D02162n elizabeth joscelin

Holywell-cum-Needingworth History: www.hcnhistory.org.ukHolywell-cum-Needingworth History: www.hcnhistory.org.uk
Elizabeth Joscelin
(Owner of Moynes Hall, Holywell in Huntingdonshire)
and her book
“The Mothers Legacy, to her Vnborn Childe”

Holywell-cum-Needingworth History: www.hcnhistory.org.uk
In the British
Library
• a tiny manuscript (6x9 in)
• 86 pages
• alterations and
corrections
• signed Eliza Joscelin

Plan for the talk
• Elizabeth Joscelin
• Book: The Mother's Legacy …
• (My) Reactions to the book?
• Further research?
• Any questions?

Elizabeth Joscelin
(née Brooke)

Her times
• 1588 Spanish Armada destroyed
• 1595/6 Elizabeth Brooke born
• 1601 Mother (Joan) died, so Elizabeth aged 6 was
in the care of grandfather William Chaderton
• 1603 Queen Elizabeth I died, and
James I (VI of Scotland) crowned
• 5th November 1605 Gunpowder plot
• 1616 Elizabeth Brooke married Torrell Joscelin
• 1625 James I died

Elizabeth’s Parents
• Mother: Joan née Chaderton, died 1601
– When Elizabeth was 6
• Father: Sir Richard Brooke of Cheshire
– ?absent, ?separated
– his second marriage was to Katherine Nevell
– this resulted in 14 children

Elizabeth was
brought up by
her Grandfather
William Chaderton
Bishop of Lincoln

Grandfather - William Chaderton
• Fellow of Christ’s College, Cambridge
• Chaplain to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester
• Professor of Divinity, Cambridge
• Master of Queen's College, Cambridge
• (1570-1579 Rector of Holywell, bought Moynes Hall)
• Bishop of Chester 1579-1595
• Bishop of Lincoln 1595-1608
– cared for Elizabeth Joscelin, and her education

Holywell with Needingworth
• Listed in the 1086 Domesday survey
• C11th-C15th under Ramsey Abbey
• C13th Parish Church of St John The Baptist
• …
• “1608 Upon William Chaderton's death, Moynes Hall
descended to his daughter's daughter” (Elizabeth
Joscelin)
• (I am interested in anything to do with Holywell or Needingworth!)

Moynes Hall, Holywell
• Listed C17th farmhouse
• Recorded in C13th
• C17th wall of
an original
enclosed
garden

Moynes Hall in Holywell

The Book:
“The Mother's Legacy to her
Vnborn Childe”
and
’To my truly louinge and most Dearly
loued husband Taurell Iocelin’

Where can I find the book?
• MS and older editions:
British Library!
• 2000 – University of
Toronto Press $48
• (or secondhand)
• The text is online …
• or I can provide the text

The 2000 edition
• Introduction and Notes pp 1-40
– by Jean LeDrew Metcalfe
• The Approbation by Thomas Goad pp 41-45
– “sic approbauit” = “so he approves it”
– domestic chaplain to Abbot, Archbishop of Canterbury
• To my truly louing and most dearly loued
Husband, Tourell Iocelin pp 46-55
• The Mothers Legacie pp 56-109
• Introductions to C19th editions pp 119-132
– Illustrates C19th attitudes

In the British Library
• A manuscript
by Thomas Goad
• 51 pages (12x9 in)
• He gave it its title, and
biographical details
• Introduces ‘corrections’
– and errors

Example – to her husband
My deare … I now professe seriously my owne ignorance:
and though I did not, this following Treatise would betray
it: But I send it onely to the eies of a most louing
Husband, and a childe exceedingly beloued, to whom I
hope it will not be altogether vnprofitable.
Thus humbly desiring God to giue thee all comfort in this
life, and happinesse in the life to come, I leaue thee and
thine to his most gracious protection.
Thine inuiolable,
Eliza. Iocelin.
(as published p 53/55)

Editions
• The Legacie, though written ’onely to the eyes of
a most louing Husband, and of a childe
exceedingly beloued,’ was published:
– 1624 (two editions)
– 1625
– 1626-1632 (three editions)
– 1678 (Dutch), reprinted 1748
– 1684, 1724
– 1840, 1852, 1853, 1894
– 2000

Interesting aspects
• (on left) 1622 transcription of Holograph
– a “manuscript handwritten by the person named as its author”
– highlights Goad’s modifications (for better and worse)
– he even changed the spelling of her name (to Iocelin)!
• (on right) 1624 published edition
– for comparison
– Probably the version closest to the original
• Elizabeth is clearly learned and thoughtful
– Goad gives some details
• Within the C17th “Mother’s advice” genre
– One of the finest examples
– The only one to an unborn child

Why did Joscelin write?
• Her objective was to ensure that her child will
be ‘an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven’
• If her child is a son, she wants him to become
‘an humble and zealous minister’
• If a daughter, she assures her: ‘my love and
care of thee and thy salvation is as great’
• She wants to ensure her continual influence
over her child, if she is not spared

