Born in 1652, Agnes Beaumont grew up in the small Bedfordshire village of Edworth with her ailing father. Beaumont was a contemporary of John Bunyan and a member of the Baptist congregation at which Bunyan ministered. Her

The Narrative of the Persecutions of Agnes Beaumont

, published in 1674, dissents somewhat from the classic stylistic model of spiritual autobiography (exemplified by Bunyan in his

Grace Abounding

) and instead employs this obsessive, predestinarian genre to present her own extraordinary experiences of persecution in a rural nonconformist community.

Apart from the information gleaned from her Narrative, little in the way of biographical information exists regarding Beaumont’s life. At the time of the events described in her text, Beaumont was 22 years old, single, and the

901 words

Citation: Hall, Barry. "Agnes Beaumont". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 02 March 2012 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=13011, accessed 19 March 2024.]

13011 Agnes Beaumont 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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