Elizabethan woman's penance for adultery.- Legge (Thomas, playwright and college head, c. 1535-1607).- Parte of pennance... unto Agnes Hassard of Chetsham [Chettisham in the Isle of Ely], D.s. "Thomas Legge" & "Robert Penn", manuscript in 2 hands (one in Legge's autograph), 1p., tear affecting text where opened, small hole in lower margin, folds, slightly browned, folio, 24th July 1594.
⁂ "Good people I acknowledge and confesse that I have offended almightie god... by my euill example... I haue broken his diuine lawes... in Commitinge... adultrie or fornication... . The said penitent shall uppon Sundae... comminge clothed in a white sheet downe the ground and having a white wand in her hand resort unto the parish church porch... ." And with Thomas Legge's endorsement, as commissary of the diocese of Ely, "Agnes Hassard hath submitted her selfe to the former penance... ."
Please Login or Register to request further information and images