Montreal British History Seminar

Rimliya Telkenaroglu (PhD candidate in History, 91ºÚÁÏÍø)

“‘Ranting Wild Spirits’: Women and Divine Possession in Early Quakerism"

Quakerism in the mid-seventeenth century believed in the physical manifestation of divine inspiration, and the Quakers as a group were seen as blasphemous because their heretical ideas translated into socially disruptive behavior: they refused to pay tithes, fell into trances, wandered publicly in a state of undress, and quaked and howled as if possessed by evil spirits. It is unsurprising, then, that the Quakers were represented as Satanic accomplices in print. Why did Quaker women, in particular, distress observers and disproportionately feature in these depictions? Why did the Quakeress often exist on both sides of the spectrum: as the wretched demoniac and the cunning witch?

Now in its 29th year, the MBHS provides a forum for faculty and graduate students sharing a research interest in any phase of British History (very broadly defined). Papers of about 45-50 minutes or pre-circulated papers are followed by discussion. For information, please contact Elizabeth Elbourne (elizabeth.elbourne [at] mcgill.ca) or Brian Lewis (brian.lewis [at] mcgill.ca).

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