Lucy Knatchbull

Caroline Bowden (Queen Mary, University of London)

Ed. by Jacqueline Eales, Canterbury Christ Church University
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.04: English Writing and Culture of the Seventeenth Century, 1625-1688.
Vol. editors: Jennifer Brady (Rhodes College), Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Neil Forsyth (Université de Lausanne), Claire Preston (Queen Mary, University of London), J A Roe (University of York), Virginia Mason Vaughan (Clark University)

Dates

Born 1584
Died 1629
Activity 1608-1629

Places

Born in England
Active in Belgium

Activities

Primary

Nun
Religious writer

Resources

Knatchbull's Works

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Lucy Knatchbull (1584-1629; name in baptism Elizabeth) was the daughter of a Kent landowning family: Reginald Knatchbull of Saltwood Castle and his wife Ann Elizabeth Crispe. She was brought up as a Catholic, but according to her own account of her life had no thought of a religious life until she was seventeen. A lengthy period of soul searching lasting three years led her to decide to enter the Benedictine convent recently founded by Mary Percy in Brussels. A detailed chronology of this part of her life is made more difficult by conflicting versions of dates. The profession records at the Brussels convent tell us that she was received into the convent in 1608, clothed in 1609 and professed on 11 January 1611. Her progress to profession was not entirely straightforward: at one stage in…

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805 words

Citation: Bowden, Caroline. "Lucy Knatchbull". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 13 January 2009 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=12537, accessed 25 November 2024.]