PREFACE

Elizabeth, Princess of the Palatinate, held court in Herford (also called Herwardwen) on the River Rhine in what is now part of Germany. She was the daughter of Frederick, King of Bohemia, sister of Prince Rupert in Scotland, cousin to the Duke of York, and mother to George I, King of England. She was also probably the highest ranking friend the Quakers had. While she never actually converted to Quakerism (she was not convinced of their doctrine regarding the ordinances) she encouraged their ministry in her lands, requested meetings with their traveling ministers, attempted to make several interventions on their behalf, and kept up a correspondence with several of them.

The collection brings together such of that correspondence (it may well be there is more that had not been located yet) as the editor has been able to find to date. While all of this material has been published before it is, at this point, all out of print (with the exception of the letters to and from George Fox, which are included in his Journal) and it is further noted that they have never been collected in this form before. This compilation presents us not only with good material but with a view of an interesting chapter in early Quaker history as well.

Peter Sippel

Warminster, PA