What we particularly observed in our Reverend Mother of happy memory’s constant practices in perfection and solid virtue: 1 Sister Ursula’s tribute to Margaret of Jesus

This chapter contains Sister Ursula’s earliest account of Sister Margaret’s life. Her drafts of this material also survive, drawn up on the backs of used letters, details in which give guidance for the dating of this material. ² These details suggest that the Life was written between the late summer of 1680 and Sister Ursula’s own death in 1700; an early date within this range is most likely since accounts of this kind were generally compiled as an obituary soon after the death of the nun in question, and this suggestion is borne out by the tone of the final passages, and because no mention is made here of events after Sister Margaret’s death.