Love, Lust, and License in Early Modern England is the first book from Johanna Rickman, and the latest volume in the wide-ranging series Woman and Gender in the Early Modern World. Rickman sets out a clear and definitive purpose to subject the accounts of illicit sexual relationships that are described within the book to vigorous and systematic scrutiny, thereby giving the reader a clearer understanding of the consequences and implications of these affairs. Rickman suggests that this will allow for a more nuanced understanding of early modern conceptualizations of both masculine and feminine notions of gender and honor, and suggests the intricate links between both formulations. Rickman uses a range of sources, including family papers and letters, state papers and legal records, and literary sources.

The first two chapters of the book deal with the broader contextual background of incidences of illicit sexuality within the Elizabethan and Jacobean courts. Rickman suggests there were considerable variations in reactions to illicit sexuality during the reign of Elizabeth, which were complicated by the status of the queen herself as an unmarried woman and the need to protect her own honor. Flirtation with the monarch, and the rhetoric of courtly love, were routes by which male courtiers could seek preferment, although Rickman notes this became more complicated as the queen aged. Those who displeased the monarch could suffer heavy punishments and the loss of her favor if their affairs were made public.

Rickman suggests there was a shift in attitudes with the accession of the married King James I. The court was more open and sympathetic to illicit affairs, which were no longer “as dangerous for Jacobean courtiers as it had been for their Elizabethan counterparts” (99). Rickman explains that the greater openness of the Jacobean court is the principal cause of our perception of it as being particularly scandalous and points out that it was no worse in actuality than its predecessor. The punishment of illicit sex, when it did occur, was more often linked to other crimes, such as murder. In both reigns, women suffered more from revelations concerning illicit sex, with younger, unmarried girls being considered especially vulnerable.

Love, Lust, and License then considers three case studies to explore some aspects of this in greater detail. The first case study considers the relationship of Penelope Rich and Charles Blount, who conducted an illicit affair for a significant period of time and had a number of children together. The couple’s discrete affair was not considered scandalous, only becoming contentious after Rich divorced her first husband and sought to marry Blount. The pair retained the affection of a range of powerful supporters because of their discretion and because Rich had fulfilled her duty to her first husband by providing him with children and heirs before her relationship with Blount began. Her first husband, Rickman suggests, conspired in the divorce, and Rich got into difficulties only after Blount died and his distant relatives challenged the provision he made for their children in his will.

The second case study deals with Mary Wroth and William Herbert. Here, Rickman is able to draw on the writings of Wroth herself to suggest a range of emotional responses to illicit affairs and to the principles of arranged marriages. Again, the couple were discreet, as their affair commenced only after the death of Wroth’s husband, and Rickman uses this case study to suggest that illicit sex was more or less accepted among the elite provided that it did not cause any disruption of the prevailing legal, social, moral, and political norms. Rickman notes that this affair did not in any way inhibit Herbert’s career.

The final case study looks at Frances Villiers and Robert Howard. Rickman uses this case to challenge our perceptions of a passive sense of female honor solely focused on chastity and suggests that higher social status allowed for greater personal freedom and some ability to disregard social norms. Higher social status also offered practical support, in terms of networks of influential family and friends, who could mitigate any social consequences resulting from illicit sexual relationships. Rickman also uses this case to show the range of reactions from other members of the elite, from support to condemnation, and the association of adultery with crimes such as poisoning or dark magic.

The use of case studies is partly a recognition by the author that a quantitative study of illicit sexual affairs among the nobility is all but impossible. Many of the subjects Rickman is concerned with were concealed from view, and, as is suggested, this was a vital stratagem if one was concerned with avoiding the possibility of negative comment and disgrace. But this qualitative study becomes one of the strengths of the book, as it allows for a sense of the “very palpable human drama” (1) that is inherent within the illicit affairs Rickman describes and that are effortlessly captured by the author for the appreciation of the reader.

Rickman’s book is a useful contribution to the history of sexuality in the early modern period, although this is a sentence that must be subjected to certain qualifications. Love, Lust, and License is a history of illicit sex, although Rickman focuses solely on deviant heterosexual sex, such as adultery and bastardy. Furthermore, the text simply focuses on extramarital sex between members of the courtly elite, robbing the text of any appreciation of wider class dimensions. Rickman’s book also concentrates on the elite of the Elizabethan and Jacobean courts, with no consideration of the wider early modern period. These qualifications should not detract from Love, Lust, and License. Rather, they should suggest the difficulty of presenting a wider-ranging study that could possibly analyze and explore all aspects of the question, which makes this study of one facet all the more useful to current scholarship.