Anne Locke
She has been called the first English author to publish a sonnet sequence, A Meditation of a Penitent Sinner (1560), although authorship of that work has arguably been attributed to Thomas Norton.
[5] Following her death in 1544,[6] Anne's father took great efforts to find a tutor for the children, selecting a Mr. Cob, who was proficient in Latin, Greek, and French, as well as a dedicated Protestant.
In 1553 the notable Scottish reformer and preacher John Knox lived for a period in the Lok household during which time he and Locke seem to have developed a strong relationship, attested to by their correspondence over the following years.
Following the ascension of Mary Tudor, and the accompanying pressure on English nonconformists which saw Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley executed in 1555, Knox encouraged Lock to leave London and join the exiled Protestant community in Geneva.
Henry Lok seems to have been resistant to the idea of entering into exile, as Knox argues that Anne should "call first for grace by Jesus to follow that whilk is acceptabill in his sight, and thairefter communicat" with her husband.
[5] There is no contemporary record of this period, however it is believed that Locke spent her 18 months exile translating John Calvin's sermons on Hezekiah from French into English.
On 7 February 1559 Lock wrote to Knox asking for his advice on the sacraments administered by the second Book of Common Prayer, and the seemliness of attending baptisms.
He strongly encouraged her to avoid services where ceremonies might outweigh worship, but recognised her personal spiritual wisdom, saying 'God grant yow his Holie Spirit rightlie to judge'.
The manuscript was compiled for presentation to Robert Dudley by Locke, her second husband Edward Dering, and the five Cooke sisters, all staunch supporters of the Protestant cause.
[15] The last known work by Locke is a 1590 translation of Of the Markes of the Children of God, a treatise written by the Belgian minister Jean Taffin about the history of Protestantism in Belgium and the other Low Countries.
Field's dedication to the volume praises Locke for her willingness to endure exile for religious reform, as well as for her access to the works, in manuscript, of prominent preachers like Knox.
In contrast, Richard Carew, in the 1602 Survey of Cornwall, specifically praises Locke's intellectual prowess in tandem with her modesty, asserting that her virtuous behaviour evinced her religious learning, in addition to her writing.
[20] The Duchess, a longtime patron of Protestant writers, also lived in exile during the reign of Mary I; Locke may have known her through their sons, who were both educated at the home of William Cecil.
[24][25] The author of the sequence was probably influenced by Sir Thomas Wyatt's translations of the penitential psalms, published in 1549 and accessible to Locke before her Genevan exile.
[28] Recent work by Stephen W. May, an authority on Tudor manuscripts, attributes the sequence to Locke's close contemporary, neighbor, and co-religionist Thomas Norton, however.
[32] The choice of psalm to translate and gloss arguably favours the case for her authorship of the sequence, and helps her negotiate sixteenth-century England's condemnation of a woman writer as unchaste.
[35] Anne's family background was a dense web of relationships involving the Mercers' Company, the court, Marian exiles and notable religious figures.
Her mother Margaret or Margery was firstly the wife of Edward Awpart, citizen and Girdler of London in the parish of St Mary le Bow, who originated from Penkridge in Staffordshire.
[41] Michael Lok was a backer of Martin Frobisher, and married Jane, daughter of Joan Wilkinson, an evangelical associate of Ann Boleyn and her chaplain William Latimer.
