“She Suffered for My Sake”: Female Martyrs and Lay Activists in Transatlantic Quakerism, 1650–1710

Abstract

This chapter examines the relationship between female suffering and active participation within the early decades of Quakerism. Using personal correspondence and spiritual testimonies penned by Quaker women and their male relatives, it shows how women’s lives were shaped and disrupted by their conversion to the movement. The chapter is organised around two arenas that provided British and colonial female Quakers with opportunities to play a direct role within the developing movement: the home and the Women’s Meetings. These are two aspects of Quaker women’s identities that have often been marginalised in early Quaker history in favour of their more prophetic and radical gestures. Through adopting this dual focus and focussing on the more ‘everyday’ aspects of these women’s experiences, it aims to show how widespread suffering and persecution shaped women’s experiences and identities in interesting and powerful ways.