Abstract
T_ he Redcrosse Knight, titular hero of Spenser's initial book of The Faerie Queene, undergoes an extensive process of sanctification, much of which is overseen by nurturing maternal figures. In fact, preponderance of spiritual authorities in Book I-Una, Fidelia, Speranza, Charissa, and Mercie-are female. Multiple allegorical meanings have been suggested for these characters. Charissa, for example, can be read politically as another image of Elizabeth I (described by John Jewel as the only nurse and mother of English church), iconographically as an image of caritas, and theologically as Church, wisdom, or word of God (the Church, according to Leonard Wright in 1589, hath nursed you with her breasts, and brought you up in knowledge of truth).'
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