Anne Ley facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Anne Ley (born around 1599 – died 1641) was an English writer and teacher. She also wrote articles that argued strongly for her beliefs. Anne wrote many poems, letters, and special texts for funerals. Her husband was Roger Ley, who was also a writer and a church leader (a curate) at St. Leonard's Church in Shoreditch, Middlesex. Both Anne and Roger strongly supported the King (they were royalists) and followed the official church rules.

Anne's personal notes and writings, called a commonplace book, still exist today. Her husband collected them into a manuscript after she passed away in 1641.

Anne's Early Life
Life After Marriage
Roger Ley's Life
The Commonplace Manuscript
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Anne's Early Life

Anne Ley was born to Thomas Norman, a leather seller from Bedfordshire, and his wife, Anne Searle. Anne Ley was baptized on August 19, 1599. Her father, Thomas Norman, went to St. Albany Hall, Oxford. He was considered to be from a regular family, not a noble one.

When Anne was fifteen, she became engaged to Roger Ley. They waited seven years to get married. A writer named Donald W. Foster explained that they waited because they were quite poor. They often struggled with money throughout their lives.

Anne and Roger finally married on February 25, 1621 or 1622, at St. Bodolph's Church in Bishopgate.

Life After Marriage

After they married, the Leys started a school in Shoreditch to help earn money. Anne Ley was incredibly hardworking. She taught herself Latin and Greek so she could teach students at a very high level.

The couple was good friends with John Squire, the minister at Shoreditch parish. He was also Roger Ley's classmate. John Squire was a well-known figure in the church at the time. He decorated his church with pictures of important religious figures. Some people in the church complained about him, saying he was too strict about who could preach there. Anne and Roger Ley likely agreed with the church's leaders and the King's direction for the church.

Many of Anne Ley's later letters were written from Roger Ley's country house in Northchurch, Hertfordshire. She seemed to stay there for eleven years until her death, while Roger Ley remained in London. It's thought she went there to avoid the plague (a serious illness) that spread in 1636, or an earlier one in 1625. However, she clearly missed London very much. In a letter to her father, she said she felt like a "banished Ulysses," a hero from ancient stories who was forced to travel far from home. Anne Ley, like some other married writers of her time, wrote about feeling alone when their husbands were away.

Anne Ley became sick with a long illness before she died in 1641. She passed away during the first week of October and was buried next to her parents at her husband's church in Shoreditch. The burial took place on October 21 or 22, 1641.

Roger Ley's Life

Roger Ley was born in 1593 or 1594 in Crewe, Cheshire. We don't know who his parents were. In 1606, Roger Ley went to Jesus College, Cambridge. He earned his first degree in 1610 and a master's degree in 1613. He became a church official (a deacon) in Peterborough in 1614 and a priest in London in 1618. Soon after, he became the curate at St. Leonard's Church in Shoreditch.

Roger Ley published two of his sermons, which are religious speeches. He also wrote Gesta Britannica, a history of the British Church written in Latin. This book had ten parts and covered history from early times up to the death of King Charles I. Roger Ley finished the first version when he was 70 years old. In Gesta Britannica, he shared some of his own experiences, like surviving the London plague of 1625 and living through the English Civil War. Even though he had strong religious beliefs, Roger Ley was upset about how churches were treated during the Civil War.

Roger Ley also wrote about his arguments with Paul Best, a former classmate, who had different religious views. He wrote a series of nine sad poems called "'Albion in blacke'" about the Civil War.

From 1663 until his death in 1668, Roger Ley was the rector of Brean, Somerset. He wrote his will in 1667, leaving property and books to his nephew and another church official. Since neither Anne nor Roger's wills mention children, it seems they did not have any who survived. Roger Ley was likely buried in Brean.

The Commonplace Manuscript

Most of what we know about Anne and Roger Ley comes from their commonplace manuscript. This special book is kept at the William Andrews Clark Library in Los Angeles. It contains writings from the 1620s to 1641, including poems, notes, funeral texts, personal thoughts, and letters. Anne wrote letters to her family, friends, and former students. Two of these letters are entirely in Latin, showing how good she was at the language. Roger Ley collected these writings from loose papers into the manuscript after Anne died in 1641.

The manuscript is a large book with 262 pages, bound in brown leather.

Manuscript History

In 1825, a historian named Joseph Hunter received the manuscript. It was later bought by the William Andrews Clark Library in 1952.

What's Inside the Manuscript

The commonplace manuscript has three main parts:

Anne's personal notes (her commonplace book).
Her poems, letters, and funeral texts.
Roger's writings.

