Protestant Networks

Abstract

While the Reformation and early modern Protestantism are well-established fields of historical enquiry, and early modern women’s writing is increasingly represented in literature courses and research, the study of early modern networks per se is a new and emerging interdisciplinary specialism. This entry uses the example of several mid-seventeenth-century Protestant women writers who were closely, loosely, or indirectly associated through a network that Carol Pal terms the international “republic of women” to illustrate a variety of social and ideological contexts through which such writers could develop their networks in the early modern period. These contexts include extended family, with influences of class and culture; political and patronage affiliations; friendships, often aided by education, reputation, introductions, and correspondence; and spiritual communities, both within and outside the cloister and established national churches. This entry first clarifies what is meant by “Protestant” and outlines qualitative and quantitative approaches to researching “networks,” citing key digital humanities projects. It then provides examples of how Katherine Jones (Viscountess Ranelagh), Dorothy Moore, Elizabeth Stuart (Queen of Bohemia), Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia, Anna Maria van Schurman, and Bathsua Makin were connected and extended their networks through these social and ideological means. The conclusion points to the potential to supplement historicist network research with transhistorical approaches and perspectives.