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The Women’s Renaissance: An Analysis of Gender Expectations

and Experiences in Early Modern Europe
Taryn Shelnutt-Beam
East Tennessee State University

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 The Women’s Renaissance:

An Analysis of Gender Expectations and Experiences in Early Modern Europe

________________________

A thesis

presented to

the faculty of the Department of History

East Tennessee State University

In partial fulfillment

of the requirements for the degree

Master of Arts in History

________________________

by

Taryn Shelnutt-Beam

May 2024

________________________

Dr. Brian Maxson, Chair

Dr. Julie Fox-Horton

Dr. John Rankin

Keywords: women; gender; early modern Europe; Renaissance; Isotta Nogarola; Laura Cereta;

Marie le Jars de Gournay; Luisa de Carvajal y Mendoza; Francesco Barbaro; Leonardo Bruni;

Pier Vergerio; Juan Luis Vives; Erasmus

 ABSTRACT

The Women’s Renaissance:

An Analysis of Gender Expectations and Experiences in Early Modern Europe

by

Taryn Shelnutt-Beam

In 1976 Joan Kelly released her influential article “Did Women have a Renaissance?” Kelly

argued that women did not enjoy any of the benefits of the period. Rather, she claimed, the lives

of women were actually worse after the 1400s than they had been before. Since 1976, new

primary documents authored by women have been discovered. Moreover, new access to relevant

writings by authors like Francesco Barbaro, Pier Vergerio, Leonardo Bruni, Juan Luis Vives, and

Erasmus make revisiting Kelly’s arguments possible. This thesis uses a sample of these texts to

explore women’s experiences and create innovative avenues to explore in gender history.

Towards those ends, it combines recent scholarship with primary documents to reveal an

incongruence between the expectations placed on women and their self-identified lived

experiences. It offers, thus, a more complicated world than that presented in Kelly’s

paradigmatic study.

2
Copyright 2024 by Taryn Shelnutt-Beam

All Rights Reserved

3
 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Thank you to Dr. Brian Maxson for your continued guidance and coaching, without

which this project would be impossible. Thank you to Dr. Julie Fox-Horton and Dr. John Rankin

for your help in thinking through many important topics and guiding me through this process.

To my parents, thank you for teaching me to be coachable in everything with the goal of

progress, not perfection. And to my siblings who taught me resilience and perseverance.

Finally, to my loving husband, whom I rely on most and whose support never waivers.

Thank you for the endless encouragement and care you give me every day.

4
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT.................................................................................................................................... 2

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .............................................................................................................. 4

CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 6

CHAPTER 2. INSTRUCTIONS FOR WOMEN ......................................................................... 17

CHAPTER 3. LIVED EXPERIENCE .......................................................................................... 37

CHAPTER 4. CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................... 58

BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................................................... 61

VITA ............................................................................................................................................. 67

5
 CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION

In early modern Europe, gender roles and expectations were more severe among the

wealthy and powerful than anywhere else. Furthermore, the women with the means and

opportunity to receive education were often discouraged from engaging in intellectual endeavors.

This era, the Renaissance, is often regarded as a time of social and cultural expansion, but

perhaps it was only so for wealthy men.1 This discussion was first introduced by Joan Kelly’s

“Did Women Have a Renaissance?” published in 1976, which remains relevant today. This text

and the scholarship produced on the topic provide a unique lens in which researchers view

women and gender in early modern Europe.

Gender infiltrated many philosophies during this time, and most aspects of a woman’s

life received attention and scrutiny. In fact, lengthy and gender-specific manuals were written by

prominent authors solely focused on virtuous conduct. These were writers such as Francesco

Barbaro, Pier Vergerio, Leonardo Bruni, Juan Luis Vives, and Erasmus.2 Some of these authors

focused on women giving ample information on their lives. Others focused on men, yet they are

still informative for this study of women. The literature, philosophy, and other art created during

the early modern period which give direct knowledge of men’s lives and attitudes also provides

indirect knowledge of “sexual, economic, political, and cultural” activities of women.3

Regardless of the gender highlighted by the author, the use and popularity of such manuals offers

a fascinating window into the expectations and lives of women, one which will be unlocked here.

Women and gender have received an increasing level of attention and scholarly research

in recent decades. The emergence of women’s history began with the “add women and stir”

1
Joan Kelly. Women, History, and Theory: The Essays of Joan Kelly. (Chicago: The University of Chicago
Press, 1984): 19-20.
2
Note the absence of women on this list of authors.
3
Kelly, 20.

6
approach.4 This refers to the way scholars fit women into familiar categories at first – economics,

politics, religion, and class – instead of recognizing that studying women’s history required a

rethinking of organization and structure for research. However, they quickly understood this

change and women’s history went from a nearly invisible population to a dynamic field of

historical study with professional societies, journals, books, and courses dedicated to it.

Women’s historians have undoubtedly demonstrated that every historical change affected the

“lives of women in some way, although often differently from how it affected the lives of men of

the same class or social group.”5 One of the most influential texts published on the topic is Joan

Kelly’s “Did Women have a Renaissance?” published in 1976. This article was a result of the

burgeoning trend of women’s history in the 1960s and 70s, but it propelled the field forward.6

Some consider this essay foundational research from which the entire field of early modern

women was built.7 This work caught the attention of early modern scholars who were still

unfamiliar with gender history, and directly challenged a popular assertion that women achieved

equality during the Renaissance.8 Instead, Kelly suggested that women did not obtain equality,

but their status declined during the period.9 The success of her essay speaks to the impact it had

on the field as a whole. She identified the key aspects of studying women’s history and

4
Merry Wiesner-Hanks. Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe, 4th edition, (Cambridge University
Press, 2019), 14.
5
Wiesner-Hanks, 2.
6
Natalie Davis. “Forum,” Early Modern Women, vol. 8 (2013): 246.
7
Theresa Coletti. “’Did Women have a Renaissance?’ A Medievalist Reads Joan Kelly and Aemelia
Lanyer.” Early Modern Women, vol. 8 (2013): 249.
8
Kelly, 20-21. This view of gender equality in the Renaissance was directly argued by Jacob Burckhardt in
The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy (1860). According to Kelly, that notion infiltrated most general histories
of women and dominated most histories of Renaissance women by the time she wrote “Did Women have a
Renaissance?” in 1984.
9
Holly S. Hurlburt. “A Renaissance for Renaissance Women?” Journal of Women’s History vol. 19 no. 2,
(2007), 193.

7
encouraged other historians to continuously shift their perspectives so all people of the past can

be encapsulated in our evolving understanding of human history.10

The categorial analysis and explicit criteria she lists for her study not only influenced

early modern studies, but all scholarship on women’s history.11 The four criteria Kelly found

most useful when analyzing and comparing the experiences of men and women were 1) the

regulation of sexuality; 2) economic and political roles; 3) cultural roles, including education and

instruction; 4) ideologies about women.12 Kelly connects these benchmarks to the general

developments of larger society to distinguish any significant changes in gender roles. These

categories have been revisited by Renaissance and Medieval scholars ever since Kelly published

her argument. She challenged historians to consider how “conceptions of historical periods”

framed the study of certain groups and cultures.13

Ultimately, Kelly answers her own question with a resounding “no” and asserts “there

was no Renaissance for women – at least, not during the Renaissance.”14 According to her, the

increasing value placed on the arts, education, and intellectual discussions did not apply to

women. However, decades of scholarship since then have exposed the complexities of this

discussion.15 New developments and trends create innovative perspectives and avenues to be

explored even just within early modern women’s history. Scholars have attempted to confirm,

refute, modify, or nuance Kelly’s answer since its publication and because of her article, many

questioned the notion of historical periodization altogether.16 After all, can a period really be

regarded as a “golden age” if it had minimal or damaging effects on women? Many recent

10
Davis, 247.
11
Davis, 244.
12
Kelly, 20.
13
Davis, 249-250.
14
Kelly, 19.
15
Coletti, 249-250.
16
Wiesner-Hanks, 13-14.

8
influential texts identify or acknowledge Joan Kelly’s work as a groundbreaking and stimulating

contribution to women’s history.

For example, in 2013 Theresa Coletti revisited Joan Kelly’s four criteria to discuss

women’s literary history and culture in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.17 Coletti

immediately recognizes the “intellectual commitments” Kelly’s question anticipated and

mobilized.18 The ways women’s history has expanded and changed allowed those inspired by

Kelly to offer more nuanced assessments of her ideas and rhetorical challenges. Coletti embraces

Kelly’s challenge to periodization and the notion of total equality during the Renaissance.

