Fell, Margaret

Margaret Fell (1614–1702) is known as the mother of Quakerism due to her voluminous writings, organizational activity, and spiritual leadership within the early Quaker movement. In partnership with George Fox (1624–1691) and William Penn (1644–1718), she is generally considered one of the founders of Quakerism. Analyses of Fell’s life have vacillated from the hagiographical to dismissive, in which she is represented as a non-radical protected by her status as a seventeenth-century gentlewoman. The historical record indicates a confident and motivated woman who, after her conversion to Quakerism, consistently and unapologetically engaged in Nonconformist pursuits and helped Quakers in legal and political challenges, putting both her life and property at risk. Her publications and pamphlets, which amount to more than seven hundred pages, as well as the over one hundred letters she wrote to fellow Quakers and people in power, were crucial to the defense and organization of the countercultural pursuits of Quaker theology and practice. Her social status did not make her immune to persecution, social scrutiny, criticism, or imprisonment. Despite these difficulties, Fell provided much needed protection of, and direction to, her fellow Quakers that both helped to keep the movement afloat and provided conceptual foundations and practical organization that are still in use today.