Ralph Josselin
Encyclopedia
Ralph Josselin was the vicar
of Earls Colne
in Essex
from 1641 until his death in 1683. His diary
records intimate details of everyday farming life, family and kinship in a small, isolated rural community, and is often studied by researchers interested in the period, alongside other similar diaries like that of Samuel Pepys
.
Alan Macfarlane
began collecting information relating to the Earls Colne and the diary while working as researcher in the Essex Record Office in the 1960s from which he and Sarah Harrison attempted to "reconstruct" an historical community. In 1970 Macfarlane published an anthropological study of Josselin's family life, titled "The Family Life of Ralph Josselin: a seventeenth-century clergyman" (Cambridge University Press, 1977; ISBN 9780393008494). A full edited transcript of the diary was published in 1991 ("The diary of Ralph Josselin, 1616-1683," ed. Alan Macfarlane (1991), ISBN 9780197261033) and the text is also available online.
Vicar
In the broadest sense, a vicar is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior . In this sense, the title is comparable to lieutenant...
of Earls Colne
Earls Colne
Earls Colne is a village in Essex, England named after the River Colne, on which it stands, and the Earls of Oxford who held the manor of Earls Colne from before 1086 to 1703.-Manor of Earls Colne:...
in Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
from 1641 until his death in 1683. His diary
Diary
A diary is a record with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. A personal diary may include a person's experiences, and/or thoughts or feelings, including comment on current events outside the writer's direct experience. Someone...
records intimate details of everyday farming life, family and kinship in a small, isolated rural community, and is often studied by researchers interested in the period, alongside other similar diaries like that of Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys FRS, MP, JP, was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament who is now most famous for the diary he kept for a decade while still a relatively young man...
.
Alan Macfarlane
Alan Macfarlane
Alan Donald James Macfarlane FBA FRHistS is a renowned anthropologist and historian and a Professor Emeritus of King's College, Cambridge. He is the author or editor of 20 books and numerous articles on the anthropology and history of England, Nepal, Japan and China. He has focused on comparative...
began collecting information relating to the Earls Colne and the diary while working as researcher in the Essex Record Office in the 1960s from which he and Sarah Harrison attempted to "reconstruct" an historical community. In 1970 Macfarlane published an anthropological study of Josselin's family life, titled "The Family Life of Ralph Josselin: a seventeenth-century clergyman" (Cambridge University Press, 1977; ISBN 9780393008494). A full edited transcript of the diary was published in 1991 ("The diary of Ralph Josselin, 1616-1683," ed. Alan Macfarlane (1991), ISBN 9780197261033) and the text is also available online.