However, she takes it a step further by arguing even Kelly’s critique relied on periodization to

distinguish between the “medieval era that encouraged women’s sexual and affective rights and a

Renaissance in which women experienced contradiction of social and personal options.”19 As a

medieval historian herself, Coletti emphasizes the somewhat arbitrary distinctions historians use

in categorizing eras. She focuses on a female poet living in the years typically designated by

historians as the Renaissance, yet her writing, interpretations, and representations clearly

followed medieval traditions.20 This analysis is intended to force the reader to confront

periodization and scholarly practices, just as Kelly’s essay set out to do. While Coletti disputes

Kelly’s categorization of Renaissance and Medieval women, she clearly mimics the path of

analysis presented in “Did Women have a Renaissance?”

The Ashgate Research Companion to Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe

(2013) demonstrates an understanding and appreciation of Kelly’s essay throughout this lengthy

anthology. This book gives an authoritative review of research conducted on women and gender

17
Colletti, 252.
18
Colleti, 249.
19
Coletti, 250.
20
Coletti, 259.

9
in the early modern period. The authors examine political, economic, and cultural roles of

women using “women’s lives, ideologies of gender, and the differences between ideology and

reality.”21 These categories are identical to those Kelly laid out in “Did Women Have a

Renaissance?”22 Because of this striking similarity, many of the chapters in Ashgate deal with

Kelly’s question.

Most of the chapters that relate to Kelly’s essay contradict her assertions, citing this

disagreement because of new discoveries and primary sources that were not available when “Did

Women Have a Renaissance?” was published. Jutta Sperling discusses the various perspectives

on women’s agency developed by historians in recent decades. She uses dowry and property

relations to do so and contradicts Kelly’s assertion that women had less agency during and after

the Renaissance than before.23 Allyson Poska then writes on women and marriage during this

time and contradicts Kelly as well. She claims a significant number of women lived outside

traditional patriarchal families with marriage being less restrictive than Kelly suggests.24 Lyndan

Warner discusses the contradictions and gaps between the law and practices of women. She

examines how women, or their lawyers, represented their cases to judges by exploiting common

expectations around “female inferiority, duty and virtue.”25 Warner concedes that women had

less agency legally in the early modern period as Kelly suggests. However, she argues that the

harsh laws restricting women were not as rigid in practice. Warner argues that “women

21
Allyson M. Poska and Jane Couchman, eds. The Ashgate Companion to Women and Gender in Early
Modern Europe. (Taylor & Francis Group, 2013), 1.
22
Kelly, 20.
23
Jutta Gisela Sperling, “The Economics and Politics of Marriage.” In The Ashgate Research Companion
to Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe, (Taylor & Francis Group, 2013): 213-232; 213.
24
Allyson Poska, “Upending Patriarchy: Rethinking Marriage and Family in Early Modern Europe.” In The
Ashgate Research Companion to Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe, (Taylor & Francis Group, 2013):
195-211; 195.
25
Lyndan Warner, “Before the Law” In The Ashgate Research Companion to Women and Gender in Early
Modern Europe, (Taylor & Francis Group, 2013): 233-256; 233-234.

10
must…have regarded property in their possession as belonging to them even when it was not

legally theirs.”26 Janine Lanza’s chapter touches on the topic of women’s status directly. She

reviews the historiography of women’s status in the early modern period with some supporting a

deteriorating climate and others claiming there were more varied economic opportunities.27

Lanza concludes that this period did mark a change for women’s status, but it did not necessarily

create a moment of decline for them. Diana Robin studies early modern European women

intellectuals in her chapter. She argues that due to the increasing availability of primary sources

in the 1980s and 90s allows scholars to replace earlier stereotypes of women in this period with

individualized portraits of women from a variety of lifestyles. Robin believes this demonstrates

the performativity and mutability of gender roles.28 She recognizes the significance of Kelly’s

essay but says recent scholarship has “rendered [it] moot” because of the newly available

primary sources by women intellectuals.29

There is at least one chapter in this book, however, that agrees with Kelly’s argument.

Katherine Crawford discusses one of the key topics in Kelly’s analysis: sexuality. She agrees

with the assertion of a decrease in sexual freedom for early modern women while men’s sexual

escapades were irrelevant.30 Crawford identifies ideological norms regarding gender and

sexuality and connects those social prescriptions to ruptures of marital relations and sexuality.31

Overall, most of the authors in The Ashgate Research Companion disagree with Kelly’s

26
Warner, 240.
27
Janine Lanza, “Women and Work.” In The Ashgate Research Companion to Women and Gender in Early
Modern Europe, (Taylor & Francis Group, 2013): 279-296, 280.
28
Diana Robin, “Intellectual Women in Early Modern Europe” In The Ashgate Research Companion to
Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe, (Taylor & Francis Group, 2013): 381-406, 382.
29
Robin, 281.
30
Katherine Crawford, “Permanent Impermanence: Continuity and Rupture in Early Modern Sexuality
Studies.” In The Ashgate Research Companion to Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe, (Taylor & Francis
Group, 2013): 257-278, 258.
31
Crawford, 260.

11
conclusion but they still assert the significance of her question and research. They simply believe

the opinion of recent scholars has shifted because they have more access to primary sources from

women than Kelly did in 1976.

Merry Wiesner-Hanks is another prominent gender historian of early modern Europe that

benefited from Joan Kelly’s stimulating essay. She has published numerous studies on women

and culture in this period. Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe is perhaps one of her

most popular and informative texts. Its fourth edition came out in 2019, solidifying it as an

instrumental survey of early modern gender history. She certainly agrees with Kelly that when

studying women in the Renaissance, the popular yet disillusioned vision of equality disappears.32

However, Wiesner-Hanks takes it a step further stating any generalizations made about women

are difficult because “the experience of early modern women was much less uniform than we

thought several decades ago.”33 She charges that a discussion of women’s status requires explicit

specifications of exactly what type of women are intended for each conversation. Because of

this, Wiesner-Hanks would likely generally disagree with Kelly since she makes a broad

generalization but agree with her that certain groups are experienced less freedom in the

Renaissance based on factors such as class and marital status. For example, she argues for some

women, especially the poor, social class influenced their experiences more than gender while

elite women were affected more by gender than class.34

Aidan Norrie and Lisa Hopkins exemplify the evolving field of women’s studies with

their recent publication Women on the Edge in Early Modern Europe (2019). This anthology

contributes to the ongoing debate about the lived experiences of women in this period. These

32
Wiesner-Hanks, 2.
33
Wiesner-Hanks, 15.
34
Wiesner-Hanks, 16-17.

12
authors identify the ways gender impeded a “woman’s personal, political, and religious

agency.”35 The entire book focuses on the boundaries placed on the female sex, what happened if

they crossed those boundaries, or edges, and how scholars have reinforced these anachronistic

edges. Each chapter uses a woman or group from across Europe as a case study. Each of them

demonstrates the restrictions placed on women based solely on gender or the ways women were

forced into roles because it was ruled socially necessary.36 Most of the women highlighted are

aristocratic, which certainly impacted their experiences with gender and expectations. This book

does not mention Kelly, however a comparison between the two texts shows the perpendicularity

of them. Norrie and Hopkins charge that aristocratic women were heavily impacted and

restricted by their gender, however their focus is on women that managed to escape those

limitations. Of course, crossing these boundaries often led to conflict and ostracization for these

women, however Norrie and Hopkins prove it was possible to do so if a woman had certain

resources and determination. Thus, they intersect with Kelly’s assertion that women experienced

severe restrictions, then veer in the opposite direction by demonstrating the ways women

overcame these restrictions where Kelly sees them as inescapable.37

The Routledge History of Women in Early Modern Europe follows this recent trend as

well. This text provides a comprehensive survey of the field and a great resource for researchers.

The analysis presented is viewed through the lens of female experience. Similar to Norrie and

Hopkins, Amanda Capern discusses the restrictions placed on women at the time, but focuses on

the ways women functioned despite these limitations. She argues that "women were not just

35
Aidan Norrie and Lisa Hopkins. Women on the Edge in Early Modern Europe. (Amsterdam University
Press, 2019): 15.
36
Norrie and Hopkins, 18.
37
Kelly, 46-47.

13
passive players in historical processes” and they did in fact have personal agency.38 When

questioned about Kelly’s argument, Capern would certainly disagree. She argues women’s

continued participation in their surroundings both inside and outside their homes.

