Lucy Hutchinson

This book has been considered by academicians and scholars of great significance and value to literature. This forms a part of the knowledge base for future generations. We have represented this book in the same form as it was first published. Hence any marks seen are left intentionally to preserve its true nature.

These Memoirs, first published in 1806, show the determination of Lucy Hutchinson (1620–1681) to justify the stance of her husband Colonel John Hutchinson. In 1649 he had signed the death warrant of Charles I and went on to serve on the Council of State, but, after becoming disillusioned with Cromwell, was arrested and died in prison. Hutchinson turned her journal of the war years into a memoir, portraying her husband as a gentleman who stood by his convictions and whose allegiance to the Puritan cause was noble. The work is a significant document for the social history of the English Civil War period. It shows the author as a highly educated and accomplished woman who wrote poetry and religious works as well as translating Latin at a time when most women remained in the private sphere. For more information on this author, see http://orlando.cambridge.org/public/svPeople?person_id=hutclu

Order and Disorder, the first epic poem by an Englishwoman, has never before been available in its entirety. The first five cantos were printed anonymously in 1679, but fifteen further cantos remained in manuscript, probably because they were so politically sensitive. David Norbrook, widely recognized as a leading authority on Renaissance literature and politics, has now attributed the work to the republican, Lucy Hutchison. In this prestigious scholarly volume, he provides a wealth of editorial matter, along with the first full version of Order and Disorder ever to be published.

Order and Disorder, the first epic poem by an Englishwoman, has never before been available in its entirety. The first five cantos were printed anonymously in 1679, but fifteen further cantos remained in manuscript, probably because they were so politically sensitive. David Norbrook, widely recognized as a leading authority on Renaissance literature and politics, has now attributed the work to the republican, Lucy Hutchison. In this prestigious scholarly volume, he provides a wealth of editorial matter, along with the first full version of Order and Disorder ever to be published.