Outline of what Joscelin says - 1
• Learn godly ways when you are young
• Have a helpful pattern for the day:
– prayer, meditation, and study, including
recommended prayers and recreation
• Beware various sins and vices:
– covetousness, idleness, pride, envy, wantonness,
swearing, drunkenness, and lust
• Observe the sabbath

Outline of what Joscelin says - 2
• Obey your parents
• Love one another
All beautifully and lovingly expressed
- within the mixture of religious views at the time

Example – on dress
• Thou art no sooner broke out of the armes of
sloth, but pride steps in diligently, waiting to
furnish thee with any vaine toy in thy attire.
And though I beleeue there are diuers sorts of
pride more pestilent to the soule than this of
apparell, yet this is enough dangerous, and I
am sure betraies a mans folly more than any
other.
• I giue you leaue to follow modest fashions, but
not to be a beginner of fashions
(as published p 69/71/73)

Example – on speaking
• Also shunne multiplicity of words, and what
thou speakest, bee sure to vnderstand fully,
for it is a grating to the eare to heare a man
talke at randome.
• If thou desirest to better thy selfe, modestly
aske a question of those whom thou seest to
haue knowledge to resolue thee, and bee
lesse ashamed to confesse thy ignorance, than
by holding a foolish argument, to betray it.
(as published p 81)

Elizabeth Joscelin’s letter
’To my truly louinge and most Dearly
loued husband Taurell Iocelin’
• Her affection shines through for both husband
and child
• She advises him of various practical aspects
• She encourages education for her son
– and her daughter, if it doesn’t threaten her humility
• Signs it ‘Thine inviolable’

Example – on humility
• But howsoeuer thou disposest of her
education, I pray thee labour by all meanes to
teach her true humility, though I much desire
it may be as humble if it bee a son as a
daughter; yet in a daughter I more feare that
vice;
• Pride being now rather accounted a vertue in
our sex worthy praise, than a vice fit for
reproofe
(as published p 51)

The outcome
• On 12 October 1622, Joscelin gave birth to a
daughter, Theodora
• Elizabeth died of a fever (presumably,
puerperal) nine days later aged 27
• Theodora inherited her mother’s
Huntingdonshire estates, married Samuel
Fortrey, and bore seven children
• We don’t know if she read what her mother
wrote

(My) Reactions to the book

Published
• 1624
• The 2nd impression
• I do wonder what
Elizabeth would have
thought

Fascinating insights
• To Elizabeth’s mind at the time
• To Goad’s (male) view of what she had written
• To C17th publishers’ views
• To C19th editors’ views
• To our understanding of early modern women
• To C17th language

My reactions to the book
• I feel the pathos of its history
• Her “earnest piety, quiet counsel, and vigorous
common sense” speak to my soul
• I want to find out more

Further research?
Eg In the Norris Museum
in St Ives

Receipts dated 1644 …
from Torrell Jocelyn to his daughter Theodora

Lease dated 1646 of Moynes Hall …
• from Torrell Jocelyn and his daughter
Theodora to Samuel Fortrey, for one month

More Documents for …
• Torrell Jocelyn [1647] (indexed as Sorrell)
• Theodora Fortrey (nee Joscelin) [1691]

Lots of questions
• Was Elizabeth Joscelin ever at Moynes Hall,
and when?
• What did Theodora think of her mother?
• What was Torrell Jocelyn like, and where did
he live?
• Can we transcribe the Norris documents, and
what do they tell us?
• …

… and Finally

A little about me
• a computer professional, not a historian
• fascinated by studying my village history
– Holywell with Needingworth
– I am doing a “One Place Study”
• only 7 years into my “50 year project”!
• recently been developing, and using, an
historic mapping system

You may have seen …
• U3A 2014 talk: Exploring the History of a Village
• Our local history group
• Needingworth Fire walks (2017)
• Website hcnhistory.org.uk

Other interesting people from HcN
• Isaac Crowson - London provision merchant
• Sanders Spencer - successful pig breeder
• The Frasers - a family of artists
• Sir Ambrose Nicholas - Lord Mayor of London
• William Chaderton - Bishop of Lincoln
• Thomas Tenison - Archbishop of Canterbury
• Kate Langham Butcher - A cook in Dorothy L Sayers family
• Robert Butcher - blacksmith who died from a gun accident
• John Butcher - Robert's father, a beer retailer & blacksmith
• …

... and ....
• John Thang Harradine - A farmer, transported to Australia
• Mary Anne Garrett - lady's maid to Queen Victoria
• Jonathan Miles Weston Flood - Overseer of our workhouse
• William Radford - founded a large saw mill in Wisconsin
• Caroline Harvey - children’s maid in London
• Lizzie Gaunt - lost all 4 sons before she died
• Henry Alexis Chodak-Gregory – born in Tashkent
• Mavis de Vere Cole – Augustus John’s muse, Mrs Mortimer
Wheeler
• .....and lots more

… and it is not just People …
There are the:
– Buildings
– Newspapers
– Stories
– Images
– etc, etc
We also lead various walks round the village.

Any questions?
hcnhistory.org.uk
and
bit.ly/m4ops
(Mapping for One-Place Studies)

D02162n elizabeth joscelin

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