Sarah Ross examines female intellectuals and the techniques they used to advocate for

themselves, ultimately arguing that women did in fact have a Renaissance. Her book, The Birth

of Feminism (2009), discusses the paths and language used to legitimize women intellectuals in

the early modern period and disagrees with the older idea that well-educated women were

“curiosities” or “beyond their sex.”39 Ross argues women and their supporters possessed wide

appeal because they reconstructed the “concept of woman” using traditional language of

domesticity within the accepted household paradigm.40 This tactic, according to her, does not

demonstrate female containment but rather “was a subversive strategy for making the unusual

seem acceptable and even praiseworthy.”41 Women used their cultures terms to prove they could

be equal to men in matters of the mind. Because of this, Ross directly disagrees with Kelly’s

conclusion.42 In a clear nod to Kelly’s work, Ross concludes that women culturally advanced

during the Renaissance and “laid the foundations for the intellectual emancipation of

womankind.”43

The Other Voices Series provides a perfect demonstration of the developing world of

gender studies and has provided new opportunities to evaluate Kelly’s argument. This started as

a small proposal from editors Margaret King and Albert Rabil to translate and publish a dozen

key historical texts by women writers and humanists during the Renaissance. However, it

38
Amanda Capern. The Routledge History of Women in Early Modern Europe. (Routledge, 2019): 1.
39
Sarah Ross. The Birth of Feminism: Women as Intellect in Renaissance Italy and England. (Harvard
University Press, 2009): 4.
40
Ross, 7.
41
Ross, 7.
42
Ross, 314-315, 319.
43
Ross, 16.

14
quickly evolved into a larger mission of textual recovery. They wanted to publish as many

important texts as possible, either by or about women, and from various disciplines and genres.44

This massive project released its first book in 1996 and has since published well over 100

volumes with more to come. Many of the texts used in this paper are easily accessible because of

this project, however, that was not the case for Kelly or her contemporaries fifty years ago.

These publications have provided new avenues of research, ways to reevaluate older theories

such as Kelly’s, and a more in-depth look at women in early modern Europe. With every new

publication, The Other Voice Series continues to remind researchers of the extraordinary

magnitude women authors and writings about women experienced during the Renaissance.

Women and gender studies is still a vibrant and evolving field of historical analysis,

decades after its conception. Kelly’s essay and categorical analysis is undoubtedly an influential

work within women’s history and after fifty years is still being used to further develop our

understanding of all people in the pre-modern world. In fact, the American Historical

Association had an entire panel dedicated to its lasting impact at the 2024 conference in San

Francisco. “Did Women have a Renaissance?” and the recent scholarship surrounding it provide

an interesting and informative historiography to couple with my research. Other prominent

historians, such as Wiesner-Hanks, Capern, King, and Ross have made vital contributions to

women’s history.45 Kelly’s essay acts as a tremendous starting point for anyone researching

women’s history and leads to a wealth of scholarship from the past few decades. Many recent

scholars dealing with Kelly’s question attempt to prove or disprove her argument, but it is not

that simple. The texts dissected in this paper demonstrate the complexity and nuance that must be

44
“Book Series: The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe.” University of Chicago Press.
https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/series/OVIEME.html.
45
There are many other names that could be included in this list of influential authors. Many.

15
traversed when contemplating the lives of women in early modern Europe. Thanks to

publications such as The Other Voice Series, The Birth of Feminism, and many others, the

modern researcher can access new sources and delve deeper into lives of women across Europe.

This new ability leads to a deeper grasp of their participation in the world despite the seemingly

constricting expectations identified in Kelly’s essay and other, older theories.

This study aims to combine recent scholarship and primary documents to reveal an

incongruence between the ideologies and expectations placed on women and their lived

experiences and self-identification. Kelly’s argument provides an interesting foil to this

examination. This objective will be accomplished first through an analysis of the manuals written

by prominent authors of the time. The gender expectations laid out by those authors will be

identified, analyzed, and compared to that of men. Second, the expectations and instructions

given exclusively by men will be compared to the lived experiences of women, depicted by

women. This juxtaposition of texts authored by women with those written by prominent men

offers a unique insight into the complexity of women’s lives in early modern Europe.

16
 CHAPTER 2. INSTRUCTIONS FOR WOMEN

Each of the prominent male authors discussed in this chapter have an abundance of

secondary scholarship written about their work. They clearly targeted a certain demographic with

their instructions – members of noble families and people of wealth and high status. However,

scholars suggest each text had a broader impact on society, politics, and culture in this period.

For instance, Francesco Barbaro’s Wealth of Wives has been described as a work “of

fundamental importance for the understanding of…aristocratic consciousness in Europe for

centuries to come.”46 This chapter will explore five texts which demonstrate ideals for women in

this period, analyze the instructions given, and identify the women that fell within the targeted

audience along with those that did not.

While they differ in specific style, topics, and opinions regarding gender, the core

objective remains the same. Each one tries to teach its audience what a good, virtuous person

looks like. Each person or text mentioned here demonstrates the various expectations placed on

women or the experiences they had to tolerate. Some address women exclusively, some address

men, and others contain a mixture of both sexes. However, the goal of virtue always remains,

especially those celebrated in antiquity and classical philosophy.47 The largest similarity is the

audience these authors target in their writing – wealthy and powerful elites. While some of these

texts gain wider popularity, people outside the upper class would not be able to uphold these

standards and frankly would not be expected to do such a thing.

46
Margaret King. Venetian Humanism in an Age of Patrician Dominance, (Princeton University Press,
1986): 93.
47
Constance Jordan. “Feminism and the Humanists: The Case of Sir Thomas Elyot’s Defense of Good
Women.” (Renaissance Quarterly 36, no. 2, 1983): 181.

17
 Given the popular support of female dependency and male dominancy, it seems unusual

for these authors to focus on women’s larger involvement in education and society.48 Therefore,

one must consider how and what the authors depict of women in these treatises. This type of

writing in which the authors sing praises of learned women stems from the humanist movement

as they emphasized moral philosophy, Latin, and the requirements for “the art of living well and

happily.”49 It should be noted that these men still regarded women as lesser according to ancient

scholars such as Aristotle.50 Writing of heroic and praiseworthy women became a popular

subgenre of humanists, but what made a woman heroic? Her capacity to succeed in masculine

activities and endeavors such as education, politics, or the military.51 By the fifteenth and

sixteenth centuries, authors continued this by comparing the ideal women they outlined to the

ancient heroines from the idealized Greek and Roman histories.52

Leonardo Bruni’s De studiis et litteris (ca.1405) discusses female education and instructs

his readers on the appropriate education of women both in content and level of understanding.

Unlike other treatises of the era which are broader, he focuses on education specifically, but his

work still reveals a wider cultural attitude toward women and women’s intellectual potential.53

The simple fact that Bruni is the first of only a few humanists to exclusively address women

reveals how unimportant most intellectuals found any topic relating to women, not just

education.54

48
Kelly, 21.
49
Virginia Cox. Women’s Writing in Italy, 1400-1650 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008),
18; Ronald Witt and Benjamin Kohl, The Earthly Republic: Italian Humanists on Government and Society,
(University of Pennsylvania Press, 1978), 179.
50
Margaret King and Diana Robin eds. Isotta Nogarola’s Complete Writings: Letterbook, Dialogue on
Adam and Eve, Orations, (University of Chicago Press, 2004): xx.
51
Cox, Women’s Writing, 19.
52
Cox, Women’s Writing, 19.
53
Cox, “Leonardo Bruni,” 48.
54
Cox, Women’s Writing, 17.

18
 This text is presented as a guide to instruction for high-born and particularly intellectual

women.55 Bruni writes in the form of a letter addressed to Baptista di Montefeltro Malatesta

(1384-1450), Lady of Pesaro.56 He uses Baptista as an example of female excellence. She was

admired for her education, intellect, and piety.57 She was the daughter of the Count of Urbino

who insisted on a great education for her. Furthermore, her father-in-law shared in the

intellectual interests of young Baptista and often exchanged ideas and aided her passion for

poetry and literature.58 Her well-established place in the Italian aristocracy and respected

education demonstrates his target audience and highlights a superb example of an intellectual

woman and her ability to embody the virtues of learned society.59

As a true humanist, Bruni valued scholars of antiquity and classical philosophy as the

most important subjects for a person’s education, regardless of gender. In the opening sentences,

he identifies some of the “brilliant” women of antiquity – such as Cornelia, Sappho, and Aspasia

– then decisively points out the lack of such “true learning” in the fifteenth century.60 According

to Bruni, true learning is not devoting oneself to theology, but to the knowledge of facts,

principles, letters, and the art of expression.61 He admires Christian authors and Church Fathers

for their ability to engage with theology and literature, unlike “their successors of today.”62

However, he regards the Greek and Roman philosophers as the most important thinkers to study

55
Cox, “Leonardo Bruni,” 48.
56
William Harrison Woodward and Eugene F. Rice. “The Tractate of Leonardo Bruni d’Arezzo De studiis
et litteris.” In Vittorino da Feltre and Other Humanist Educators, vol. 5, 119-33. (University of Toronto Press,
1996): 119.
57
Cox, “Leonardo Bruni,” 48.
58
Woodward, 119-120. Baptista had a turbulent life after her father-in-law died. Her husband was forced
out of his lordship and the city. She returned home to Urbino, alone, lived a secluded life and later became a sister of
the Franciscan Order of Santa Chiara.
59
Jordan, 181-182.
60
Bruni, 123-124.
61
Bruni, 124.
62
Bruni, 124.

