Cary, Mary

Mary Cary (later Rande) was a Fifth Monarchist who wrote several prophetic pamphlets during the English Civil War years. Like other Fifth Monarchists, Cary believed that the Bible offered the key to understanding contemporary political events and a blueprint for political change. She interpreted biblical prophecies from the books of Isaiah, Daniel, and Revelation to predict that London would become the “New Jerusalem” and to construct her own vision of a godly paradise on earth. Beginning in the tumultuous years immediately prior to the execution of Charles I and continuing into the early days of the Interregnum, Cary authored five printed prophetic tracts. On the title page of The Resurrection of the Witnesses (1648), Cary refers to herself as a minister.