Material Goods in Brilliana Harley’s Letters

Abstract

Brilliana Harley (c. 1598–1643) was an elite woman with a clear sense of familial commitment to public service and Puritanism. When her oldest son, Ned, left the family seat of Brampton Bryan in Herefordshire for Oxford University in 1638, Harley was eager to ensure that he would perpetuate this commitment, as a series of letters written during his two years there demonstrate. Not only do the letters exhort Ned to behave like a proper Harley, but they also record an array of material goods sent from Brampton Bryan to Oxford and, occasionally, from Oxford back home. From pigeon pies, to leather gloves, to religious books, Harley showered her son with tokens from home. This essay argues that the giving of these goods constitutes a series of religio-political interventions: they shape her son’s identity as a civically engaged Puritan man of the gentry and reinforce her own status as an elite, pious, and politically astute gentlewoman.

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