19
and emulate.63 The path of a proper education lies in studying topics emphasized by the “noblest

names:” Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Livy, and Virgil.64 These “most approved poets, historians, and

orators” of ancient renown “must be the trusted companions of all who aspire to be called

cultivated.”65

Although he seems to support women’s education wholeheartedly, Bruni places clear

restrictions on the subjects appropriate for women’s studies. This text certainly supports Kelly’s

argument. Women seemed to gain freedom and equality in this period, but these so-called

advancements were to help them better fulfill their roles as wives and mothers, not expand their

purview.66 Bruni advocates for all ladies to be educated, an uncommon campaign at that time,

however, according to him, some subjects are within a woman’s ability and comprehension

while others are wholly outside their suitable proficiencies. They continued to experience

gender-specific restrictions in everything they did. An extensive command of Latin was a

necessity as the basis of all other studies. This would allow women to read with many influential

scholars and the ability to write letters.67 Literature, religion and morals, philosophy, oration, and

poetry were subjects “every educated lady must shew herself thoroughly familiar.”68 History is

also approved because, according to Bruni, it is an easy subject with no subtleties or

complexities. Arithmetic, geometry, astrology, and rhetoric, however, are unbecoming of

women. An extensive knowledge and devotion to these would be unflattering and self-indulgent

for any woman bold enough to attempt such a thing. These are simply an opportunity for a

woman’s “vain display.”69 Bruni sees the only appropriate subjects as those a woman would find

63
Bruni, 126.
64
Bruni, 132.
65
Bruni, 133.
66
Bruni, 126.
67
Cox, “Leonardo Bruni,” 55.
68
Bruni, 128.
69
Bruni, 127.

20
useful in her daily life. Thus, anything that teaches her how to debate or illicit support through

speech are entirely unnecessary and “lies absolutely outside the province of a woman.”70 Women

have a clear place and role in Bruni’s writing, one of inferiority.

The restriction placed on rhetoric is quite unexpected for a scholar such as Bruni, but it

illuminates common societal views of women at the time. The perceptions of women’s proper

social role were incongruent with a woman engaging in a public debate. Eloquence and other

public virtues were viewed as masculine, while domestic virtues such as silence and modesty

were feminine.71 An articulate learned woman was an anomaly, disruptive of social norms, and

corrupted by their inability to remain silent. Some scholars suggest he did not intend for women

to be excluded from rhetoric in its entirety but instead is making a distinction between rhetoric in

writing and rhetoric in oratorical performance.72 However, since rhetoric is one of the core

disciplines of humanism, Bruni’s restriction in De studiis is often used to prove that Italian

humanists and the wider culture had an “unabated phobia about female speech.”73

Francesco Barbaro was a contemporary of Bruni and added to the discussion of women’s

proper behavior and place within their family and society with his The Wealth of Wives in

1415.74 The two are often paired since they both discuss the roles and expectations of virtuous

women at the beginning of the fifteenth century. Additionally, both men discouraged women

speaking in public or engaging in public discourse. In Barbaro’s work, he states “a woman’s

speech is no less dangerous than the nakedness of her limbs.”75 Both Bruni and Barbaro suggest

70
Bruni, 126.
71
Cox, “Leonardo Bruni,” 50-51.
72
Cox, “Leonardo Bruni,” 57.
73
Jennifer Summit. Lost Property: The Woman Writer and English Literary History, 1380-1589 (Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 2000) 166.
74
Interestingly, Barbaro was unmarried and only twenty-five when he authored this text.
75
Francesco Barbaro, “Francesco Barbaro On Wifely Duties,” in The Earthly Republic: Italian Humanists
on Government and Society, eds. Witt and Kohl; Cox, “Leonardo Bruni,” 51.

21
that “no virtuous woman would seek to publish her work or express her views in public.”76

Another example of a man being unusually supportive of female education while also possessing

a phobia of female speech.

Like the other authors mentioned in this chapter, Barbaro targets an audience of young

nobles and elites with his writing. The most obvious proof of this audience comes with his

dedication to a young Florentine noble and friend Lorenzo di Giovanni di Bicci de Medici.77 This

dedicatee was preparing to marry a noble woman and begin their life as a couple.78 Additionally,

Barbaro makes it clear his goal is not only to instruct his friend, but he wants to reach many

nobles with his writing. He hopes that through Lorenzo, he “might reach many of our

generation” because “the matter discussed here…is one of which young people…of our circle in

particular should be aware.”79 He believed his writing was important for all young nobles to

understand because their marriages and children determined the future security and morality of

the noble families.80

In this book he discusses the value women add to families and marriages. His ideas stem

from a fundamental concept of marriage as a “perpetual conjunction of man and wife, lawfully

instituted for the procreation of offspring or for the avoidance of fornication.”81 According to

Barbaro, only children born from a marriage can be responsibly raised, honored, and become

respectable citizens. Furthermore, children born out of wedlock are more inclined to violence,

dishonest, and all that is corrupt.82 He turns to respected philosophers and cultures of the past to

76
Diana Robin, ed. Collected Letter of a Renaissance Feminist. (University of Chicago Press, 1997), 7.
77
Barbaro, 65.
78
King, 93.
79
Barbaro, 66-67.
80
King, 94.
81
Barbaro, 67.
82
Barbaro, 68.

22
support this argument.83 Thus, Barbaro regards procreation as the chief purpose of marriage

because it ensures the continuation of society and upright morals.

A key aspect of begetting virtuous children is choosing the proper spouse. Barbaro placed

virtue as the most important quality of a wife. He asserts that it alone serves to make a good and

desirable spouse, even if all her other qualities are insufficient.84 An appropriate marriage

between two elite families allowed the preservation of the nobility. He gave expression to this

idea which had been long honored by nobles.85 For Barbaro, the family was the basis for

aristocratic polity. Therefore, his instructions were not merely for wives in their personal and

domestic roles, but in their larger contribution to society through their families.86

Although Barbaro emphasizes the importance of procreation, he highlights other benefits

of marriage later, adding complexity to his perspective. He describes the joys one experiences by

sharing thoughts with a spouse and becoming a “partner, companion, and friend” to one

another.87 In a woman’s role as wife, Barbaro instructs her to be submissive to her husband’s

needs and his companion so he may pursue his career without undue attention to family

matters.88

This writing presents a revolutionary idea, placing women, not men, as the critical people

for raising kids and therefore the social and cultural survival of the family, particularly for

nobles. As previously discussed, the only way the nobility could survive and continue to flourish

was through legitimate procreation and therefore marriage. The children of such elite marriages

would become holders of important offices in the Republic, they were the future of society and

83
Barbaro, 67-71; He uses writings from the Romans and Greeks, Thucydides, St. Augustine, Xenophon,
and several others to support his definition of marriage.
84
Barbaro, 71.
85
King, 93.
86
Witt and Kohl, 182.
87
Barbaro, 69.
88
Witt and Kohl, 183.

23
whom everyone depended on to make it endure.89 Since women held the responsibility of

bearing and rearing all children, Barbaro concludes the virtue and intelligence of a prospective

wife was the most important factor to consider.90 He places an extremely high value on a

mother’s mental and moral characteristics because he believes it passes to from her to the

children through pregnancy, breast feeding, intellect, and religious upbringing. This, of course,

only works under the assumption that women must marry, have children, and stay at home with

their children instead of working.

Barbaro respected Christian beliefs as well as the classical texts from prominent

philosophers, poets, and historians. As a humanist, his work heavily relies on the classic texts,

but it was also part of a major trend of Venetian humanism with its infusion of law and

philosophy.91 His humanist education is evident through his continual citations from respected

philosophers, thinkers, poets, and historians.92 However, he cites Christian sources to support his

claims as well.93 In fact, he uses Christian teachings and ideas to support his assertions about

marriage.94 He recognizes the authority Christianity held in his society and the strength

marriages have because of that power.95 The evidence presented from the classical texts discuss

the political and diplomatic leaps made through an alliance of marriage, while the Christian

evidence describes the spiritual benefits received through marriage such as procreation, wisdom,

friendship, and health.96

89
Witt and Kohl, 183.
90
Margaret King in Wealth of Wives, 9.
91
King, Venetian Humanism, 92.
92
He makes a reference to a classical text on almost every page of the sixty-one-page text.
93
Barbaro, 68-70; 78.
94
Barbaro, 70.
95
Barbaro, 69-70.
96
Barbaro, 70.

