Renaissance Woman: A Sourcebook

by Kate Aughterson (Editor)

Renaissance Woman: A Sourcebook is an invaluable collection of accounts of women and femininity in early modern England. The volume is divided thematically into nine sections, each with an accessible introduction, notes on sources and an annotated bibliography. The sections are:
* Theology
* Biology
* Conduct
* Sexuality and Motherhood
* Politics and Law
* Education
* Work
* Writing and Speaking
* Feminism
Renaissance Woman: A Sourcebook brings together sources ranging from medical documents and political pamphlets to sermons and the Bible, as well as literary sources. Providing a historical context to issues of gender in the Renasissance, it will be essential reading for students of the period, gender studies and cultural history.

Genres: History

340 pages, Paperback

First published December 14, 1995

Reviews

[Joyce · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a sourcebook -- a collection of documents from the era -- on women and on how women should comport themselves. The source material is diverse, so no one document should not be taken as authoritative; one should not read a given document and say, “aha, this is how everyone looked at women.” For instance, one section was written by Queen Catherine’s advisor, someone who would have not been influenced by the flush of Protestant teachings coming into the realm in those years. Also, keep in mind that people then as now did not necessarily listen to the moralists; so when a moralist opines that too many women consider themselves equal to men, we should glean from that that at least some women were bucking the going belief of female inferiority and asserting that they were as talented as men.

[Dinah]

A very well organized thematic collection of lengthy quotations (in some cases complete works) relating to women in the early modern period.