Lady Anne Clifford as Mother and Matriarch: Domestic and Dynastic Issues in her Life and Writings

Abstract

This essay interprets the life and writings of Lady Anne Clifford with a new focus on Clifford’s maternal experiences in the context of the early modern aristocratic family. Clifford’s ownwritings reveal her anxieties about pregnancy and her experiences as a mother who lost five infant sons yet nurtured two daughters to maturity, thence to become a thriving grandmother. It also uncovers and corrects an error in the genealogical record regarding the birth of Clifford’s son, demonstrating the need to reframe historical inquiry to include domestic evidence and subjective life-writings. Clifford’s case reveals the extent to which motherhood, besides being her biological destiny, was a foundation of identity and a vital source of cultural authority for the early modern woman.