The Crimson Ribbon (29 page)

One version includes a section by Elizabeth herself, directly addressing her accusers, wherein she references the charge of ‘seducing’ and defiantly vindicates her actions. It was fairly common for allegations of sexual promiscuity, licentiousness and heresy to be leveled at women acting outside social norms, but it’s clear Elizabeth believed it was for God, not her fellow men, to judge, and she had God on her side.

We hear nothing more of Elizabeth until 1653, when a ‘Mistress Poole’ preached from the pulpit of Somerset House in defense of John Lilburne, then on trial for his life. If prior claims that Elizabeth was a Leveller sympathiser are true, the conclusion that this is our Elizabeth is a tempting one, but contemporary sources are conflicting.

In 1668 she was living at the Mint in Southwark when she was arrested for housing an unlicensed printing press and imprisoned at the Gatehouse. This is the final trace of her; there is no known record of her death or burial.

Historians have argued over Elizabeth Poole’s significance, most disregarding her as the agent of one or other political faction or specific male figure. While it’s true that ultimately she had little affect on the thinking of the Army Council in those critical winter days of 1648–49, her treatment does cast some light on the political position of ordinary women and the limits of their influence.

Through her own writing we catch a glimpse of a strong character: passionate, defiant, and fighting for justice. Her political savvy might be questionable but no one can argue that she didn’t try to have her say at a time when governmental decision-making was the domain of men.

Elizabeth was not the only prophetess to attempt to influence events. In fact, the years of civil war and Interregnum saw a marked increase in the number of women claiming prophetic visions concerning the state of the nation. That this coincided with revolutionary and social upheaval and an explosion in uncensored print media is no coincidence. But ultimately, any real influence was finite and dependent upon the advocacy of men. Where such women might sometimes be regarded with respect and reverence, they might just as easily be shamed, stigmatised and silenced. By attempting to have her say, Elizabeth, and others like her, put themselves in a precarious position.

In her writing Elizabeth uses the patriarchal view of the differences between men and women to strengthen her own arguments: if women are unstable, emotional beings, incapable of rational, intelligent judgment, weak in mind and body, then surely they are more susceptible to the influence of some greater power; that such power might be for good or for evil meant that prophecy and witchcraft were equally possible consequences.