ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT This article takes as its subject the devotional writings of Katherine Parr and how they interacted with the rapidly changing conditions of the Henrician and Edwardian religious settlements. Initially, points of comparison are established between the modes of authorship of Askew and Parr, leading to an examination of cultural pressures being exerted on women seeking public speaking positions within Tudor society. Subsequent analysis leads to a detailed account of the ways in which Parr engages in and/or disengages from strategies of devotional identity formation in her various writings and acts of patronage. Parr’s “Prayers or Medytacions” and “Lamentacion of a Synner” are the dominant foci of interest throughout the article and are studied in the context of wider Reformist thinking and publications during the middle decades of the sixteenth century. The latter phase of this article concentrates on the post-Henrician period of Parr’s life and how her (and indeed others’) role as patron may be explored in terms of authorship and cultural engagement.
