Women in Early Modern England, 1550-1720

Were we to express the full sense of our indebtedness to all the archivists, colleagues, and friends who have helped make this book possible, then the preface would attain the length of a monograph in itself. We offer these brief acknowledgements as a token of our deep gratitude to all.

We begin with warm thanks to the librarians and archivists who have assisted our research, especially the staff of the following: the Bodleian Library (with particular thanks to the staff of the Duke Humfrey), the British Library (with special thanks to Michael Crump and Frances Harris), Dr Williams's Library, the Folger Shakespeare Library, the Guildhall Library, the Greater London Record Office, the London Friends' Library, Mills Library at McMaster University, and the Library of the University of Western Australia. We are grateful to the staff at county record offices and local archives, particularly the following: the Borthwick Institute, the Cumbria Record Office, the Devon Record Office, the Essex Record Office, the Hereford and Worcester County Record Office, the Hertfordshire County Record Office, the Norfolk Record Office, Oxford Archives, and the Somerset Record Office. We acknowledge the kindness of the Worshipful Company of Fishmongers, who allowed xerox copying from the typed calendar of their records, and the History of Parliament Trust, who permitted us to consult their records. It is a pleasure to acknowledge the generosity of colleagues who have shared references and archival material, including Ian Archer, Gerald Aylmer, Judith Bennett, Sylvia Bowerbank, Helen Brash, David Cressy, Julian Davies, Ian Gentles, Frances Harris, Felicity Heal, Cynthia Herrup, Sarah Jones, Anne Kugler, Anne Laurence, Mary O'Connor, Margaret Pelling, Patricia Phillips, Mary Prior, Keith Thomas, Tim Wales, Richard Wall, Joe Ward, Helen Weinstein, Amanda Whiting, and Sonya Wynne. Hassell Smith has kindly allowed access to his Bacon database at the Centre for East Anglian Studies.

Many colleagues and friends have generously shared their unpublished or forthcoming work, or have allowed us to consult their unpublished theses, including Richard Adair, Ian Archer, Judith Bennett, Maxine Berg, Sylvia Bowerbank, Vivien Brodsky, Linda Campbell, Miranda Chaytor, Maria Cioni, David Cressy, Julian Davies, T. A. Davies, Kevin Dillow, Frances Dolan, Amy Erickson, Doreen Evenden-Nagy, Judy Everard, Mary Fissell, Amy Froide, Ian Gentles, L. M. Glanz, Joan Goldsmith, Laura Gowing,

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