Naomi Baker

Maidstone council requests pardon for 17th Century 'witches' Maidstone Borough Council says alleged witches are "victims of a huge injustice rooted in misogyny".

Several of the women I write about in Voices of Thunder were accused of being witches - it was done to silence and shame them because they were uncomfortably outspoken and nonconformist. Great to see someone advocating for women like them! #earlymodern #witch

Spotted in the wild for the first time!! 🤩 At Blackwells on Oxford Rd in Manchester - so exciting to see it making its way into the world after so long in my head 🧡

Had a great time today chatting with @sixteenthcgirl.bsky.social for the Not Just the Tudors podcast on History Hit. Watch out next week for the episode on Voices of Thunder and radical 17th-century women!

Thank you, @drnaomibaker.bsky.social. 👏 It really is vital for a wide public to be aware of the path by which we get to real conquests - not just to fully appreciate these, but also not to take them for granted.

#earlymodern #quaker

Hester Biddle was a Quaker preacher who was imprisoned 14 times, often simply for preaching. She was enraged by the growing inequalities of C17th London and warned that God would judge those who ignored the needs of those begging for food on the streets. Ch 7 of Voices of Thunder tells her story

… to her spiritual authority. Her sermons in 1645-6 drew thousands. She and her fellow women preachers were nevertheless denounced by some as a “brazen-faced, strange, new feminine brood”.

#earlymodern #womenpreachers

Ch 6 of Voices of Thunder tells the inspiring story of the London lace woman Elizabeth Attaway, the first C17th woman to preach publicly to a mixed-sex congregation. Her Baptist church did not let women preach, but Attaway did not allow her low social status or her sex to be a barrier … 1/2

A serious contender for my favourite woman in Voices of Thunder! Anna Trapnel was a young woman who publicly criticised Oliver Cromwell. A thorn in the side of the authorities, she was accused of being a witch. Trapnel was a true radical, advocating for a fairer society for all. #earlymodern

Absolutely! It keeps being treated as a new phenomenon when it’s been with us as long as Christianity itself

As the first female Archbishop of Canterbury is appointed, it’s worth remembering that dissenting women were preaching to mixed sex congregations in London as early as 1645. My book Voices of Thunder has a whole section on 17th-century “she-preachers”

#earlymodern

Sarah Wight, a 17th-century London teenager and Baptist who struggled with extreme anxiety, is the subject of Chapter 4 of Voices of Thunder. Sarah co-wrote a searing but ultimately inspirational account of her experiences. She went on to become a well-known spiritual counsellor. #earlymodern

So true!

🙏🤩

Thank you!

Thank you!

Thank you! 🙏

I just received the first copies of my book and I have to say it’s looking gorgeous! 😍 Thank you @reaktionbooks.bsky.social for making such a beautiful book #earlymodern

Yes - she was motivated by the need to testify to the authenticity of her faith

… She claimed to have a message from God - don’t kill the king. Although she was given a hearing, Poole’s boldness was threatening and soon afterwards she was denounced as a witch 2/2 #earlymodern #witches #womenshistory

Ch 3 of Voices of Thunder tells the story of the self-proclaimed prophet Elizabeth Poole, one of the only women of her era to intervene in political debate at the highest level. Just weeks before Charles I’s execution, Poole demanded an audience with Cromwell and the council of officers. 1/2

#earlymodern #autobiography

Ch 1 of Voices of Thunder tells Rose Thurgood’s story. She lived in Colchester, where she and her children were poor to the point of starvation. As a C17th woman writing from this perspective, her voice in the archive is unique. Her account of her life is in manuscript @thejohnrylands.bsky.social

Just two weeks until Voices of Thunder is published! If you’re interested in hearing the stories of a dozen radical seventeenth-century women, it can be pre-ordered now ⚡️#earlymodern #womenshistory

Yes, I need to confirm it with the book review editor but I’m sure it will be fine

I’d like to review The Psalms in English, if possible?

Cover of the book The Word made Flesh: Lutheran Bodies, 1600-1720 by Karin Sennefelt. The over image shows an etching of a young woman in a dress but bare foot flying through the air during a lightning storm.

The Word made Flesh is out today! I've not seen it in the flesh myself yet, but this is a happy day after many years of work.
#EarlyModern #medhist #histmed #bodyhistory

This looks good.

The remarkable Wentworth, who published accounts of her experience of spousal abuse, is one of a dozen dissenting 17th-century women whose incredible stories I tell in my book, “Voices of Thunder: Radical Religious Women of the Seventeenth Century.”
#booksky 📚💙

Yes, but the women in my book turn their faith to radical ends and it enables them to undermine the patriarchy and fight for peace

Refusing to be silenced Voices of Thunder: Radical Religious Women of the Seventeenth CenturyNaomi Baker, Reaktion Books, £16.99WOMEN have been describing their experiences of male abuse for centuries — we just haven’t alway...

morningstaronline.co.uk/article/refu...