24
 While Barbaro offers overall support for women’s education, The Wealth of Wives

ultimately reflects the broader goal of defending the nobility and ensuring its perpetuation, not

advocating for women.97 Like Bruni, this work supports King’s conclusion of women’s status in

early modern Europe. Barbaro only concerns himself with women’s education because they are

responsible for the upbringing of noble men’s sons. Wives and mothers had to ensure the future

aristocrats were properly nurtured and educated, thus they needed to be partially educated and

virtuous as well.98 While their education was important, Barbaro expected their duties within

family and home to be their first priority.99

Pier Vergerio’s De ingenuis moribus slightly predates Bruni and Barbaro but falls into

the same trend on education in the same century.100 He published this text just before Bruni and

Barbaro, and there are a few key similarities and differences amongst the three.101 Vergerio, like

Barbaro and Bruni, was a popular humanist of the fifteenth century and targeted an elite

audience. His work is addressed to Ubertinus of Francesco II da Carrara, Lord of Padua and was

thus designed for formation of an elite born child.102 He even compares this treatise to Aristotle’s

instruction of Alexander the Great.103 Vergerio instructs him on proper conduct for a man of

nobility, highlighting the fundamental principles a parent should teach their children.104 Vergerio

explicitly states that such principles are necessities for those of “high station.”105 Furthermore, he

97
King, Venetian Humanism, 224.
98
King, Venetian Humanism, 184.
99
Woodward, 249.
100
David Robey. “Humanism and Education in the Early Quattrocento: The De ingenius moribus of P. P.
Vergerio (Bibliothèque d’Humanisme et Renaissance 42, no. 1, 1980, 27–58): 27. This is regarded as the first
humanist treatise on education, beating the other authors by just a few years.
101
Woodward, 93.
102
Vergerio, 96-97; Woodward, 94; Antonella Cagnolati. “Educational Revolution and Italian Humanism:
De ingenius moribus et liberalibus adolescentiae studiis of Pier Paolo Vergerio.” History of Education, no. 39
(2020): 209.
103
Vergerio, 112-113.
104
Vergerio, 96.
105
Vergerio, 96.

25
instructs his audience to be thankful for the good fortune of being born into an illustrious family

and afforded the ability to learn.106 Those born in an elite family will assuredly hold public

positions and should be prepared well through a proper education. Although it is dedicated to a

specific individual, the treatise “is intended for all who are blessed by nature” in ancestry and

“quickened mind.”107

Vergerio emphasizes the importance of family in the training of children, like Bruni and

Barbaro. The three fundamental principles of child rearing concern the family. The three are

giving children respectable names, raising them in a city of distinction, and training them in

sound learning.108 Vergerio cites these as the most important things a parent does for their

children. Furthermore, this responsibility must begin at a young age while the mind is most

retentive. This proper and thorough instruction ensures the continuation of society. 109 This idea

is very similar to Barbaro’s in that children should be instructed from a young age by parents and

such education ensures the future of the nobility.

Education, according to Vergerio, is the most important aspect of a child’s upbringing. It

is what a parent owes their child above all else. He acknowledges the value education adds to

each individual and society overall because it serves the needs of the state.110 A proper education

strengthens boys’ character and allows them a promising future. Inspired by Aristotle, he regards

proper citizenship as the highest possible achievement of education.111 Furthermore, Vergerio

claims education leads to the perfection of man as a citizen through the gaining of qualities such

as sound judgement, wisdom of speech, and integrity of conduct.112 He describes history,

106
Cagnolati, 211.
107
Vergerio, 97.
108
Vergerio, 96.
109
Vergerio, 99.
110
Cagnolati, 211; Robey, 28; Vergerio, 99-100.
111
Woodward, 184.
112
Vergerio, 102; Woodward, 182-183.

26
philosophy, rhetoric, poetry, logic, music, and arithmetic as beneficial areas of study because

they enrich the art of debate, persuasion, legal discussions, conversation, and exposition.113

Unsurprisingly, all of these categories, including active citizenship, exclude women.

Vergerio does not allow space for women in education like Bruni and Barbaro. He

reserves the obligation and responsibility of education for a father to give to his sons, holding

him as the central person in the household.114 The only mention of mother’s role comes with her

encouraging her “sons to follow a career traditional in their family…and the customary pursuits

of the city in which [they] dwell.”115 This directly contradicts Barbaro’s idea that women are the

center of a household and should be responsible for children’s education and upbringing in their

early years. Scholars have suggested mothers or daughters were not highlighted by Vergerio

because it was understood that a girl’s education was supervised by her mother and the most

important aspects of it were manners and character.116 It is clear he gives no value to women or

their education because they do not participate in the needs of the state.117 He hardly mentions

women at all, but when he does, he is advising young men to avoid women altogether because

they only entice boys to participate impurities.118

Like Bruni and Barbaro, Vergerio’s work would certainly support Kelly’s assertion of

female indifference during the Renaissance. He omits the mention of women almost entirely

which could not be merely a coincidence. Additionally, such an exclusion clearly displays the

value he places on women’s education and their position among educated men – none. All three

texts clearly support a thorough education and moral instruction, yet they demand heavy, gender-

113
Vergerio, 106-109; Woodward, 219-220.
114
Vergerio, 96-97.
115
Vergerio, 103.
116
Woodward, 249.
117
Vergerio, 96-97; Cagnolati, 211; Robey, 28.
118
Vergerio, 100.

27
specific restrictions. They each suggest their writing could apply to a broad audience, yet they

clearly emphasize their intended audience of elites by addressing specific individuals,

mentioning such expectations only concern nobles, and associating their writing with prominent

families. Vergerio regards women with clear insignificance while Bruni and Barbaro support

women’s education under specific restrictions. Women’s place in society was stagnant.

However, the trend on educational treatises did not end with these texts. A century later,

Juan Luis Vives wrote The Education of a Christian Woman (1523) which posits a similar

discussion in support of elite women’s education. When compared with the work of Bruni and

Barbaro, some key similarities and differences emerge. All three address women’s education,

dedicate their work to elite women, and simultaneously support women’s humanist education

while preventing them from participating in some humanism’s core disciplines. The topics

deemed inappropriate for women are those which arm women with the knowledge and ability to

participate in public, intellectual discourse.119 Constance Jordan refers to this type of self-

contradictory instruction employed by Bruni, Barbaro, and Vives as “ostensible feminism.”120

Conversely, there is one fundamental difference between Bruni and Vives. Bruni encourages

women to “hold the whole world as her province” while Vives argues that women’s moral virtue

must be safeguarded by “keeping them to the most restricted reading diet possible.”121

The Instruction of Christian Women is a three-book series targeted for young elites, just

like the authors, first published in 1524. While Vives notes its use for a broad audience, he

specifically dedicated it to Princess Mary, daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon.122 It

119
King, “Book-Lined Cells,” 443; Cox, “Leonardo Bruni,” 50; Jordan, 188; Charles Fantazzi, ed. and
trans. The Education of a Christian Woman: A Sixteenth-Century Manual, (University of Chicago Press, 2000): xvi.
120
Jordan, 188.
121
Cox, “Leonardo Bruni,” 49.
122
Vives, 50.

28
should be noted the broader audience he refers to would certainly be other elites.123 His choice of

dedication was not random, though. Generally, women in Spain received a higher level of

education that those in England, as was true for Catherine, and she wanted the same for her

daughter.124 Furthermore, Mary was the sole heir to the throne when Vives wrote this, which left

her education a primary concern for the future of England.125 Crucial in her education were

subjects such as language proficiency and histories relating to government and the state, all of

which aided her tenure as queen.126 Vives advocates for this, even though they were traditionally

reserved for boys. However, in her later years Mary does not quite fit the mold he created. As a

princess marriage and childbearing fulfilled her duty to her country and family. However, she did

not marry until the age of thirty-eight. Vives does not give a specific age appropriate for

marriage, but he repeatedly refers to a bride as a “young woman” or a “girl,” neither of which fit

the Mary’s description at the time of her marriage.127 She produces no children either. As we will

see, marriage and childbearing are at the forefront of Vives’ conception and instruction of

women. While many of Mary’s circumstances may have been outside her control, it is still

interesting to note the difficulties she experienced trying to follow his instructions.

