# Barbara Constable

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'''Barbara Constable''' (1617–1684), professed as Dame Barbara Constable, was an English [Benedictine](/source/Benedictines) nun, writer and transcriber. Her writing was a support to [recusant](/source/Recusancy) Catholic communities and some of her transcriptions are the only known copies of Father [Augustine Baker](/source/Augustine_Baker)'s works.<ref name=":0" />

== Early life ==
Constable, born in 1617, was one of the daughters of [Sir Philip Constable, 1st Baronet](/source/Constable_baronets) and Anne Roper; Sir Philip was a baronet in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England.<ref name=":0">{{cite web |last1=Wolfe |first1=Heather |title=Constable, Barbara |url=https://www.oxforddnb.com |website=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography}}</ref> Barbara Constable and her family were Roman Catholics.

== Religious life ==
Constable arrived in 1638 at the monastery of [Our Lady of Consolation](/source/Stanbrook_Abbey) in [Cambrai](/source/Cambrai), France, which had been founded in the 1620s; she died there in 1684.<ref name=":0" /> Her poor health made contemplative prayer more difficult so she wrote copiously as part of her religious practice.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Wolfe|first=Heather|title=Early modern women's manuscript writing : selected papers from the Trinity/Trent Colloquium|others=Burke, Victoria E. (Victoria Elizabeth), Gibson, Jonathan, 1965-, Trinity/Trent Colloquium.|isbn=1-351-94235-2|location=Abingdon, Oxon|pages=144, 137|chapter=Reading Bells and Loose Papers: Reading and Writing Practices of the English Benedictine Nuns of Cambrai|oclc=975029375}}</ref>

== Writing ==
Constable wrote and compiled devotional writing collections as well as transcribing the writings of Father Augustine Baker, spiritual director at Cambrai from 1624 to 1633<ref>{{Cite book|last=Wolfe|first=Heather|title=Catholic culture in early modern England|date=2007|publisher=University of Notre Dame Press|others=Corthell, Ronald, 1949-|isbn=978-0-268-07682-5|location=Notre Dame, Ind.|pages=158–188|chapter=Dame Barbara Constable: Catholic Antiquarian, Advisor, and Closet Missionary|oclc=694144532}}</ref><ref name=":1" /> Her writing work at the monastery, which included translations and transcriptions of spiritual works, was intended for fellow religious, laypeople, and for Catholics experiencing difficulty in prayer.<ref name=":0" /> One of her works on authority, 'Speculum Superiorum', contained advice on the treatment of nuns by their spiritual superiors and emphasised union and peace.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Lux-Sterritt, Laurence.|title=English Benedictine nuns in exile in the seventeenth century : Living spirituality|date=2017|publisher=Manchester University Press|isbn=978-1-5261-1004-6|location=Oxford|pages=52, 53|oclc=982018661}}</ref> Some of her transcriptions of Baker's writings are the only known copies.<ref name=":0" />

The transcribing, copying, preservation and distribution of Catholic religious works by women like Constable was a support to recusant English Catholic communities during the 16th and 17th centuries.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Walsham, Alexandra, 1966-|title=Catholic Reformation in Protestant Britain|date=28 July 2014|isbn=978-0-7546-5723-1|location=Farnham Surrey, England|pages=247–249|oclc=874557173}}</ref>

== References ==
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Constable, Barbara}}
Category:1617 births
Category:1684 deaths
Category:English religious writers
Category:Recusants
Category:English Benedictines
Category:17th-century English Roman Catholic nuns
Category:17th-century English women writers
Category:17th-century English writers

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Barbara Constable](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Constable) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Constable?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.