Women’s Writing during the Dutch Revolt: the Religious Authority and Political Agenda of Cornelia and Susanna Teellinck, 1554–1625

Abstract

It was once widely accepted that early modern women chose to write on religious subjects because this was a less audacious, more modest type of authorship than original works on secular subjects.1 Over the last twentyfive years, however, scholars of English religious history have repudiated this notion, following Phyllis Mack’s lead in highlighting the political dimensions of women’s religious writings.2 Historian Patricia Crawford explained that religion was women’s most powerful justification for activity outside their conventional roles.”3 However, this shift in perspective has not yet been adopted by Dutch scholars who have argued that Netherlandish women were not able to engage in impassioned or controversial political debate before the eighteenth century.4 This article will reveal that sixteenthand seventeenth-century Netherlandish women did indeed employ Reformed Protestantism not only to justify their desire to write and publish, but also to supply the religious language they used to articulate political concerns without running afoul of the Reformed Church. As early as 1572, two years prior to the seven northern provinces’ adoption of the Reformed Church as the official religion, two sisters living in the province of Zeeland justified the writing, the circulation, and eventually the publication of their written work through their adherence to orthodox Calvinism. This study of Cornelia Teellinck (1554–1576) and Susanna Teellinck (1551–1625)