Gerald Brosseau Gardner (1884-1964), was instrumental in bringing the contemporary Pagan religion of Wicca to public attention, writing some of its definitive religious texts. He introduced a string of High Priestesses into the religion, including Doreen Valiente, Lois Bourne, Patricia Crowther, and Eleanor Bone, from whom the Gardnerian community spread throughout Britain and subsequently into Australia and the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s.