Roger Ley did most of the writing in the manuscript, but all of Anne's personal notes are in her own handwriting. Roger added titles and some corrections. Anne's notes mostly came from popular religious writings by Bishop Joseph Hall.

After Anne's writings, there's a section remembering her. It includes her will from 1636, the sermon preached at her funeral in 1641, her gravestone message, and the end of one of her early poems. Then come Roger Ley's writings, which include two religious essays, his nine sad poems about the Civil War, a piece celebrating the return of the King, and a funeral sermon from 1633.

Who Compiled the Manuscript?

Historians still discuss how much Roger Ley influenced the manuscript. Some believe he might have used his wife's writings to support his own political or personal views. They wonder if he changed her writings when he put them together. Others see it as a collection that equally presents the writings of both a wife and husband. Roger Ley was organizing his wife's literary works alongside his own.

Anne Ley's Works

One of Anne Ley's earliest poems in the manuscript is "A Sermon Preached in St. Paul's Church upon the Second Commandment by Mr. Squire, January 6, 1623." In this poem, she criticizes what she saw as wrong religious practices and mocks those who try to hide from the truth.

She also wrote poems about the death of King James and the new king, Charles I.

On the Death of King James Our Sun (King James) has gone, but it's not dark. A goddess named Urania explained why: "The sun god Phoebus must leave his place and shine with Jove (the king of gods)." And when this happens, King Charles will become England's glorious Sun. Ride on, Charles! Follow the Sun's old path! May your bright rays be as strong as his. May your journey never end until you have shone throughout the world, And may no other ruler come until you, our planet, become a fixed star!

Upon the Great Plague, Following the Death of King James Sad England, your troubles grow, And seem to threaten your coming downfall, And to take away that happy peace For which all nations call you blessed. The terrible plague now begins To spread its poison in your main city— Announcing judgment for your great sin Unless you repent and ask for Mercy. And lest this punishment seem too small, Look, another blow wounds your head: Famous James, admired by all For his learning, your king of peace, is dead. —Whose gentle nature avoided The terrible sight of war. In future times, his bravery will shine For one brave fight he undertook: His pen was the weapon; Truth, the cause (His proud enemy, Rome, the killer of kings); Whose worthy work, deserving high praise, Has left the Romanists a deadly sting. And we are left in sorrow to mourn This heavy loss with fear of what will follow; But He who sent us this great trouble In our deepest sorrows, renewed His mercy: Our Sun no sooner set, and sad night Seemed to threaten some strange disaster, A glorious Star shining brightly Drove away those fears: our grief turned to joy.

One of Anne Ley's poems, "Upon the necessity and benefite of learning... to W.B. a young scholler," was probably written for one of her students. It advises him on how important it is to keep a commonplace book. This poem helps us understand how these books were used in the 1600s.

Upon the necessity and benefite of learning written in the beginning of a Common place booke belonging to W.B. a young scholler Just as the honey Bee takes Sweetness from each fragrant flower, I recommend similar careful work to you; If you do it, much good will come. In this great world, nothing compares To the value of learning, which makes the mind beautiful, Adorns the body, makes it seem more fair, And finds acceptance with the best people. All other hopes can quickly fade Like pretty flowers suddenly damaged by frost. Friends are mortal, riches fly away, Only learning stays constant to the end. To get this, use your best skill, Here is a hive to store your treasures, Which you can fill with every useful sentence. It will help you rise high To the peak of learning, where you can rest. I'll help you; just do your best.

The manuscript also has a short letter from Anne Ley to her father, where she talks about poetry: "I am glad to hear you are so happy as to start writing poetry; or perhaps it's these times, when our London has changed to a peaceful countryside."

Lastly, this poem is about the birth of Jesus Christ:

A Christmasse Caroll: or verses on the Nativitie of Christe Most blessed time when we celebrate His happy birth, who was both God and man, Who came to save us from eternal hate, Such length and depth of mercy no one can fully understand. We were dead and doomed to live in hell, Because of Adam's sin, which we all share: The promised seed removed that sentence, Being given to us to make things right. But it was done in such a way That men and Angels could not understand, That our offended God would send his Son Who was true God, to fix our fault by dying. Whose birth was rare, conception most divine.

Anne Ley's writings were serious and inspired by church sermons, local people, the death of King James, the plague, the birth of Jesus, and political events of her time. Her letters show her knowledge and how much she loved to write. She was very involved in London church life and part of a lively writing community with her family and friends.