Vives’ work has a broader audience than just Mary, though, and he provides various

standards for virtuous, elite women and girls. In the first paragraph of book one, amidst the

discussion on infant girls, Vives mentions the importance of breast-feeding with “her mother’s

milk” if possible.128 Wet nurses existed outside elite circles, but paying for such a service would

123
Juan Luis Vives. The Instruction of a Christian Woman, in The Education of a Christian Woman: A
Sixteenth-Cenutry Manual, ed. and trans. Fantazzi, Charles (University of Chicago Press, 2002, 45-329): 47, 50.
124
Anne J. Cruz. The Life and Writings of Luisa de Carvajal y Mendoza. (Toronto: Iter Inc. Center for
Reformation and Renaissance Studies Press, 2013): 6-7; John Edwards, Mary I: England’s Catholic Queen. (New
Haven: Yale University Press, 2011): 7.
125
Edwards, 8.
126
Edwards, 10-11.
127
Vives, 156-157.
128
Vives, 269.

29
be unimaginable for commoners. Later in his encourages proper care for the home, hosting

others, engaging in appropriate leisure activities, and of course, receiving a proper education. All

of these were possibilities for elites, but most common women did not have such freedom and

leisure, and they certainly did not have the ability to receive an education.

He instructs his audience on how they should act as women and Christians in various life

stages. The overarching phases he addresses are childhood, marriage, and widowhood. Within

each of these books, Vives gives the readers appropriate actions and guidelines to follow. He

goes to great lengths to cover each aspect of a good, virtuous woman based on what is acceptable

in society. Unsurprisingly, his ideas uphold the common specifications for his time such as a

woman’s virginity, marriage, childbearing, and home maintenance. He places importance on

these values and sees them as the proper function of women in the world. His writing presents an

interesting juxtaposition of common expectations for women in marriage and motherhood versus

their right to a formal and thorough education.

While some of his suggestions are common, Vives does include ideas that advocate for a

woman’s ability to function outside of marriage and motherhood. His first book discusses the

concept and implementation of educating all women from a young age. Just like the humanists

from the fifteenth century, a strong education was of the utmost importance for him. He believed

this applied to women as well.129 Addressing women specifically and intentionally speaks to the

value Vives placed on women’s education. Furthermore, Vives asserts women as intellectual

equals to men, perhaps even surpassing them at times.130 In matters of virtue, he claims the

necessity of instruction for both men and women, as an education allows both to become more

129
Vives, 45.
130
Vives, 63-64; Charles Fantazzi, ed. A Companion to Juan Luis Vives. (Boston: Brill, 2008), 65.

30
righteous.131 Overall, he emphatically dispels the practice of fearing the learned woman stating

“learned women are suspect to many, as if the mental ability acquired through learning increased

their natural wickedness.”132

The first book in the series focuses on a woman’s childhood, defined as life before

marriage, and thus discussed the education of young girls significantly. It was the first systematic

study explicitly supporting the universal education of women.133 He even equates a woman’s

ability to learn to that of a man, perhaps even surpassing men.134 According to Vives, educating

women was vital to the well-being of human society. He does justify this opinion by stating their

position as companions to men necessitates an education to properly converse and engage with

one another. No matter the reasoning behind this view, it was an uncommon thought at the time

and his publication on the topic was the first of its kind. Above all, Vives argues that ignorance

fosters evil,135 thus education and knowledge is a basic requirement for all people, regardless of

gender.

The second book of Vives’ treatise deals with marriage and a woman’s place with her

husband. Like his first book, there are many common values he upholds while simultaneously

challenging negative perceptions of learned women. In this section, he places partnership and

friendship as the chief goal of marriage. He writes, “for marriage was instituted not so much for

the production of offspring as for community of life and indissoluble companionship.”136 This

opinion stood contrary to the Catholic church’s stance which places procreation among the

highest goals of marriage, and while they desire a good relationship between spouses, it certainly

131
Fantazzi, Companion, 66.
132
Vives, 66; Fantazzi, Companion, 65-66.
133
Fantazzi, Education, 1.
134
Fantazzi, Education, 2.
135
Vives, 55.
136
Vives, 175.

31
was not a requirement or their primary focus. Additionally, it undeniably contradicts Barbaro’s

position on marriage for the purpose of procreation. His statements on marriage, while common

in many ways, do allow women a more “emancipated role” within their marriage.137

The third and final book of Vives’ work addresses the proper conduct for widows within

their homes and larger communities. This extensive book instructs elite widows through several

areas of their lives. The first two sections deal with appropriate mourning and organizing her

husband’s funeral. Next, he moves to topics such as actions in public, chastity, and remarriage.

In this section, Vives generally advocates for similar things the Catholic church upheld. For

example, he instructs women to remain unmarried if they are widowed, instead turning to “the

holy spouse of all…Jesus Christ.”138 This was a common and well supported tradition originating

from the writings of St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 7.

Vives’ Education of a Christian Woman enjoyed popularity in its time and was

considered an authoritative statement on female education and virtue from both Catholics and

Protestants.139 Even with a larger popularity, its targeted audience was elite women and families.

All three of Vives’ books are extremely in-depth as he attempts to instruct women in all possible

areas of their life. However, the areas he mentions are only applicable to elites. Lower class

women would not have to deal with the same issues or situations. Elites had the luxury of leisure,

while lower classes had to focus much more on survival.

Vives provides the first text that even begins to overcome Kelly’s argument, yet it still

falls short. Of all the authors discussed thus far, Vives wants to advance women’s education the

most. Unlike the fifteenth century authors, he advocates for women’s education because he

137
Fantazzi, Companion, 68.
138
Vives, 311.
139
It has been suggested that this treatise laid the groundwork for the Elizabethan age in England with his
justifications of cultured and learned women; Fantazzi, Education, 3.

32
believes education leads to virtue. He does not do so because of their roles as mothers, but

because they are individuals within society and contribute to the well-being of the state.140 Even

more misogynistic writers of the time accused Vives of being too hard on women in marriage.141

The humanist theme of education for the improvement of the state appears in each of the texts.

However, he places common restrictions on women as well. Chastity was perhaps the most

important quality a woman needed to be virtuous.142 Vives claims women are “more inclined

toward pleasure by…natural disposition” and thus should not frequently hold the company of

men.143 Additionally, he places a girl’s ability to perform household chores above education. He

urges parents to teach their daughters how to work with “wool and flax” and “skills of working

with the hands” for there is nothing better for her to do when she is “free of all the household

tasks.”144 He staunchly opposes the idea of women engaging in intellectual conversations with

others. For “a woman’s thoughts are swift and generally unsettled, roving without direction, and

I know not where her instability will lead her.”145 Just as Bruni, Barbaro, and Vergerio

disapprove of women’s participation in public discussion and debate, so does Vives.

Erasmus wrote The Education of a Christian Prince (1516) around the same time as

Vives wrote Education of a Christian Woman. These two men were what could only be termed

“frenemies.” Both were humanists of the early sixteenth century, and their relationship began as

a scholarly friendship. However, over the course of their careers the men exchanged blunt and

unbecoming letters with one another, often disagreeing vehemently.146 The men had many

similarities, though. The most important similarities for this study are their shared support for

140
Fantazzi, Education, 1.
141
Fantazzi, Education, 14.
142
Fantazzi, Education, 17.
143
Vives, 55.
144
Vives, 54-55.
145
Vives, 55.
146
Fantazzi, 12-15.

33
learning, and the educational treatises both men wrote for royal family members. As previously

stated, Vives wrote for Princess Mary of England, while Erasmus wrote for Prince Charles,

future Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. The contrast of a treatise written for a princess versus

that for a prince reveals the differences of expectations based on gender.

Erasmus, like the other authors mentions, targeted elites. Not only is his text dedicated to

a prince, but he repeatedly discusses how men should act when “ruling over” people.147 He

ultimately wanted to teach the prince how to rule beneficently. Furthermore, in a letter to Martin

Dorp in May 1515, Erasmus cites the Education of the Prince as an effort to “draw attention to

matters in which a head of state should be instructed.”148 For Erasmus, this treatise provided an

opportunity to persuade those with authority against idolatry of power, war, and violence as

much as possible.149 For “what you cannot turn to good, you may at least make less bad.”150 Only

royals and aristocrats lorded over others. His hopes to persuade Charles to rule benevolently

shaped his writing in every way. He rarely allows even the slightest departure from moral

perfection, and he upholds an idea of interdependence between peace and responsible

kingship.151 Like Vives, Bruni, Barbaro, and Vergerio, being a virtuous person and contributor to

society was of utmost importance to Erasmus. A prince, even more than others, had to be

virtuous so his subjects could mimic his actions. Erasmus claims “common people are unruly by

nature and…easily corrupted” the only hope “in this tide of evils [is] the unsullied character of

the prince.”152

147
Lester Born, ed. and trans. The Education of a Christian Prince by Desiderius Erasmus. (Columbia
University Press, 1964): 33.
148
Richard Hardin. “The Literary Conventions of Erasmus’ Education of a Christian Prince: Advice and
Aphorism.” (Renaissance Quarterly, 35, no. 2, 1985, 151-163): 154.
149
Hardin, 152.
150
Hardin, 152.
151
A.H.T. Levi. Collected Works of Erasmus: Literary and Educational Writing. (University of Toronto
Press, 1986): 200; Hardin, 153.
152
Born, 32; Levi, 200.

