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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 July 2009
Medieval civilization was centered on theology. Theology inspired its arts, and theology shaped its research in science, law, medicine, and philosophy. The dancers at the court of the queen of sciences were mostly male, and one wonders what their female contemporaries thought or knew of the theological issues that were fundamental to the culture of the period. By the end of the Middle Ages it is probable that there was a high literacy rate among women of the middle and upper classes. Although it is unlikely that these women remained ignorant of the major debates that enlivened the conversations of educated men, evidence of their participation in theological endeavors is scant. Since women were excluded from the universities and formal training in the techniques of scholastic argument, it was virtually impossible for them to develop careers as professional thinkers.
1. Lefkowitz, Mary R., “Women in Greek Myth,” American Scholar 54 (1985): 209,Google Scholar poses the same question about ancient Greek women and the mythology that structured their culture.
2. Green, Lowell, “Education of Women in the Reformation,” History of Education Quarterly 19 (1979): 93–116.CrossRefGoogle Scholar A more conservative position is taken by Warnicke, Retha M., Women of the English Renaissance and Reformation (Westport, Conn., 1983), p. 3.Google ScholarHoeppner, Jo Ann, The Growth of English Schooling, 1340–1548: Learning, Literacy, and Laicization in Pre-Reformation York Diocese (Princeton, 1985),Google Scholar presents evidence for schools in the area where Knox worked.
3. Shahar, Shulamith, The Fourth Estate: A History of Women in the Middle Ages (London, 1983), p. 259.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4. Ibid., p. 52. Dean G. Peerman and Marty E. Marty, eds., A Handbook of Christian Theologians (Nashville, 1984), list the members of what is still a male club.
5. Thomas, Keith, Religion and the Decline of Magic: Studies in Popular Beliefs in Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century England (New York, 1971), p. 137;Google ScholarWilson, Katharina M., Medieval Woman Writers (Athens, Ga., 1984).Google Scholar
6. Douglass, Jane Dempsey, “Christian Freedom: What Calvin Learned at the School of Women,” Church History 53 (1984): 155–173;CrossRefGoogle ScholarGreaves, Richard, ed., Triumph Over Silence: Women in Protestant History (London, 1985).Google Scholar
7. Davis, Natile, “City Women and Religious Change,” in Society and Culture in Early Modern France (Stanford, 1975), pp. 65–95.Google Scholar
8. The manuscript is housed in the library of the University of Edinburgh. The dedication of Knox's Commentary on the Sixth Psalm is also a letter to Bowes.
9. There is no letter that clearly marks the beginning of their correspondence.
10. John Knox, “An Answer to a letter of a Jesuit Named Tyrie,” in: Knox, John, The Works of John Knox, ed. Laing, David, 6 vols. (Edinburgh, 1846–1864), 6:514.Google Scholar (This collection hereafter will be cited as Works.)
11. Seven letters were transcribed without any dates; thirteen were entered with only an indication of the year when they were written. Since the year is usually obvious to a letter's recipient, an author is not likely to take the trouble to record it and then omit mention of the month or day. Indications of year alone are, therefore, probably the work of an editor.
12. For a reconstruction of this sequence, see Frankforter, A.Daniel, “The Chronology of the Knox-Bowes Correspondence,” Manuscribta (forthcoming).Google Scholar
13. Kyle, Richard, “The Concept of Predestination in the Thought of John Knox,” Westminster Theological Journal 46 (1984): 59, 55;Google ScholarCollinson, Patrick, “The Role of Women in the English Reformation Illustrated by the Life and Friendships of Anne Locke,” Studies in Church History, ed. Cuming, G.J. (London, 1965), p. 264;Google ScholarGreaves, Richard, “The Nature of Authority in the Writings of John Knox,” Fides et Historia 10 (1978); 47.Google ScholarRidley, Jasper, John Knox (Oxford, 1968), p. 131,Google Scholar notes that “it is fashionable today to laugh at Mrs. Bowes.” If Mrs. Bowes's spiritual sensitivity seems excessive to us, it was not unique to her or to her sex. See Knox's correspondence with Thomas Upcher (Works, 4:241–243), discussed by Reid, W. Stanford, “John Knox, Pastor of Souls,” Westminster Theological Journal 40 (1978):7.Google Scholar
14. Trevor-Roper, Hugh, “John Knox,” in The Listener 80 (1968): 747.Google Scholar
15. Letter 3 (in the numbering of the 1603 transcription), the “Alnwick cupboard” letter, is the only one ever cited as containing a possible, veiled reference to a moment of carnal temptation. Such a meaning can be given to the letter only by ignoring its context. See discussion below.
