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Prophecy, Patriarchy, and Violence in the Early Modern Household: The Revelations of Anne Wentworth

Algoma University, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada, warren.johnston{at}algomau.ca

In 1676 the apostate Baptist prophet Anne Wentworth (1629/30—1693?) published A True Account of Anne Wentworths Being Cruelly, Unjustly, and Unchristianly Dealt With by Some of Those People called Anabaptists, the first in a series of pamphlets that would continue to the end of the decade. Originally a member of a London Baptist church, Wentworth left the congregation and eventually her own home after her husband used physical force to stop her writing and prophesying. Yet Wentworth persisted in her "revelations." These prophecies increasingly focused on her response to those who were trying to stop her efforts, especially within her own household. This article examines Wentworth’s writings as an effort by an early modern woman, using arguments of spiritual agency, to assert ideas about proper gender roles and household responsibilities to denounce her husband and rebut those who criticized and attempted to suppress her.

Key Words: prophecy • gender • patriarchy • apocalyptic • seventeenth-century England • female prophets

This version was published on October 1, 2009

Journal of Family History, Vol. 34, No. 4, 344-368 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0363199009343794


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