34
 Similar to Vergerio, Erasmus only mentions women in a few places and when he does it

is negative and fleeting. He certainly would have disagreed with Vives’ emphasis on women’s

education given that he does not mention it anywhere in his writing. Furthermore, he focuses on

the weak and inferior aspects of women, claiming they often are not good company for princes.

He recommends the prince find a modest, wise, and obedient woman to marry who will bear him

worthy children.153 However, this is simply a formality so the prince may have legitimate heirs.

Erasmus holds little value in women other than childbearing. In fact, he goes as far to say he

wishes “each [prince] to have six hundred wives” because the state would have peace from all

the alliances formed.154 Based on his view, women are merely a vessel for the continuation of

male rule.

All five of the authors mentioned write specifically for the elite members of society

across Europe. Each of them placed some level of restrictions on women through education or

their purpose in society. This would not apply to lower class women because every person

worked to complete the tasks necessary to survive. Elite women, though, lived within these rigid

gender roles and, according to these authors, had almost no chance of escaping such a fate.

Instead, their value was found in becoming proper lady, marrying a wealthy man, bearing

children, and running a household. With this in mind, it is no wonder Kelly argued “the

persistence of patriarchy” despite what seemed to be advancements.155 Based on these texts, one

must agree with her argument that women did not experience an increase in personal liberty

during the Renaissance.

153
Erasmus, 241.
154
Erasmus, 242.
155
Kelly, 61.

35
 However, recent discoveries and publications such as The Other Voice Series, allow for

this discussion to continue and evolve. Thanks to recent scholarship, we have access to the

experiences of women in this era. From their writing, we now know some women did not follow

these standards. There were many elite women across early modern Europe that opted out of the

suggested life of a wife and mother. In these cases, women’s experience often differed from the

expectations demonstrated through the five authors in this chapter. A few of these women will be

discussed in the next chapter, creating a comparison between gendered instruction and lived

experience. A comparison of these types of texts accomplishes two goals. First, it illuminates the

variation women experienced by choice or happenstance. Second, it informs our interpretation of

women’s Renaissance, if they had one at all.

36
 CHAPTER 3. LIVED EXPERIENCE

The instructions given to elite women in early modern Europe were popular, but not

fitting for everyone. Using examples from elite, fifteenth and sixteenth century women, this

chapter analyzes the expectations given to women and their lived experiences. It is clear through

modern research, not all elite women lived the uniform lives outlined by the humanist authors.

Some lived as they instruct, some followed these treatises loosely, and others did not follow

them at all. Of the four women mentioned here, not one is the same. Each fits well within the

targeted audience of the humanist authors, yet their lives did not follow their instructions. Kelly

challenged historians to consider the “conceptions of historical periods” and how they framed the

study of certain groups and cultures.156 That challenge should include the conceptions of gender,

considering how modern conceptions of feminism frame our understanding of women in the

past. The women analyzed here demonstrate the varying outcomes women experienced by

following or subverting the expectations listed in the instructional treatises and how they felt

about such experiences.

When analyzing women’s writing in early modern Europe, one must consider the

restrictions placed on those publishing their work. As a result of the rising religious conflict in

Europe, many religious officials requested pious women and men alike to construct their

autobiographies as a demonstration of their virtue and faithfulness.157 However, the religious

officials and the larger communities heavily censored female authors and restricted the topics

that were appropriate for the women to discuss. No woman could freely express themselves due

to the various cultural pressures placed on her both internally and externally. These factors surely

156
Davis, 249-250.
157
Carvajal y Mendoza and Cruz, 10. For a further discussion of this topic see Ronald Surtz, Writing
Women in Late Medieval and Early Modern Spain: The Mothers of Saint Teresa of Avila (Philadelphia: University
of Pennsylvania Press, 1995).

37
impacted the way the female authors wrote about their lives. Yet, many of the women discussed

here mention their resentment of this expectation. Women in this age found a way to toe the line

of professionalism and personal expression that adhered to the limitations placed upon them and

their defiance of such restrictions.

Women’s writing in early modern Europe presents modern historians with fascinating

contradictions to explore in these cultures. Most writing done by women were “ego-documents,”

such as diaries, memoirs, and traditional autobiographies.158 This gave women the opportunity to

write about the complexities of their lived experiences. Furthermore, these documents

demonstrate the frustrations they must have faced by simultaneously reiterating and confronting

the misogyny and exclusivity.159 Of course, few women had the necessary education to write

anything. Literacy levels across Europe were abysmal, especially for women. Only eleven

percent of women in London were literate, and between 1580 and 1640, ninety percent of

women could not sign their names.160 Literacy was higher in some regions Spain, with twenty-

five percent of women in Madrid could sign their name within the same time period.161 Eighty-

five percent of books addressed to or concerning women during this time focused on female

behavior and roles within their family and community.162 Obviously, these authors wanted

women to learn their instructions, but encouraging learning does not equate to literacy. Educated

women were encouraged to read (or be read to), but writing was not a requirement for the

158
Carvajal and Cruz, 7.
159
Carvajal and Cruz, 6.
160
Patricia Demers. Women’s Writing in English: Early Modern England. (Toronto: University of Toronto
Press, 2005), 23.
161
Carvajal and Cruz, 7.
162
Helen Ostovich and Elizabeth Sauer. Reading Early Modern Women: An Anthology of Texts in
Manuscript and Print, 1550-1700. (New York: Routledge, 2004), 6.

38
average elite woman.163 Class figured prominently in a woman’s access to economic,

educational, and political resources.164

Many of the women that fell outside the common gender roles were humanists, like the

men that authored the manuals. The letters and document compilations left from some of these

women certainly follow popular humanist style, topic, and function. For example, the epistolary

style engaged by Bruni and other major humanists, were also utilized by some of these women,

Laura Cereta in particular.165 Additionally, the topics engaged by these women, such as personal

relationships, followed the popular trends of humanist writers at the time.166

Laura Cereta and Isotta Nogarola are prime examples of this during the fifteenth century.

Born into wealthy and powerful families, the women were privileged to receive not only a basic

education, but in-depth instruction in a variety of subjects women typically could not access.

Additionally, both women used their ability and privilege to write about the necessity of

women’s education, literacy, and participation in the more important aspects of society. Their

surviving writing exists in the form of books and letters, and their chosen topics of discussion

provide an interesting contrast to other writers. Perhaps most interesting, though, is the contrast

their lives provide in comparison to the male authors in chapter one.

Isotta Nogarola (1418-1466) was a pioneer of women’s education and expression in the

early modern era.167 Writing in the first half of the fifteenth century, she produced works in all

the major topics of humanism and discussed the merit of gender categorizations of the time.

Many regard her as one of the women that set up “the framework within which learned women

163
Ostovich and Sauer, 6; Carvajal and Cruz, 7-9.
164
Poska and Couchman., 4.
165
Amyrose McCue Gill. “Fraught Relations in the Letters of Laura Cereta: Marriage, Friendship, and
Humanist Epistolarity.” Renaissance Quarterly 62, no. 4 (2009), 1099.
166
Gill, 1100.
167
King and Robin, 1.

39
expressed themselves over the next several centuries.”168 Thanks to her elite family and

tremendous education, Nogarola was able to exist outside the lifestyle outlined by the authors

from chapter one.

Born to a noble family, Isotta had access to an excellent humanist education. The

Nogarola family were members of the warrior nobility in Verona. Then after the city was

conquered by Venetians, they underwent significant changes and advancements. Through their

support of the Venetian state, the Nogarolas experienced economic, political, and marital

advantages, earning them a place of respect among other noble families.169 Furthermore, their

family’s history of intellect and scholarship created an expectation for their children’s proper

education.170 Thus, Isotta received a superb education even after her father’s death. Likely under

clear instructions from her late husband, her mother took over the responsibility of educating

their children at great care.171

Martino Rizzoni, a respected tutor, taught Isotta and her sister in accordance with popular

humanist methods. Interestingly, this posting was a promising step for advancement in Rizzoni’s

career. He finished his schooling only a few years before he began tutoring the Nogarolas in

1431.172 The family’s history as intellectuals and prominence in politics made tutoring a

desirable position, even if it was for young girls. Furthermore, Bruni had released his treatise

advocating for women’s education less than ten years before. Following in the footsteps of such

an influential and respected scholar stood to enhance his reputation.173 Especially if the girls

became successful, a likely outcome given their family’s history.

