Lady Margaret Hoby

Julie Crawford (Columbia University)

Ed. by J A Roe, University of York
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.03: English Writing and Culture: Renaissance (Elizabethan and Jacobean periods) , 1485-1625.
Vol. editors: William M. Hamlin (Washington State University), J A Roe (University of York), Virginia Mason Vaughan (Clark University), Ema Vyroubalova (Trinity College Dublin)

Dates

Born 1571
Died 4 Sep 1633
Activity 1599-1633

Places

Born in England
Active in England

Activities

Primary

Letter-writer/ Diarist

Resources

Hoby's Works

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Margaret Hoby (c.1571-1633) is best known for the diary she kept between August 9, 1599 and July 21, 1605, a period covering, among other things, the 1601 Essex rebellion, the death of Elizabeth I, and the accession of James I. The diary comprises 59 folios (118 pages) and is written in her own hand – a hand, as the diary’s editor points out, “well accustomed to the use of the pen” (Meads, x). Until recently, Hoby’s diary has been seen as the life record of a “very private Elizabethan lady", a private document “kept largely as a means of assisting in the religious exercise of self-examination", or as part of the “self-imposed career” of a “Puritan saint” (Meads, 47; Moody, xv; Mendelson, 189; Willen, 563). It has been of interest to literary scholars largely for its…

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2472 words

Citation: Crawford, Julie. "Lady Margaret Hoby". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 13 February 2014 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=12990, accessed 24 November 2024.]