Biographies of Reformation, Puritan, Covenanter and Huguenot Women of the Faith

(Miss Katherine G. Myers reading Marie Durand by Simonetta Carr)

I have often been asked to help provide biographical resources regarding leading ladies of the Reformation, Puritan, Scottish Covenanter and French Huguenot eras. Considering the volumes that have been written on Martin Luther’s “Katie” alone, such a list could be endless; but I have attempted here to consolidate the key resources that I would recommend, along with links to these volumes either in print or online for handy reference. I have left out such ladies as Anne Hutchinson, Marie Dentière, and Anna Maria van Schurman (known as “The Tenth Muse”), each of whom would require a separate blog post. There were many godly women who stood alongside the godly men of those days. Their stories are worthy to read and remain inspirational today.

1. J.H. Alexander, Ladies of the Reformation

2. James Anderson, Ladies of the Reformation: Memoirs of Distinquished Female Characters Belonging to the Period of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century... England, Scotland, and the Netherlands

3. James Anderson, The Ladies of the Covenant: Memoirs of distinguished Scottish female characters, embracing the period of the Covenant and the persecution

4. James Anderson, Memorable Women of the Puritan Times (Vol. 1; Vol. 2)

5. Roland Bainton, Women of the Reformation: In France and England The great biographer of Martin Luther has also spanned Europe to make known the stories of godly women of the Reformation era.

6. Roland Bainton, Women of the Reformation: In Germany and Italy

7. Roland Bainton: Women of the Reformation: From Spain to Scandinavia

8. Donald Beaton, Scottish Heroines of the Faith: Being Brief Sketches of Noble Women of the Reformation and Covenant Times

9. W.P. Breed, Jenny Geddes, or, Presbyterianism And Its Great Conflict With Despotism (See the first chapter particularly)

10. Simonetta Carr, Lady Jane Grey Simonetta Carr has done a great service to the church by her biographies, which are geared towards younger readers.

11. Simonetta Carr, Marie Durand Marie Durand was a French Camisard of whom I have written previously.

13. Simonetta Carr, Weight of a Flame: The Passion of Olympia Monata

14.William Chapman, Notable Women of the Covenant: Their Lives and Times

15. Faith Cook, Anne Bradstreet: Pilgrim and Poet Anne Bradstreet was also known as “The Tenth Muse.”

16. Faith Cook, Lady Jane Grey: Nine-Day Queen of England

17. W.H. Davenport Adams, The Sunshine of Domestic Life; or, Sketches of Womanly Virtues, and Stories of the Lives of Noble Women

18. J. Meldrum Dryerre, Heroes and Heroines of the Scottish Covenanters

19. Alice Morse Earle, Margaret Winthrop: Biography of a Puritan Woman, the Wife of John Winthrop, First Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony

20. James I. Good, [Famous] Women of the Reformed Church

21. John C. Johnston, Treasury of the Scottish Covenant (see the chapters on “The Women of the Covenant” and “The Wigtown Martyrs”)

21. Ernst Kroker, The Mother of the Reformation: The Amazing Life and Story of Katharine Luther

22. Hope Irvin Marston, Against the Tide: The Valor of Margaret Wilson The story of Margaret Wilson is inspirational, but heart-wrenching, so let the reader be forewarned.

23. J.C. McFeeters, Sketches of the Covenanters (see the chapter titled “The Daughters of the Covenant”)

24. Heidi L. Nichols, Anne Bradstreet: A Guided Tour of the Life and Thought of a Puritan Poet

25. Leslie Nuernberg, Only Glory Awaits: The Story of Anne Askew

26. Alexander Smellie, Men of the Covenant (see the chapter titled “Those Women Which Laboured in the Gospel”)

27. Ernst Staehelin, Frau Wibrandis: A Woman in the Time of Reformation

28. Rebecca VanDoodeward, Reformation Women: Sixteenth-Century Figures Who Shaped Christianity’s Rebirth

29. John T. Wilkinson, ed., Richard Baxter and Margaret Chilton: A Puritan Love Story; Being the Breviate of the Life of Margaret Baxter (Breviate online; J.I. Packer, A Grief Sanctified)

30. Paul F.M. Zahl, Five Women of the English Reformation The five women are: Anne Boleyn, Katharine Parr, Jane Grey, Anne Askew and Catherine Willoughby.

I wish to also commend the poetry of Elizabeth Melville, Lady Culross; the poetry of Anne Locke; the writings of Elizabeth West; the epic poem of Lucy Hutchinson; the memoirs of Mary Rich, Countess of Warwick; and the diary of Margaret Hoby; among other such writings.