Essays discussing debates about women in the West over the course of hundreds of years.
This collection of 38 texts by authors both female and male, preceded by contextual introductions, traces the debate about women’s essential nature and moral and intellectual capacity over some 400 years in the Western world: from its origins in the 14th century; to the 15th- and 16th-century defenses of women; to the establishment of the principle of women’s equality to men in the 17th century; to the 18th-century call for women’s social and political rights. It thereby traces the debate that laid the foundations for modern feminism.
486 pages | 30 color plates | 6 x 9 | © 2026
The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe: The Toronto Series
History: European History, History of Ideas
Women's Studies:
Table of Contents
Illustrations
Introduction
Studies
Chapter 1: On Famous Women
––Giovanni Boccaccio, On Famous Women (1361/1362)
––Christine de Pizan, The Book of the City of Ladies (1405)
––Texts and Studies
Chapter 2: The Impact of Humanism
––Leonardo Bruni, The Study of Literature (1424)
––Francesco Barbaro, The Wealth of Wives (1415)
––Isotta Nogarola, Dialogue on the Equal or Unequal Sin of Adam and Eve (1451)
––Cassandra Fedele, Oration in Praise of Letters (ca. 1487)
––Laura Cereta, Letters to Bibolo Semproni (1488) and Lucilia Vernacula (1487)
––Texts and Studies
Chapter 3: Women Defended
––Juan Rodríguez del Padrón, The Triumph of Ladies (1438/1441)
––Bartolomeo Goggio, In Praise of Women (1487)
––Symphorien Champier, The Ship of Virtuous Ladies (1503)
––Pompeo Colonna, In Defense of Women (1529/1530)
––Henricus Cornelius Agrippa, Declamation on the Nobility and Preeminence of the Female Sex (1529)
––Jehan Baptista Houwaert, The Excellence of the Noble Maidens (1582/1583)
––Texts and Studies
Chapter 4: Catalogues and Galleries
––Giacomo Filippo Foresti, Many Famous and Exceptional Women (1497)
––Pierre Le Moyne, The Gallery of Heroic Women (1647)
––Texts and Studies
Chapter 5: The Feminist Manifesto
-–Moderata Fonte, The Worth of Women: Wherein Is Clearly Revealed Their Nobility and Their Superiority to Men (1600)
-–Lucrezia Marinella, The Nobility and Excellence of Women, and the Defects and Vices of Men (1600)
-–Arcangela Tarabotti, Paternal Tyranny (1654)
-–Texts and Studies
Chapter 6: The Learned Woman
-–Anna Maria van Schurman, Whether the Study of Letters is Fitting for a Christian Woman (1638)
-–Bathsua Makin, Essay to Revive the Ancient Education of Gentlewomen (1673)
-–Marguerite Buffet, New Observations on the French Language (1668)
-–Texts and Studies
Chapter 7: Mothers and Midwives
-–Alessandra Macinghi Strozzi, Letters to Her Sons (1447–1470)
-–Lady Mary Carey, A Mother’s Spiritual Dialogue, Meditations, and Elegies (1649/1650–1657/1658); POSTSCRIPT: Eleonora Fonseca Pimentel, Ode on a Miscarriage (1779)
-–Louise Bourgeois, Diverse Observations on Sterility, Miscarriage, Fertility, Childbirth, and the Diseases of Women and Newborn Children (1609, 1617, 1626)
-–Texts and Studies
Chapter 8: Love and Marriage
––Love Sonnets: by Vittoria Colonna (1538), Gaspara Stampa (1554), and Louise Labé (1555)
––Marguerite de Navarre, Heptameron (1559)
––Mary Astell, Reflections upon Marriage (1700)
––Gabrielle Suchon, On the Celibate Life Freely Chosen, or Life Without Commitments (1700)
––Texts and Studies
Chapter 9: In Search of God
-–Camilla da Varano, Memories of Jesus (1483/1491)
-–Juana Inés de la Cruz, The Poet’s Answer to the Most Illustrious Sister Filotea de la Cruz (1691)
-–Argula von Grumbach, Letter to the Rector and Council of the University of Ingolstadt (September 20, 1523)
-–Margaret Fell, Women’s Speaking Justified, Proved, and Allowed Of by the Scriptures (1666)
-–Texts and Studies
Chapter 10: The Mind Has No Sex
-–Marie le Jars de Gournay, The Equality of Men and Women (1622, 1641)
-–François Poulain de la Barre, On the Equality of the Two Sexes: A Physical and Moral Discourse Which Shows the Importance of Getting Rid of One’s Prejudices (1673)
-–Texts and Studies
Chapter 11: The Rights of Women
-–Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792)
-–Olympe de Gouges, Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Citizeness (1791)
-–Texts and Studies
Chronology of Authors and Texts
Glossary of Names
Index