This three-day, interdisciplinary research symposium will focus on Lucy Hutchinson (1620-81), an accomplished but understudied writer, as it explores how women writers participated in the intellectual debates of the English Civil War. The symposium is timed to coincide with Hutchinson’s 400th birthday, and with the reopening of Nottingham Castle, where Hutchinson lived during the Civil War.
Family Ties -How Lucy Hutchinson’s Royalist Family impacted her Puritan Reality
Talk by Elizabeth St. John
June 23 6:00 pm
Lucy Hutchinson, was born into a life of power and privilege at the Queen’s House in the Tower of London. In her formative years she lived the highly advantaged life of a young girl whose father, Sir Allen Apsley, was a trusted advisor to King Charles I. Her station came as result of her mother’s aristocratic connections – Lucy St.John was born into an ancient English family proud of its royal ancestors, and Hutchinson’s aunt, Barbara St.John Villiers, leveraged the patronage of her brother-in-law, the Duke of Buckingham, to facilitate Apsley’s purchase of the office of Lieutenant of the Tower. By the time Lucy married Colonel John Hutchinson, civil war was imminent. But, despite Lucy embracing Colonel Hutchinson’s parliamentary views, and ultimately his role as a regicide, she maintained loving ties with her Royalist brother Allen, and favourite cousin Anne Wilmot, Countess of Rochester. And, throughout the interregnum and the subsequent restoration of the monarchy, Lucy Hutchinson accepted assistance from her influential Royalist relatives to secure a death sentence pardon for her husband, the king-killer.
In this presentation, Elizabeth St.John explores Lucy Hutchinson’s powerful Royalist family connections, and how the St.John, Wilmot and Villiers families impacted Lucy’s life—ultimately securing the fate of the Memoirs.
Elizabeth’s presentation is open to the public. Bookings will be available on the conference website in April, 2020.