Women, Madness and Sin in Early Modern England

Book excerpt: The narrative presented here is a rare, detailed autobiographical account of one woman's experience of mental disorder in seventeenth-century England. Katharine Hodgkin presents in modern typography an annotated edition of the author's manuscript of this unusual and compelling text. Also included are prefaces to the narrative written by Fitzherbert and others, and letters written shortly after her mental crisis, which develop her account of the episode.