The life of Lady Anne Clifford and her record as a family historian reflect an unusual, indomitable woman of interest to any modern historians and historiographers fascinated by how individuals make history.
She was a seventeenth-century heiress who endured numerous legal struggles before in middle age inheriting a large estate in the north of England during the Civil War. She spent the remainder of a long life rebuilding her estate. She also created and commissioned written documents, memorabilia and a family painting. This considerable archive records her struggle and argues her place in history and the future status of her family.
I will introduce Lady Anne Clifford and the extant records that we have to evaluate her achievement. I will explain why she interests me and invite discussion of some questions the study has raised for me as a new historian attempting to understand this piece of the past.
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