Anne Thompson rescues an often-overlooked and underappreciated facet of Elizabethan scholarship: the identity, role, character and activities of ministers’ wives. Unfortunately, recent scholarship in early modern gender studies has either ignored these clergy wives or has drawn broad and sweeping conclusions regarding them, conclusions which do not accurately account for all clergy wives in Elizabethan England. Thompson's work is an attempt to demonstrate that their lives were much more nuanced than has been portrayed. In order to accomplish her objective, she has worked through and submitted findings from wills, parish registers and church court records from several dioceses. The systematic way in which she presents her findings corroborates the multifaceted experiences of clergy wives and challenges long-held views, views that Thompson believes should be modified as a result of her study.

Thompson first surveys attitudes toward clerical marriage in Elizabethan society, concluding that, as time elapsed, opponents of clerical marriage argued against it primarily on logistical rather than for theological reasons. Examination of diocesan records demonstrated that there was ‘considerable regional variation’ in the percentages of married clergy in the early 1560s (p. 24). In some regions, where confessional conservatism remained strong, clerical marriage was consequently not as pervasive as in dioceses where the Reformation had penetrated more deeply into society. Even so, Thompson cautions against arriving at firm conclusions based on the data. One reason for that, she asserts, is the clandestine practice of clerical concubinage, the reality of which skews the data in its failure to fully disclose the actual relational status of ‘unmarried’ clergy. Further, she suggests that clerical marriage may have been viewed less favourably in some regions due to the fact that some clergy were content in their relational status of concubinage and hesitant to commit to a conjugal union.

Clerical marriages, like all early modern marital arrangements, consisted of rituals and processes that formalised its status in society. Thompson challenges the traditional assumption that parental involvement superseded individual affections in clerical courtship, contending that in reality love, choice and personal requirements dictated the selection and courtship of a potential marriage partner. However, she also acknowledges that the daughters of clergymen were more prone to be attracted to men in the ministry due naturally to their already established connections with clergymen associated with their fathers. Because these women were already ‘socially and spiritually in harmony’ with clergymen, it rendered the possibility of courtship and marriage much more expected and logical (p. 68).

Thompson also addresses the social status of clergy wives, questioning the assertions of scholars who aver that the wives of clergy were generally not respectable women, alleging that their low social status as household servants gave them a questionable reputations. She counters with an examination of the nature of household service, concluding that household employment for young women was more common than has been perceived, and that it was the ‘ideal training for the future responsibilities of a clergy wife’ (p. 105). She demonstrates from numerous records that clergymen married women from various and diverse social backgrounds, including those from gentry and well-to-do merchant families. This diversity suggests that there was a willingness on the part of these women to consider marriage to clergymen.

The expectations and activities of clergy wives during their husbands’ ministries has drawn much divided opinions as to the actual experience of these women. Thompson considers discreditable clergy wives, yet warns against a belief that most wives of ministers were a stumbling block to their husbands and to their husbands’ ministries. While she admits that the marriages of clergy were not ‘unremitting domestic bliss’, neither were they universally ‘dysfunctional’ (p. 158). The requirements of Injunction 29 of the Royal Visitation of 1559 outlined that a clergy wife was to be pious, godly, charitable, hospitable, modest and devoted to her domestic duties. Clergymen's descriptions of their own wives testify to the fact that these virtues were the very minimum expectations and, according to many eulogies, memorial tablets, brasses and plaques, many clergy wives lived up to the expected standard.

Aside from the occasional typo, Thompson's work effectively communicates and elevates the significance of Elizabethan clergy wives in a period when the role of the clergy wife was yet nascent and evolving. Her use of diverse source material and the manner in which she presents it is thorough, methodical and persuasive, and it does much to make her assertions credible. This work is an important contribution to early modern scholarship and sets a new course and a high standard for future studies of female identity in early modern England. It is highly recommended for those who are interested in early modern women and the intersection between gender roles and religion.