a woman needs not; though I admire it in those whom God hath blest with descretion, yet I desired not much in my owne, having seene that sometimes women have greater portions of learning than wisdome, which is of no better use to them than a main saile to a flye-boat, which runs it under water. But where learning and wisdom meet in a vertuous disposed woman she is the fittest closet for all goodnesse. She is like a well-balanced ship that may beare all her saile. She is, Indeed, I should but shame my selfe, if I should goe about to praise her more...Yet I leave it to thy will...If thou desirest a learned daughter, I pray God give her a wise and religious heart, that she may use it to his glory, thy comfort, and her own salvation.”
“And if thou beest a daughter, thou maist perhaps thinke I have lost my labour; but reade on, and thou shalt see my love and care of thee and thy salvation is as great, as if thou wert a sonne, and my feare greater”.
Elizabeth Jocelin is remembered as a dedicated mother and an iconic woman of her time because of her dedication to making sure her child was raised properly even after her death. The Mother's Legacy to her Vnborn Child is regarded as one of the most significant works of the time because of the intimate view it gives of the mindset, beliefs and ideals of women of the time.
Lokasenna is one of the poems of the Poetic Edda. The poem presents flyting between the gods and Loki. It is written in the ljóðaháttr metre, typical for wisdom verse. Lokasenna is believed to be a 10th-century poem.
Anne Bradstreet was among 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 American Literature and notable for her large corpus of poetry, as well as personal writings published posthumously.
Chidiock Tichborne, erroneously referred to as Charles, was an English conspirator and poet.
Shirin was wife of the Sasanian emperor Khosrow II. In the revolution after the death of Khosrow's father Hormizd IV, the General Bahram Chobin took power over the Persian empire. Shirin fled with Khosrow to Roman Syria, where they lived under the protection of Byzantine emperor Maurice.
Sister Mary Stanislaus MacCarthy (1849–1897) was an Irish poet, educator and nun. MacCarthy was a daughter of poet Denis Florence MacCarthy, who wrote as "Desmond of The Nation" and Elizabeth MacCarthy.
In Christianity, the Visitation, also known as the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, refers to the visit of Mary, who was pregnant with Jesus, to Elizabeth, who was pregnant with John the Baptist, in the Gospel of Luke, Luke 1:39–56. The episode is one of the standard scenes shown in cycles of the Life of the Virgin in art, and sometimes in larger cycles of the Life of Christ in art.
Babalon is a goddess found in the occult system of Thelema, which was established in 1904 with the writing of The Book of the Law by English author and occultist Aleister Crowley. The spelling of the name as "Babalon" was revealed to Crowley in The Vision and the Voice. Her name and imagery feature prominently in Crowley's "Liber Cheth vel Vallum Abiegni".
Elizabeth Egerton, Countess of Bridgewater was an English writer who married into the Egerton family.
Elizabeth Wilmot, Countess of Rochester was an English heiress and the wife of John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, the "libertine". She was the daughter of John Malet, of Enmore Manor, and Unton Hawley, daughter of Francis Hawley, 1st Baron Hawley.
Elizabeth Melville, Lady Culross (c.1578–c.1640) was a Scottish poet.
Elizabeth Stuart was the second daughter of Charles I, King of England, Scotland and Ireland, and his wife, Henrietta Maria of France.
William Chaderton was an English academic and bishop. He also served as Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity.
Louisa Lula Greene Richards was a poet and was the first female periodical editor in Utah Territory. Richards's work was published under a variety of names, including Louisa L. Greene, Louise L. Green, Lula Green, and Lula G. Richards. She was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Elizabeth Richardson, 1st Lady Cramond was an English writer and peeress. She is remembered for her collections of prayers.
Elizabeth Courtney was the illegitimate daughter of the Whig politician and future Prime Minister Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, and socialite Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, while Georgiana was married to William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire.
Thomas Goad (1576–1638) was an English clergyman, controversial writer, and rector of Hadleigh, Suffolk. A participant at the Synod of Dort, he changed his views there from Calvinist to Arminian, against the sense of the meeting.
Farud or Forud was an ancient king of Kelat in his early youth and makes up a chapter in the Shahnameh "The Book of Kings" (940-1020) by Ferdowsi where he is mentioned as the brother of Kai Khosrow.
Samuel Fortrey (1622–1681) was an English landowner and fen drainer, author of England's Interest and Improvement, consisting in the increase of the Store and Trade of this Kingdom.
Elizabeth Walker was a British druggist known for her charity and piety. She kept a journal which was published and commented on posthumously by her husband, Anthony Walker, entitled, “The vertuous wife: or, the holy life of Mrs. Elizabeth Walker, late wife of A. Walker, D.D. sometime Rector of Fyfield in Essex: Giving a modest and short account of her exemplary piety and charity. Published for the glory of God, and provoking others to the like graces and vertues. With some useful papers and letters writ by her on several occasions.”
Anne (Norman) Ley was an English writer, teacher, and polemicist. She wrote several poems, letters, meditations, and funerary texts. Her husband was Roger Ley, a writer and a curate of St. Leonard's Church in Shoreditch, Middlesex. Both of the couple were ardent royalists and religious conformists.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : "Jocelin, Elizabeth". Dictionary of National Biography . London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
