An Edition of the Letters of Dorothy Percy Sidney, Countess of Leicester (1598-1659)

FAIN: FT-55623-08

Noel J. Kinnamon
Mars Hill College (Mars Hill, NC 28754-9134)

With Margaret Hannay (Siena College) and Michael Brennan (U of Leeds), I am editing the correspondence of Dorothy Percy Sidney (DPS), Countess of Leicester (1598-1659), whose letters, especially the 50 to her husband, Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester (1598-1677), are remarkable for providing a woman's perspective on marriage, politics, social relations, family life, and other topics of relevance to the seventeenth century. There is an increasing awareness of the value of women's letter-writing in the period, yet few reliable editions of their letters are available. A complete and accurate edition of DPS's letters will provide primary texts containing a wealth of information about the domestic, political, and material culture of early modern England. We have a contract from Ashgate Press, based on a proposal, but I am responsible for the textual work, which will require travel to archives in the UK.

Associated Products

The Correspondence (c. 1626-1659) of Dorothy Percy Sidney, Countess of Leicester (Book)
Title: The Correspondence (c. 1626-1659) of Dorothy Percy Sidney, Countess of Leicester
Editor: Michael Brennan
Editor: Noel Kinnamon
Editor: Margaret Hannay
Abstract: The letters of Dorothy Percy Sidney, Countess of Leicester, dating predominantly from about 1636 until 1643, cover a wide range of issues and vividly illustrate her centrality to her illustrious family's personal and public affairs. These c.100 letters are here for the first time fully transcribed and edited. The edition includes a biographical and historical introduction, setting the context of the Sidneys' family and political activities at the time of Dorothy's marriage to Robert in 1615 and then tracing the major events and involvements of her life until her death in 1659. A key to the cipher used in the letters to disguise identities of individuals is also supplied. Following the introduction is the complete text of each of Dorothy Percy Sidney's letters to her husband, Robert, second Earl of Leicester, and to and from William Hawkins, the Sidney family solicitor, along with several others, including letters from Dorothy to Archbishop Laud and the Earl of Holland. Her husband's account of her last moments in 1659, and testamentary directions relating to her will, are also included. The letters are arranged in chronological order and supported by a series of footnotes that elucidate their historical context and briefly to identify key individuals, places, political issues and personal concerns. These notes are further supported by selective quotations from Dorothy's incoming correspondence and other related letters and documents. A glossary supplies more detailed information on 'Persons and Places.' Dorothy Percy Sidney's letters eloquently convey how, even with her undoubted personal potency and shrewd intelligence, the multifaceted roles expected of an able and determined aristocratic early modern Englishwoman-especially when her husband was occupied abroad on official business-were intensely demanding and testing.
Year: 2010
Primary URL: http://www.worldcat.org/title/correspondence-c1626-1659-of-dorothy-percy-sidney-countess-of-leicester/oclc/651915775&referer=brief_results
Primary URL Description: WorldCat
Publisher: Ashgate
Type: Scholarly Edition
ISBN: 9780754657699
Copy sent to NEH?: Yes

Prizes

Josephine Roberts Award for the Best Scholarly Edition Published in 2010
Date: 10/20/2011
Organization: Society for the Study of Early Modern Women
Abstract: It is hard to imagine a more comprehensive, meticulously researched, and minutely detailed edition than this one of the correspondence of Dorothy Percy Sidney, Countess of Leicester, from the early reign of Charles I through to her death on the eve of the Stuart restoration in 1659, by the experienced editorial team of Brennan, Kinnamon, and Hannay (editors of writings by Mary Sidney Herbert, Countess of Pembroke, as well as by Robert Sidney, first Earl of Leicester, and Barbara Gamage Sidney, Countess of Leicester). The substantial introduction is divided into major chronological and thematic sections—childhood and family, courtship, early married life and family connections, 1620s court politics, 1630s/40s royal service, an invaluable thematic outline Dorothy Percy Sidney's writings, and a detailed portrait of the Sidney complex fortunes during the English Civil Wars and Commonwealth (with moving commentary by her husband, brother, and son at the time of her death). At least as

---