학술논문
9 Everyday religious and life-cycle events in the diaries of Richard Stonley
Document Type
Book
Author
Source
Religion and life cycles in early modern England. :194-213
Subject
Language
Abstract
On 29 August 1582, Richard Stonley, a civil servant in Westminster, noted in his diary that he had attended the christening of his grandson. After listing the guests at the event, he concluded the entry ‘with thankes to god for that Dayes worke’. Stonley’s description of the event as a type of work reveals the interconnected ways in which pre-modern individuals experienced their routine and spiritual lives. By examining Stonley’s everyday experiences, this chapter shows that life-cycle events and religious practices were not separate from, but rather deeply integrated within quotidian working life. Stonley’s diaries are peppered with references to religious and life-cycle events, including childbirth, deaths, burials, baptisms and weddings. The three surviving volumes of Stonley’s diaries date from the 1580s and 1590s, and they provide a detailed account of daily life in London and Essex in the late sixteenth century. This chapter examines the diaries as an important resource for scholars of the late sixteenth century. Drawing on anthropological methods of analysis and interpretation, it demonstrates how analysing archival sources for details of everyday life can enable a more nuanced understanding of how early modern individuals experienced the life-cycle events which took place within their social networks.
Religion and life cycles in early modern England examines intersections between religion and all stages of the life course. It considers rites of passage that shaped an individual’s life, such as birth, death, marriage and childbirth. It investigates everyday lived experiences including attending school and church, going to work, praying, writing letters and singing hymns. It sets examples from different contexts alongside each other and traces how different religious confessions were impacted by the religious and political changes that occurred in the two centuries following the Reformation. These approaches demonstrate the existence of multiple and overlapping understandings of the life cycle in early modern England. The collection is structured around three phases: birth, childhood and youth; adulthood and everyday life; and the dying and the dead. Coexisting with the bodily life cycle were experiences which formed the social life cycle such as schooling, joining a profession, embarking on travel abroad, marriage, parenthood and widowhood. Woven through these occurrences, an individual’s religious life cycle can be seen: the occasions when they were welcomed into a particular faith; when they were tempted to convert; when they joined the ministry or a convent. Early modern individuals often reflected on times they personally acknowledged to have transformed their life or events which instigated their spiritual awakening. They did so creatively in diaries, letters, plays, portraits, diagrams, sermons, poetry and hymns. In this interdisciplinary collection, the complex meanings of life-cycle events for early modern people are shown to be shaped by religious belief and experience.
Religion and life cycles in early modern England examines intersections between religion and all stages of the life course. It considers rites of passage that shaped an individual’s life, such as birth, death, marriage and childbirth. It investigates everyday lived experiences including attending school and church, going to work, praying, writing letters and singing hymns. It sets examples from different contexts alongside each other and traces how different religious confessions were impacted by the religious and political changes that occurred in the two centuries following the Reformation. These approaches demonstrate the existence of multiple and overlapping understandings of the life cycle in early modern England. The collection is structured around three phases: birth, childhood and youth; adulthood and everyday life; and the dying and the dead. Coexisting with the bodily life cycle were experiences which formed the social life cycle such as schooling, joining a profession, embarking on travel abroad, marriage, parenthood and widowhood. Woven through these occurrences, an individual’s religious life cycle can be seen: the occasions when they were welcomed into a particular faith; when they were tempted to convert; when they joined the ministry or a convent. Early modern individuals often reflected on times they personally acknowledged to have transformed their life or events which instigated their spiritual awakening. They did so creatively in diaries, letters, plays, portraits, diagrams, sermons, poetry and hymns. In this interdisciplinary collection, the complex meanings of life-cycle events for early modern people are shown to be shaped by religious belief and experience.