A SWEETE SAVOR, FOR WOMAN

GEMMS Sermon ID
GEMMS-SERMON- 16869
(old series: GEMMS-SERMON-17565)
Sermon Title
A SWEETE SAVOR, FOR WOMAN
Extent
ff. 28v–66v
Autograph
Yes
Composition Date
ca. 1606 - 1606
Primary Language
English
Sermon Type
Sermon
Bible Text
Colossians 4:5 - 4:5
Preachings
Additional Material

There is a title page (f. 3r); an opening poem (f. 4r); an epistle dedicated ‘To my gratious good quine anna, by the grace of god quine of England, etz’ (ff. 5r–11v); and an epistle addressed ‘To the reader, in ienerall’ (ff. 12r–13v). This additional material is followed by a section entitled ‘from woman to woman’, with running heads. This particular section includes an interpretation of two passages from the Book of Revelations, a watercolour emblem with accompanying verse, and some anti-Catholic poetry (ff. 14r–23r). It is most likely that the illustrations were not executed by the author (see Trill (2002), p. 213 n. 21). After the sermon (ff. 28v–66v), there is a return to the ‘initial subject matter […] the definition of the true church’ (ff. 67r–70r; see Trill (2000), p. 472). Finally, there are three more watercolour emblems, a series of verses, and a request for patronage (ff. 71r–79r).

Description

In 2000, Suzanne Trill argued that this volume contains ‘the first (and only?) attempt by a woman writer to construct a sermon in English in the early seventeenth century’ (p. 471). The author of this manuscript is ‘anna Walker, Daughter off george busch, born in Kopenhagen vpon the holm, in peter munckst house, now ri[e]sch amrall in denmarck’ (f. 79r). Trill notes that Walker’s choice of text puns on her surname. See Suzanne Trill, ‘A Feminist Critic in the Archives: reading Anna Walker’s A Sweete Savor for Woman (c. 1606)’, Women’s Writing, 9.2 (2002), pp. 199–214 for a full analysis of the sermon.

Source of Data (Contributor name)

Suzanne Trill, ‘The First Sermon in English by a Woman Writer?’, Notes and Queries, 47.4 (2000), pp. 470–73; Suzanne Trill, ‘A Feminist Critic in the Archives: reading Anna Walker’s A Sweete Savor for Woman (c. 1606)’, Women’s Writing, 9.2 (2002), pp. 199–214; Christina Luckyj, '"A Womans Logicke": Puritan women writers and the rejection of education', in The Routledge Companion to Women, Sex, and Gender in the Early British Colonial World, ed. by Kimberly Anne Coles and Eve Keller (Abingdon and New York, NY: Routledge, 2019), pp. 154-169 (pp. 156-159); Hannah Yip.

Other Note

The sermon is written in a secretary hand, with catchwords at the bottom of every page. There are some marginal annotations. There are also some annotations and underlinings in a different hand. This sermon was most likely intended to be read rather than preached.

GEMMS record created
June 25, 2019
GEMMS record last edited
July 12, 2024