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A cordwainer’s wife in high politics: a microhistory of Mrs Caute*

Laura Seymour Orcid Logo

The Seventeenth Century, Volume: 40, Issue: 3, Pages: 511 - 529

Swansea University Author: Laura Seymour Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1080/0268117x.2025.2477132

Abstract

This article introduces a hitherto unstudied pair of seventeenth-century texts, by the cordwainer’s wife Sarah Caute, which exercised political influence at the highest levels. Caute relates how in 1683–4,whilst in London, she experienced a sudden desire for herself and hersix-year-old son Mathew to...

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Published in: The Seventeenth Century
ISSN: 0268-117X 2050-4616
Published: Informa UK Limited 2025
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa69304
first_indexed 2025-04-17T10:42:59Z
last_indexed 2025-07-15T05:11:24Z
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spelling 2025-07-14T12:42:28.4767503 v2 69304 2025-04-17 A cordwainer’s wife in high politics: a microhistory of Mrs Caute* fb6f465736a5119bed6a26683d05cd87 0009-0006-4432-4500 Laura Seymour Laura Seymour true false 2025-04-17 CACS This article introduces a hitherto unstudied pair of seventeenth-century texts, by the cordwainer’s wife Sarah Caute, which exercised political influence at the highest levels. Caute relates how in 1683–4,whilst in London, she experienced a sudden desire for herself and hersix-year-old son Mathew to be baptised by Thomas Ken (1637–1711),who was then the prebend of Winchester (he would soon, in January 1685, be consecrated Bishop of Bath and Wells). Since he was a year old, Caute narrates, Mathew did not speak or walk andsuffered ‘violent fitt[s]’ which ‘took him of his leges and his teeth fellout of his head at the roots. . .till they were all out’. Caute’s storyreached the ears of Charles II and James II; thereby, she participated personally and in absentia in elite negotiations of confessional identity. Caute’s texts challenge the notion that non-elite women’s writing is scarce and of limited political interest. Journal Article The Seventeenth Century 40 3 511 529 Informa UK Limited 0268-117X 2050-4616 women’s writing; winchester; restoration; disability 4 5 2025 2025-05-04 10.1080/0268117x.2025.2477132 COLLEGE NANME Culture and Communications School COLLEGE CODE CACS Swansea University Other Research funded by Leverhulme Trust award (held by PI Susan Wiseman at Birkbeck University of London) 2025-07-14T12:42:28.4767503 2025-04-17T11:38:23.3643266 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Culture and Communication - English Literature, Creative Writing Laura Seymour 0009-0006-4432-4500 1 69304__34054__0105fca1bc3841f0b8ffd542e34c2560.pdf A cordwainer s wife in high politics a microhistory of Mrs Caute .pdf 2025-04-17T11:41:42.5930041 Output 759860 application/pdf Version of Record true © 2025 The Author(s). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License. true eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
title A cordwainer’s wife in high politics: a microhistory of Mrs Caute*
spellingShingle A cordwainer’s wife in high politics: a microhistory of Mrs Caute*
Laura Seymour
title_short A cordwainer’s wife in high politics: a microhistory of Mrs Caute*
title_full A cordwainer’s wife in high politics: a microhistory of Mrs Caute*
title_fullStr A cordwainer’s wife in high politics: a microhistory of Mrs Caute*
title_full_unstemmed A cordwainer’s wife in high politics: a microhistory of Mrs Caute*
title_sort A cordwainer’s wife in high politics: a microhistory of Mrs Caute*
author_id_str_mv fb6f465736a5119bed6a26683d05cd87
author_id_fullname_str_mv fb6f465736a5119bed6a26683d05cd87_***_Laura Seymour
author Laura Seymour
author2 Laura Seymour
format Journal article
container_title The Seventeenth Century
container_volume 40
container_issue 3
container_start_page 511
publishDate 2025
institution Swansea University
issn 0268-117X
2050-4616
doi_str_mv 10.1080/0268117x.2025.2477132
publisher Informa UK Limited
college_str Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchytype
hierarchy_top_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
department_str School of Culture and Communication - English Literature, Creative Writing{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Culture and Communication - English Literature, Creative Writing
document_store_str 1
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description This article introduces a hitherto unstudied pair of seventeenth-century texts, by the cordwainer’s wife Sarah Caute, which exercised political influence at the highest levels. Caute relates how in 1683–4,whilst in London, she experienced a sudden desire for herself and hersix-year-old son Mathew to be baptised by Thomas Ken (1637–1711),who was then the prebend of Winchester (he would soon, in January 1685, be consecrated Bishop of Bath and Wells). Since he was a year old, Caute narrates, Mathew did not speak or walk andsuffered ‘violent fitt[s]’ which ‘took him of his leges and his teeth fellout of his head at the roots. . .till they were all out’. Caute’s storyreached the ears of Charles II and James II; thereby, she participated personally and in absentia in elite negotiations of confessional identity. Caute’s texts challenge the notion that non-elite women’s writing is scarce and of limited political interest.
published_date 2025-05-04T05:27:49Z
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