16. Ridley notes that Richard Bowes omitted his wife and daughter from his will and explicitly stated that his unmarried daughters should lose their portions if they married against the wishes of their uncles; Ridley, , John Knox, p. 143.Google Scholar
17. Knox, , “An Answer to a Letter of a Jesuit Named Tyrie,” Works, 6:513–520.Google Scholar
18. Ibid., 6:513.
19. This argument was advanced in Knox's, tract, “The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Wemen,” Works, 4:365–420.Google Scholar
20. Works, 3:340 (Letter 1).
21. Ibid., 3:348–350 (Letter 3), and 3:379–380 (Letter 18.2).
22. Ibid., 6:514. Knox did admit to insufficiency in these roles.
23. Ibid., 3:379–380 (Letter 18.2); 3:379, 338 (Letters 18.2 and 1); 3: 338, 350 (Letters 1 and 3); 3:337–338 (Letter 1).
24. The First Blast is the most famous example of Knox's misogynistic rhetoric, but it is not unique. Ridley claims that during the course of his life Knox grew progressively less “balanced” on the subject of women, John Knox, p. 475. Greaves, Richard, “John Knox and the Ladies, or the Controversy Over Gynecocracy,” Red River Valley Historical Journal 2 (1977): 6–16,Google Scholar disagrees.
25. Reid, , “John Knox,” p. 4.Google Scholar
26. Works, 6:513–520. Bowes's letters often addressed questions to him that were inspired by her own research; see, for example, ibid., 3:365–368 (Letter 13).
27. Ibid., 3:338, 348–350 (Letters 1 and 3).
28. Ibid., 3:353–355 (Letter 6). This was not the first letter they exchanged, for it refers to earlier questions she addressed to him which he had not had time to answer. There is no compelling reason, however, to date any of the other extant letters earlier than this one. The manuscript ascribes the letter to 22 December 1553, but two references to days of the week within the text prove that it was written in 1551.
29. Ibid., 3:350–352 (Letter 4). This letter cannot be securely dated, but circumstantial evidence places it between letters 6 and 3. In it Knox continues to complain of his illness. The texts he explains deal with the theme of letter 6, and the return to Berwick which he announced could have led to the meeting with Mrs. Bowes at Alnwick which he discusses in letter 3.
30. Ibid., 3:349–350 (Letter 3). The letter is dated 26 February 1553, but since Knox was in London on that date, not in Newcastle as the letter states, the letter was probably written on 26 February 1552.
31. Ibid., 3:352–353 (Letter 5). The letter is assigned a context by the fact that it comes from the period of Knox's illness and celebrates a new degree of openness between the two friends following on the Alnwick cupboard conversation.
32. Ibid., 3:397–402 (Letter 26). The transcriber of the manuscript of 1603 gave this letter no date at all, and it contains no personal or historical references. The scriptural passages discussed in it do correspond, however, to questions that letter 3 might have raised in any reader's mind.
33. Ibid., 3:362–364 (Letter 11). Letter 26 (above) closes with a note in which Knox acknowledges receipt of another letter asking about another passage. He says he will answer it when he can. Letter 11 may be the promised response, for its theme is consistent with questions raised by letter 3.
34. Knox did not offer or follow consistently the exegetical advice he gave Mrs. Bowes. When Mary Stewart suggested that his interpretations of scripture were only his opinions, he objected that there would be no confusion about the meaning of texts were it not for sinners who “obstinately remain ignorant”; The History of the Reformation in Scotland, in Works, 2:331–335. Knox himself inclined toward literalism. See Richard L. Greaves, ”Nature of Authority”; Kyle, Richard, “John Knox and Apocalyptic Thought,” Sixteenth Century Journal 15 (1984): 457–458.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
35. Works, 3:358–360 (Letter 9). The letter is ascribed erroneously by its 1603 editor to 1553. It was written from Carlisle, and Knox was in Carlisle in July of 1552 on his way to court in the train of the Duke of Northumberland. Torrence, Ian, “Patrick Hamilton and John Knox: A Study in the Doctrine of JustifIcation by Faith,” Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte 65 (1974): 171–184,Google Scholar demonstrates Knox's belief that redeemed sinners are still sinners.
