Thomas Bentley
The Monument of Matrones: Conteining Seven Severall Lamps of Virginitie, or Distinct Treatises; Whereof the First Five Concerne Praier and Meditation: the Other Two Last, Precepts and Examples
London: Imprinted by Henrie Denham, 1582
Folger Shelf Mark: STC 1892 Copy 1
The title page of the second volume of the work shown here, The Second Lampe of Virginitie, places Elizabeth in the company of royal women who had authored devotional tracts-Marguerite d'Angoulême, Catherine Parr, and the biblical queen Esther. Marguerite d'Angoulême, Queen of Navarre, wrote Miroir de l'âme pechereuse, the text that an eleven-year-old Elizabeth translated with the title The glasse of the synnefull soule, and presented to Catherine Parr, Queen of England, as a New Year's gift. Parr was largely responsible for Elizabeth's humanist education, which emphasized classical languages and biblical study. Bentley also included devotional writings by Parr as well as the deathbed writings of Lady Jane Grey.
Patrick Collinson raises the question of whether this volume was really meant for female readers or if it was "simply a monstrous literary conceit." Such an inquiry is not unreasonable, given that the collection was created as an appeal for court patronage by Bentley, who was then a student at Gray's Inn. As it was published after the termination of the French marriage negotiations, the book also contributed to the construction and celebration of the Queen's perpetual virginity.
For more information, consult Patrick Collinson, "Windows onto a Woman's Soul" in Elizabethan Essays (London: The Hambledon Press, 1994); Helen Hackett, Virgin Mother, Maiden Queen: Elizabeth I and the Cult of the Virgin Mary (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1995); John N. King, Tudor Royal Iconography: Literature and Art in an Age of Religious Crisis (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1989).
Thomas Bentley first published the Monument for Matrones in 1582 and planned a total of seven volumes. The collection of about 1,600 pages is comprised of prayers and meditations written by, for, or relating to women. It also contains a catalogue of famous women and a catechism for mothers to use to instruct their children before they received communion.
