Elizabeth Rundle Charles

Born in Tavistock, Devon, on January 2, 1828, she was the daughter of John Rundle, a Member of Parliament. As a young writer, she showed enough promise that some of her early poems were admired by Alfred Tennyson. In 1851 she married Andrew Paton Charles, and she later became known as an English author closely associated with Anglican religious writing.

Her most famous book was The Chronicles of the Schönberg-Cotta Family, a popular historical novel connected with Martin Luther and the Reformation. She wrote many other works as well, often aimed at making Christian history and religious life vivid for general readers rather than specialists. She was also remembered as a hymn writer and translator.

She died in Hampstead, London, on March 28, 1896. Her work has lasted because it combines historical interest with an easy, human storytelling style that helped nineteenth-century readers imagine the spiritual struggles of earlier centuries.