Women’s Early Modern Map of London

Introduction

Women’s Early Modern Map of London (WEMMoL) is a digital humanities project focused on Isabella Whitney’s sixteenth-century poem, “Wyll and Testament. '' Published in 1573, Whitney’s “Wyll and Testament” was part of her second poetry collection, A Sweet Nosgay, or Pleasant Posye: Contayning a Hundred and Ten Phylosophicall Flowers, and written in response to Whitney’s departure from London. “Wyll and Testament” is a mock will that imagines the London streets – their inhabitants and trades – as if they were Whitney’s property to bestow. However, in Early Modern England, women were subjected to a patriarchal structure that limited their property ownership and their opportunities for mobility and agency. By exploring the avenues – both literal and figurative – that Isabella Whitney creates with “Wyll and Testament,” we can see how Whitney’s imagined ownership over the London streets offers a unique perspective on how women might have inhabited these spaces.

WEMMoL looks to digitize Whitney’s poem, however, it is important to consider the ways in which this work will always be incomplete. As a result, the digital humanities work started with this project is only a fraction of the work required to produce a more comprehensive, diverse, and inclusive archive. WEMMoL should be viewed in its current state as an initial proof of concept for a larger project that would incorporate scholars across multiple disciplines.

WEMMoL is indebted to The Map of Early Modern London (MoEML), led by Janelle Jenstad and Kim Mclean-Fiander in association with the University of Victoria. MoEML encompasses seven distinct, interoperable projects, and a digital repository to support these projects, including the digital edition of the 1561 Agas woodcut map of London. The Agas Map of Early Modern London is an aerial view of London, considered to be the first comprehensive view of Early Modern London, created by surveyor Ralph Agas; however, no known copies of this initial print survived. In 1633, a modified version was created, which is available on MoEML in a digitized format. WEMMoL would also like to acknowledge the digital archive formatting established by OneMoreVoice, an imprint of Livingstone Online.