The Countess of Montgomeries Urania

1621 Wroath, Lady Mary (ca. 1586-ca. 1640). The Countess of Montgomeries Urania. Written by the right honorable the Lady Mary Wroath. Daughter to the right Noble Robert, Earl of Leicester. And Neece to the ever famous, and renowned S^r Phillips Sidney knight. And to the most excellent Lady Mary Countesse of Pembroke late deceased. London: Ptd. for Iohn Marriott and Iohn G. Grismand. Rpt. as The First Part of the Countess of Montgomery’s Urania. Ed. Josephine A. Roberts. Binghamton, NY: Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies, 1995 with a “Critical Introduction” (xv-civ) and a “Textual Introduction” (cv-cxx). A continuation still in manuscript was published as The Second Part of the Countess of Montgomery’s Urania. Ed. Josephine A. Roberts. Completed by Suzanne Gosset and Janel Mueller. Tempe: Renaissance English Text Society in conjunction with Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 1999 with a “Textual Introduction” (xvii-xliv), “Textual Notes” (419-71), “Commentary” (473-550), “Genealogical Tables” (552-53), an “Index of Characters in Part Two” (555-73), and an “Index of Places in Part Two” (574-75). A volume containing parts of both volumes was published as The Countess of Montgomery’s Urania (Abridged). Ed. Mary Ellen Lamb. Tempe: ACMRS (Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies), 2011 with an “Introduction” by the editor (1-38), an “Episode List” (255-64), an “Index of Characters” (265-78), and “Family Relationships” (279). PSt

A wide-ranging romance set in an Arcadia. This is the first known original prose fiction by an English woman and one of the main concerns of the book is gender relations. Female author.