Defending Freedom of Conscience: The Dutch Poet Gesine Brit, ca. 1669-1747, in the Dutch Enlightenment

This essay examines the historical and intellectual significance of the Dutch Doopsgezind-Collegiant poet Gesine Brit. It reconstructs the historical background that led to the writing of a religious-political poem that Brit penned in 1705 to denounce the persecutions suffered by her religious companions in Groningen at the hands of the local religious and civil authorities. It then offers both an examination of its content and its first English translation. It demonstrates that Brit belonged to a tradition of Nonconformist intellectuals who contributed to shaping Dutch Enlightenment culture, thus expanding the canon of political writing to include women and their poetry.