Mary Sidney, Lady Wroth

Margaret P. Hannay, Professor of English at Siena College, is the author of Mary Sidney, Lady Wroth and Philip's Phoenix: Mary Sidney, Countess of Pembroke, editor of Silent but for the Word: Tudor Women as Patrons, Translators, and Writers of Religious Works, and editor, with Susanne Woods, of Teaching Tudor and Stuart Women Writers. With Noel J. Kinnamon and Michael G. Brennan, she has edited The Collected Works of Mary Sidney Herbert, Countess of Pembroke; Selected Works of Mary Sidney Herbert, Countess of Pembroke; Domestic Politics and Family Absence: The Correspondence (1588-1621) of Robert Sidney, First Earl of Leicester, and Barbara Gamage Sidney, Countess of Leicester; and The Correspondence of Dorothy Percy Sidney, Countess of Leicester.

• List of Plates, Preface, Acknowledgments, List of Abbreviations, Chronology, Lady Mary Wroth’s Family Alliances, Sidney Family Tree, Wroth Family Tree, Prologue: The Sidney Porcupine and the Gamage Griffin, 1 “Little Mall” (1587–94), 2 “A Fit Maid for the Queen” (1595–1603), 3 “Lady Worth” (1604), 4 “So Brave a Mind” (1605–13), 5 “Nature’s Index” (1614–20), 6 “Art’s Sweet Lover” (1621–30), 7 “The Honorable Lady Wroth” (1630–51), Epilogue, Bibliography, Index

Prize: Winner of the Society for the Study of Early Modern Women Book Award, 2011 Classified as 'Basic Essential' by Baker & Taylor YBP Library Services. 'Margaret Hannay’s Mary Sidney, Lady Wroth is a deeply impressive work of scholarship, notable for its remarkable scope and meticulous detail. The book brims with valuable information and astute observations about Wroth’s literary career, marriage, children, and social life, and corrects the record on a number of key points with new archival evidence. Hannay richly describes Wroth’s world and offers a thoroughly engaging portrait of the brilliant Mary Wroth herself.' Elaine V. Beilin, Framingham State College, USA 'This first full-length biography of Lady Mary Wroth offers an exciting and authoritative new contribution to Renaissance studies. Scrupulously researched and compulsively readable, Margaret Hannay's narrative vividly conveys the personal life, court career and prolific literary productivity of this remarkably talented and creative member of the Sidney family.' Michael G. Brennan, University of Leeds, UK ’This is a fascinating study of one of the most interesting and provocative writers of the English Renaissance. Summing Up: Highly recommended.’ Choice ’This definitve biography is especially welcome as its author is Margaret P. Hannay, the biographer and editor of Mary Sidney Herbert, Countess of Pembroke, Wroth's aunt (and William Herbert's mother)...Hannay's meticulous research has unearthed significant findings about her subject's later life, and about the illegitimate twins she bore to William Herbert.’ Times Literary Supplement 'This biography will not only provide new and fascinating information for scholars already familiar with Wroth's work, it is also a fine introduction for those less familiar with her life and extensive oeuvre. Ashgate has provided Hannay with excellent production values and the book is well illustrated...' Parergon 'This is the first full-length biograph