Amelia Lanier
(1569–1645)

Amelia Lanier, whose name is spelled Amaelia Lanyer in some accounts, was a woman ahead of her time. In the 1600s, Lanier argued for social and religious equality for women. She also spoke out on the injustices of the peasantry and the privileges of the upper class. Her major volume of poetry, Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum—translated Hail, God, King of the Jews in English—was published in 1611 when she was 42 years old.

One of Lanier's best known works is her poem "Eve's Apology in Defense of Women," which appears in a section of Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum. In the poem, Lanier argues that Eve was less responsible than was Adam for the "fall" of humanity described in the Biblical creation story. Lanier's interpretation was considered radical in the male-dominated era in which men held hierarchical positions both in church and at home.

Lanier's use of the church as the focus of her feminist writing was significant for two reasons: it was an integral part of Renaissance life for both nobility and peasantry, and women were already re-evaluating their roles in religion. In many ways, Lanier was a forerunner of the Women's Liberation Movement, which would surface nearly 400 years later.

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