'Judith Aikin reveals the relatively unknown Aemilia Juliana of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, wife of the ruler of a petty Thuringian principality, as an exemplary Landesmutter - a truly evocative German term whose full meaning becomes evident only after reading this cross-disciplinary exploration. It considers topics as diverse as Lutheran theology in the age of early Pietism, inheritance and dowry law in the Old Reich, Baroque court ceremonies, estate management, home economics and folk medicine at the court of a mini-state. But Aikin never loses sight of her major argument: that writing prayers and hymns became the primary forms of self-expression for a privileged woman who was both exceptionally introspective and discreetly self-promoting.' William Monter, Professor Emeritus of History, Northwestern University, USA 'This is an excellent monograph recommended not only for scholars and students working on Aemiliar Juliana of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, but also for those interested in seventeenth-century Protestant Germany and in early modern gender history. It will definitely set an example for any future study on consorts.' Royal Studies Journal 'The appendix includes a very useful map of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and its neighbours around 1690, commissioned by the author ... The book represents an important source for many contextual studies that opens a door into the lives of composers active in the courtly world in or around seventeenth-century Rudolstadt, such as young J. S. Bach.' Bach Bibliography 'It is rare to get such a complete and rounded picture of the life of an early modern consort, still less one of someone for whom written communication was so important and who has left so much source material. Aikin has done her subject proud. Every page bears witness to her thorough and painstaking research, to her wide contextual reading, and to the clarity of her style. In addition, the book is helpfully illustrated ... In short, this monograph is a worthy monument to