| Based on the examination of more than 150 works of private literature (diaries, memoirs, letters) and prescriptive texts (treatises, advice books, orations), this dissertation explores three main areas of the maternal role---physical care, religious training and educational instruction---to illuminate not only the messages mothers were listening to and reading, but also to show how they themselves perceived their roles. Inquiring to what extent mothers not only performed their roles as instructed, but also actually shaped the lives of their children, this study will underscore the importance of the seventeenth century in the evolution of "modern" childrearing. It is in the seventeenth century (especially in England) that maternal breastfeeding becomes an ideal embraced by mothers; that swaddling begins to decline; that children's literature becomes copious; and that childrearing becomes a central concern of an increasing quantity of literature.; Chapter One explores familial accounts of husbands and children that depict mothers as affectionate and devoted caregivers who confronted medical and societal challenges in their efforts to provide a safe and nurturing environment. Chapter Two examines the dedication of mothers as the spiritual guides of their children, and delineates their roles in catechizing the household. Interestingly, an analysis of funeral sermons for women both illuminates the significant role of mothers who nurtured the religious environment of their children and servants, and recognizes women as mentors and models of spiritual devotion. Chapter Three uncovers the faithful role mothers assumed as the early educators of their children, a role amplified as mothers maintained a relentless devotion to their sons while they were away at school.; In Chapter Four, a close examination of the characteristics of four mothers---Margaret More Roper, Anne Cooke Bacon, Elizabeth Cary and Susanna Wesley---reveals some interesting findings such as a sense of purpose, the ability to pursue intellectual interests while remaining devoted to welfare of their children, and a capacity to continue to shape the lives of their offspring after they left home. What makes this particular inquiry unique is the investigation of these well-known women whose roles as mothers emerge more saliently from the literature but have not been adequately described.; This study will now provide such information based on the reading of the sources. This failure is all the more surprising because of their prominence, especially in the case of Elizabeth Cary whose own literary work has been exclusively studied in recent years. An outlying sixteenth-century figure, Margaret More Roper's case is anomalous because of the exceptional progressivism of her father, who pioneered the education of women in England. Susanna Wesley is profiled in this study because aside from a simple hagiographical comment on her in the Methodist tradition, there is no critical assessment of her role as mother. Anne Cooke Bacon's significant role in the education of her two children has been overshadowed by the accomplishments of her famous son Francis. |
