Mary Moders

1893 text

Mary Moders, alias Stedman, a notorious impostor, who pretended to be a German princess. Her arrival as the German princess “at the Exchange Tavern, right against the Stocks betwixt the Poultry and Cornhill, at 5 in the morning … ., with her marriage to Carleton the taverner’s wife’s brother,” are incidents fully narrated in Francis Kirkman’s “Counterfeit Lady Unveiled,” 1673 (“Boyne’s Tokens,” ed. Williamson, vol. i., p. 703). Her adventures formed the plot of a tragi-comedy by T. P., entitled “A Witty Combat, or the Female Victor,” 1663, which was acted with great applause by persons of quality in Whitsun week. Mary Carleton was tried at the Old Bailey for bigamy and acquitted, after which she appeared on the stage in her own character as the heroine of a play entitled “The German Princess.” Pepys went to the Duke’s House to see her on April 15th, 1664. The rest of her life was one continued course of robbery and fraud, and in 1678 she was executed at Tyburn for stealing a piece of plate in Chancery Lane.

This text comes from a footnote on a diary entry in the 1893 edition edited by Henry B. Wheatley.

9 Annotations

First Reading

Second Reading

Bill  •  Link

CARLETON, MARY (1642?-1673), 'the German princess'; criminal; born in Canterbury and named Mary Moders; came from Holland to England, 1661, pretending to be a noble German heiress; married bigamously John Carleton, 1663; went on the stage, 1664; transported for theft to Jamaica, 1671; returned to London; hanged for theft; subject of two broadsides and an 'Historicall Narrative.'
---Dictionary of National Biography: Index and Epitome. S. Lee, 1906.

Bill  •  Link

Mary Moders, alias Stedman, alias Carleton, of whom see more June 7 and April 15, 1664. She was a celebrated impostor, who had induced the son of a London citizen to marry her, under the pretence that she was a German Princess. She next became an actress, after having been tried for bigamy and acquitted. The rest of her life was one continued course of robbery and fraud; and, in 1678, she suffered at Tyburn, for stealing a piece of plate in Chancery Lane.
---Diary and correspondence of Samuel Pepys, the diary deciphered by J. Smith. 1854.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Her arrival as the German princess “at the Exchange Tavern, right against the Stocks betwixt the Poultry and Cornhill, at 5 in the morning … ., with her marriage to Carleton the taverner’s wife’s brother,” are incidents fully narrated in Francis Kirkman’s “Counterfeit Lady Unveiled,” 1673

The counterfeit lady unveiled. Being a full account of the birth, life, most remarkable actions, and untimely death of Mary Carleton, known by the name of the German Princess.
Kirkman, Francis, 1632-ca. 1680.
London,: Printed for Peter Parker, at the Leg and Star, over against the Royal Exchange in Cornhill, 1673.
Early English Books Online
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo2…

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Her adventures formed the plot of a tragi-comedy by T. P., entitled “A Witty Combat, or the Female Victor,” 1663, which was acted with great applause by persons of quality inWhitsun week.

A witty combat, or, The female victor a trage-comedy : as it was acted by persons of quality in Whitson-week with great applause / written by T.P., Gent.
Porter, T. (Thomas), 1636-1680.
London: Printed for Tho. Roberts ..., 1663.
Early English Books Online [full text]
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/…

Third Reading

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography link is
https://www.oxforddnb.com/display…

Here's what they say Mary Moders Carlton was doing during the Diary years:
"Mary then visited the continent, where she polished her languages. In Cologne she made a new identity when mistaken for another woman. Decking herself in jewels and finery and passing as Maria de Wolway, she came to London as a noble German lady forced to flee an unwanted marriage. Her appearance of wealth was aided by false letters from the continent attesting to estates.
"An innkeeper named King alerted his father-in-law, Carleton, to the prize. Carleton's son John, a lawyer's clerk of 18, assumed fine clothes that rivalled Mary's, won her consent, and married her in April 1663.
"Mary's supposed wealth never materialized and the Carletons received a letter from Canterbury disclosing Mary's past. She was dragged to prison where she was visited as a curiosity by, among others, Samuel Pepys (29 May 1663).
"The Carletons bungled the trial for bigamy at the Old Bailey, producing only one witness to the earlier marriages, James Knot. Steadman failed to appear, apparently unable to afford the fare to London from Dover — the Carletons asserted that Mary had threatened to haunt him if she were hanged. She stuck to her story, insisting on her nobility but declaring her wealth an invention of the greedy Carletons. She was acquitted, and the public was jubilant.
"The furore was exploited in a wooden play, 'A Witty Combat, or, The Female Victor', possibly by Thomas Porter, which presented Mary as a calculating heroine.
In 1664 she played herself at the Duke's Theatre. Pepys was unimpressed: 'saw The German Princess acted — by the woman herself … the whole play … is very simple, unless here and there a witty sprankle or two' (15 April 1664; Pepys, Diary, 5.124).

"For the next 7 years Mary Carleton used her sexual attractions to gain lovers and her strategic abilities to fool them, sometimes two at a time. She created new identities backed by supporting documents." ...

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References

Chart showing the number of references in each month of the diary’s entries.

1663

1664