New essays on Thomas Traherne challenge traditional critical readings of the poet. Thomas Traherne has all too often been defined and studied as a solitary thinker, "out of his time", and not as a participant in the complex intellectual currents of the period. The essays collected here take issue with this reading, placing Traherne firmly in his historical context and situating his work within broader issues in seventeenth-century studies and the history of ideas. They draw on recently published textual discoveries alongside manuscripts which will soon be published for the first time. They address major themes in Traherne studies, including Traherne's understanding of matter and spirit, his attitude towards happiness and holiness, his response to solitude and society, and his Anglican identity. As a whole, the volume aims to re-ignite discussion on settled readings of Traherne's work, to reconsider issues in Traherne scholarship which have long lain dormant, and to supplement our picture of the man and his writings through new discoveries and insights. Elizabeth S. Dodd is programme leader for the MA in theology, ministry and mission and lecturer in theology, imagination and culture at Sarum College, Salisbury; Cassandra Gorman is lecturer in English at Trinity College, Cambridge. Contributors: Jacob Blevins, Warren Chernaik, Phoebe Dickerson, Elizabeth S. Dodd, Ana Elena Gonzalez-Trevino, Cassandra Gorman, Carol Ann Johnston, Alison Kershaw, Kathryn Murphy

Jane Seymour is the wife of Henry VIII we know the least about, often written off as 'Plain Jane'. Queen of England for just seventeen months, during her life Jane witnessed some of the most extraordinary events ever to take place in English history, later becoming a part of them. Jane ensured her place in Henry's affections by giving him his much longed for male heir only to tragically lose her life twelve days later leaving behind a motherless son and a devastated husband. For the remainder of his life Henry would honour the mother of his only legitimate son and would come to regard Jane as his 'true and loving wife'. But who was Jane Seymour? Throughout this illustrated book we will find a woman who was neither saint or sinner, but a human being with her own beliefs and causes.