Anne Wentworth (prophetess) facts for kids

Anne Wentworth was an English writer and a woman who believed she could share messages from God in the 1600s. Even though she was not wealthy, she gained followers and someone who helped pay for her religious writings to be published. She was separated from her husband, and her strong beliefs often came from the challenges in their relationship.

Early Life

Most of what we know about Anne Wentworth comes from four books she wrote about her own life. These books don't give many details about her early years, but they suggest she was born in Lincolnshire, England, between 1629 and 1630.

Her Life as a Prophetess

In 1652 or 1653, Anne married William Wentworth in London. Later, in the late 1660s, she had a daughter. Around 1670, after about eighteen years in a difficult marriage, Anne felt a strong return to her faith in God. She called this a "visitation" from God. After this experience, Anne spent almost seven years writing and improving her skills before publishing her first work in 1676. This was a short book called A True Account of Anne Wentworth's Being Cruelly, Unjustly, and Unchristianly Dealt with by Some of Those People Called Anabaptists. In this book, Anne wrote about her husband's control, which she saw as a challenge from God.

Even though it took her seven years to publish her first book, Anne's role as a prophetess became known. Her husband and others from their church, who were called Anabaptists (today known as Baptists), began to criticize her when she shared her prophetic messages. In 1675, it's not clear if she was removed from their church or if she left on her own. However, it is clear that the difficulties with her husband and the Anabaptists became worse after she was no longer part of their local church.

In 1677, Anne published A Vindication of Anne Wentworth. This was another book about her life, similar to A True Account. In it, she tried to show that her prophetic messages were real. She also wrote about the challenges she faced because of her messages and predicted that a major event, the Apocalypse, would happen soon. Around this time, she also sent letters to King Charles II and the Lord Mayor of London, warning them about the coming Apocalypse before New Year's Day, 1678. This made her husband very upset, and he tried to make her leave their home in the summer of 1677.

Even though her popularity went down after her prophecy didn't come true, Anne kept writing. She wrote England's Spiritual Pill, which might have been published in 1678, and The Revelation of Jesus Christ. This last book was meant to record the exact words Christ spoke to her that inspired her prophetic voice. This book also shows that someone still supported her after 1678, because its title page mentions a "Friend in love to Souls" who paid for its publication in 1679. That same year, Anne Wentworth returned to her home.

After The Revelation of Jesus Christ, no other writings by Anne Wentworth have been found. Her voice became silent. Some people think she might be the Anne Wentworth who lived in St John's Court and was buried on May 22, 1693, at St James's Church, Clerkenwell, but this is not confirmed.

It was amazing that Anne Wentworth's writings were published and that she became a known public figure during her time. Her works not only spoke out about her husband but also contained strong religious and political ideas. This was a risky combination for a woman in the 1600s. Because she acted differently from what was expected of women back then, Anne Wentworth's life was full of challenges. Despite this, she kept going and was able to write and publish important works. This was a truly remarkable achievement for a woman of her time.

Selected Works

A True Account of Anne Wentworth (1676)

A True Account of Anne Wentworth was published in 1676. It was Anne Wentworth's first published work. Its full title was A True Account of Anne Wentworths Being cruelly, unjustly, and unchristianly dealt with by some of those people called Anabaptists. This seventeen-page pamphlet described her eighteen years with her controlling husband. It gave a general idea of the difficulties her husband caused her. She claimed she faced serious health challenges due to the difficulties in her marriage, but was saved by God. She also wrote about the threats and controlling behavior from the Anabaptists in her town. In her True Account, Anne Wentworth declared God as her only true savior and Christianity as the only true religion. She described leaving her earthly husband for God, whom she called her Spiritual Bridegroom.

A Vindication of Anne Wentworth (1677)

A Vindication of Anne Wentworth, published in 1677, was Anne Wentworth's second work. In this pamphlet, she shared more details about the challenges she faced from her husband and the Anabaptists. She also predicted the upcoming major event that God had promised. In A Vindication, Anne Wentworth stated that she was not seeking revenge and hoped her husband would also find salvation. She insisted that she wrote unwillingly, only out of fear of God's power, which made her reveal her husband's wrongdoings. Anne Wentworth ended the book with a poem about her mistreatment, her innocence, and the coming event that would warn London about its actions.

Englands Spiritual Pill (1679)

Published in 1679, this is the last of Anne Wentworth's known works. The full title of this piece is ENGLANDS SPIRITUAL PILL Which will Purge, Cure, or Kill; DECLARING The Great and Wonderfull Things WHICH The Almighty and most High God JESUS CHRIST King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, Hath Revealed unto ANNE WENTWORTH CONCERNING A Through-Reformation of Church-worship, from all Hypocritical and Idolatrous Formalities, the downfall of Babylon, and the finishing of her Testimony.

Similar to A Revelation of Jesus Christ, this book also talks about Anne Wentworth's encounters with Jesus Christ. She wrote that because her first book was successful, she felt it was her duty to keep informing people before God's warnings came upon them.

A Revelation of Jesus Christ (1679)

"Just as he spake it in Verses at several times, and sometimes in Prose, unto his Faithful Servant, Anne Wentworth, who suffereth for his Name" (Freeman 693).

A Revelation of Jesus Christ, published in 1679, is the book where Anne Wentworth recorded the conversations she had with Christ from 1677 to 1679. In the book, she advised friends to wake up and speak God's truth. However, it seemed they doubted her prophecies, which led Anne Wentworth to write, "For when the Lord of Life sends in love to warn you,/ Ye slight his Word, because his Voice ye never knew" (Freeman 701). This then led to discussions between Anne Wentworth and Christ about how people who didn't listen to her warnings would face consequences when the end of the world arrived.