ABSTRACT
At seventy, Jane Leade was old, blind and weak but also a woman with an international reputation as the leader of the Philadelphian Society. Among her band of followers she was a woman of power and veneration. Conventionally, old women in early modem England were looked down upon. Among the poorest, often they were scorned and neglected and some aroused suspicions of being witches. Even though some men were viewed as wise and authoritative in old age, old women were treated with suspicion. Today, feminist scholarship's desire to reevaluate and valorize old age has given rise to literature on the subject of women and the body, an important strand in feminist writing. In this context Jane is a most interesting case: she was old and weak, though respected. Through an examination of her unusual appropriation of the language of spiritual warfare in her visionary experiences in old age, this chapter explores her self-figuration and discusses how she used the theme of transcendence to go beyond her own body and even death.