36. Ibid., 3:364–365 (Letter 12). Knox was still in Carlisle when he wrote.
37. Ibid.
38. Ibid., 3:369 (Letter 14).
39. Ibid.
40. Thereafter Knox addressed Mrs. Bowes as “mother” rather than “sister.” Eight of his thirty letters to her may have been written in December-January, 1552–1553 (14, 10,9.2, 13, 24, 7,8, 20).
41. Works, 3:361–363 (Letter 10). For the equation of the mass and “idolatrie” in the correspondence, see Letter 15 (ibid., 3:371).
43. Ibid., 3:365–368 (Letter 13).
44. Ibid., 3:382–385 (Letter 20).
45. Ibid., 3:361 (Letter 10).
46. Ibid., 3:360 (Letter 9.2).
47. Ibid., 3:374 (Letter 16).
48. Ibid., 3:367 (Letter 13).
49. Ibid., 3:379–380 (Letter 18.2). The letter is dated reliably in the manuscript to 1 March 1553 when Knox was in London.
50. Ibid., 3:386–387 (Letter 21). The letter might be dated by the remarks Knox makes about himself. He speaks of feeling pride in his achievements and then undergoing a disillusioning experience. In March Knox had been invited to preach Lenten sermons at Court. This honor resulted in his being indicted before the Privy Council. He may have had this recent experience in mind when he wrote the letter (that is, in April 1553).
51. Ibid., 3:337–343 (Letter 1). The letter is dated reliably in the manuscript to 23 June 1553.
52. Ibid., 3:380–381 (Letter 19). The letter was probably written just before Knox's departure from London in October 1553, for he tells Mrs. Bowes that he plans shortly to be with her.
53. Ibid., 3:369–372 (Letter 15). The letter was written in October or November 1553 when Knox had returned to the north, but was not moving about openly.
54. Ibid., 3:376–379 (Letter 18). The letter was written shortly after 6 November 1553, for it reports on an interview Knox had on that date.
55. Ibid., 3:371 (Letter 15).
56. Ibid., 3:377 (Letter 18).
57. Kyle, Richard G., “John Knox: The Main Themes of His Thought,” Princeton Seminary Bulletin 4 (1983): 101;Google Scholar Kyle, “Concept of Predestination in the Thought of John Knox,” p. 56. The book is entitled: An Answer to the Cavillations of an Adversary Respecting the Doctrine of Predestination, in Works, 5:21–468.
58. Greaves, Richard L., Theology and Revolution in the Scottish Reformation (Grand Rapids, Mich., 1980), pp. 28–29.Google Scholar
59. Janton, Pierre, Concept et sentiment de l'église chez John Knox: le réformateur écossais (Paris, 1972), pp. 105–106.Google Scholar
60. Cowan, Ian, “Review: Kyle, The Mind of John Knox,” American Historical Review 90 (1985): 684–685.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
61. Greaves, , Theology and Revolution, p. 160.Google Scholar
62. Reid, , “John Knox,” p. 3.Google Scholar
63. Kyle, Richard, The Mind of John Knox (Lawrence, Kan., 1984), p. 80,Google Scholar quote at p. 105.
64. His later letters to Anne Locke are primarily reports on the progress of the Reformation in Scotland. Pastoral advice is limited to warnings not to compromise with the practices of the Church of England. The Bowes letters deserve a closer look by scholars of the history of Puritan introspection. Their themes relate to those discussed in Greaves, Richard, “The Puritan-Nonconformist Tradition in England, 1560–1700: Historiographical Reflections,” Albion 17 (1985): 462;CrossRefGoogle Scholar and Wallace, Dewey, Puritans and Predestination: Grace in English Protestant Theology, 1525–1695 (Chapel Hill, 1982).Google Scholar
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