168
King and Robin, 1; 13.
169
King and Robin, 27-29.
170
Ross, 31-32; King and Robin, 28.
171
Ross, 31.
172
King and Robin, 29.
173
Cox, Women’s Writing, 5; Ross, 33.

40
 This strong humanist education sparked Isotta’s interest in writing and classical literature

and it gave her the necessary knowledge and skills to engage in intellectual discussions with

other scholars. The earliest recipients of Nogarola’s correspondence were kin, family friends, or

contacts of Rizzoni.174 This allowed her to maintain feminine propriety while engaging in public

discourse. Furthermore, writing through her household network at the beginning of her career

legitimized her place among scholars and eventually allowed her to publish some of her work.175

The notoriety of her family and access to a premier education allowed her to gain prominence

within the humanist community by the time she was twenty.176

With this success, Nogarola became more entrenched with her studies and soon chose the

life of a scholar, not a wife or nun. This lifestyle was possible for her because she remained in

the household of her mother and older brother. They had the means to support her even though

she did not marry. She continued to earn prestige as a learned woman and gained the reputation

of a holy virgin.177 She created friendships with important figures in her community such as the

influential pedagogue Guarino Veronese, Cardinal Giuliano Cesarini, and governor of Verona,

Ludovico Foscarini.178 These relationships allowed her to gain notoriety through her scholarship

and even engage in scholarly debated with learned men.

Nogarola understood the intolerance many would show for her writing and life choices;

however, the strategic relationships and method of publishing established her as a reputable and

acceptable figure within the res publica litterarum, “republic of letters.”179 She acknowledged

the prejudice she dealt with as a female author and humanist. For example, in perhaps her most

174
King and Robin, 33; Ross, 32-34. Interestingly, Isotta’s first correspondent was Ermolao Barbaro,
nephew of Francesco Barbaro.
175
Ross, 33.
176
Ross, 31-32.
177
King and Robin, 2.
178
Cox, Women’s Writing, 5; Ross, 32-39.
179
King and Robin, 43; Ross, 32.

41
influential work, Dialogue on Adam and Eve, she identifies and challenges the assumptions of

female inferiority and showcases equality between men and women.180 In this text, she presents

the prevalent assumption of Eve’s sole guilt in the fall of humankind and women’s subsequent

inferiority. By the end, she expertly argued that both Adam and Eve were to blame for the fall

and that women were not inferior to men, especially in intellect.181

Such arguments against female intellect were not uncommon, though. The mere existence

of women like Nogarola directly contradicts Vergerio’s teaching which leaves no room for

learned women. Her lifestyle opposes the texts from Barbaro and Bruni’s too – the men whose

work made her education more socially acceptable. These men supported women’s education,

but under the condition of improving her work as a wife and mother. Nogarola was intentionally

neither of those things. Apart from these men, she received direct and harsh criticism, many of

which came as accusations of promiscuity because an outspoken woman was commonly seen as

morally corrupt.182 However, the influential men she formed relationships with came to her

defense. They dismissed such criticisms and emphasized her virtue, presenting her as a “paragon

of chastity… [and] learned virtue.”183 Nogarola also counteracting such attacks by frequently

prefacing her work with a list of accomplished and admired females of classical or Christian

history.184 She continued to work with the help and monetary support of her influential friends

and published many works as a prominent woman humanist.185 Above all, she continuously

180
Nogarola, 145-158.
181
Nogarola, 157.
182
Cox, Women’s Writing, xxii; Ross, 38.
183
Ross, 38-39.
184
King and Robin, 2. Men writing to her occasionally included these lists as well out of respect for her
work.
185
King and Robin, 17.

42
defended women’s right to express themselves and condemned men that tried to exclude them or

their ideas.186

Nogarola’s life as a single woman and scholar is one indication that women could escape

the common stereotype of female inferiority, contrary to Kelly’s argument. She strongly

advocated for female education and authorship and did not shy away from identifying injustice,

especially based on gender, within the early modern culture. She earned respect among other

notable scholars which secured her place in the intellectual community. While Kelly’s argument

holds together when analyzing the male authors such as Bruni, Barbaro, and Vergerio, it does not

with Nogarola. Her experience demonstrates the challenges faced simply based on her gender

and the ingenuity she used to overcome such restrictions. Her prominent family provided the

means for her education and subsequent life as an unmarried woman, but her determination for

learning led to her influential and respected position among other scholars of her time. She

created a legacy for herself within her family and the humanist tradition. Four Nogarola girls

were named after her because she was so revered in her family.187 Also, her writing paved the

way for women intellectuals after her, one of which being Laura Cereta.188 According to Kelly,

none of that was possible for women in the Renaissance, yet here Nogarola stands in the history

of women.

Laura Cereta (1469-1499) follows in Nogarola’s footsteps as a female humanist, taking it

a step farther with her blend of humanist themes and feminist ideas.189 This combination

distinguishes her work from most other writers of her time, especially those focused on a

woman’s role in society. She wrote at the end of the fifteenth century and touched on a variety of

186
Poska, “The Case for Agentic Gender Norms,” 358.
187
Ross, 40.
188
King and Robin, 2.
189
Robin, 3.

43
topics both personal and philosophical, largely relating to the female experience. Many of these

issues were ignored by her male contemporaries.190

Her writing was unique in other ways as well. Most humanists of the age aimed to attract

patrons through a collection of writing which demonstrates superb intellect and connections, but

Cereta predominantly addressed family and friends, many of them women.191 Even Nogarola

tried to gain patrons with much of her writing, as seen with her relationships with notable men.

While Cereta did seek patronage as a means of survival, it was not her main concern.192 Instead,

she encouraged women to participate in these intellectual discussions and claim their right to

education from a lineage of women exalted for their great knowledge.193 Her writing does an

excellent job merging traditional humanist topics such as education, friendship, and marriage

with new things such as the skill of embroidery and experiencing intense emotions. As we will

see, Cereta clearly supports female education and scholarship and resents female servitude in

marriage, contrary to the instruction of Vergerio and even Bruni and Barbaro to an extent.194

Much of what is known of Cereta’s life comes from her own writing. She includes an

autobiography in her letters to Nazaria Olympia and Sigismondo de Bucci. These letters give the

modern reader a look into the female perspective on their place within a family and education.

The firstborn child in her family, she describes herself as her parents “most precious source of

delight.”195 This special appreciation from her parents was certainly advantageous for her

upbringing and education. Her father practiced law as a prominent lawyer and her mother came

from a noble family. His marriage to a noble woman indicates the respect he garnered within

190
Gill, 1103.
191
Robin, 4.
192
Robin, 3-6.
193
Cereta, Laura. Collected Letters of a Renaissance Feminist. Trans. by Diana Robin (Chicago: University
of Chicago Press, 1997), 76.
194
Robin, 4.
195
Cereta, 24.

44
elite circles. They were an upper-middle class family which allowed Cereta to receive an

intensive education.196 However, without the hereditary status of nobility, it was important for

the family to gain and maintain favor with elites. As seen with Nogarola, a great way to do this

was to have impressive children. Educating and encouraging Cereta to engage in scholarly

discussions elevated the family’s status.197 Therefore, her father staunchly supported her intellect

and education, even tutoring her himself before his death.198

At the age of seven, her education commenced when she was sent to the convent in

Brescia and began studying under a woman “highly esteemed both for her counsel and

sanctity.”199 There she learned the “liberal studies” of humanism and other life skills common for

women such as embroidery.200 In fact she became an expert in both areas. She suffered from

insomnia and her tutor helped her find ways to make this time productive and less frightening.

Those options she predominantly chose were embroidery or studying.201 Thus, she became a

tremendous artist in embroidery with “no stitch so elegant or difficult that [she] could not master

it.”202 Likewise, she excelled in her studies, writing eloquently and mastering Latin by the age of

eleven.203 Given her proficiency in learning, she was sent home to help care for her younger

siblings and continue any studies through home schooling.204

Cereta soon had to assume responsibility for “almost all of the household duties,” forcing

her “to grow old when [she] was not far from childhood.”205 She helped care for her younger

196
Robin, 4.
197
Cox, Women’s Writing, 6.
198
Gill, 1101.
199
Cereta, 25.
200
Cereta, 27.
201
Cereta, 25, 27.
202
Cereta, 25.
203
Cereta, 27; Robin, 22.
204
Robin, 5.
205
Cereta, 27.

45
siblings until the age of fifteen when she married Pietro Serina, a merchant from Venice.206 As

the firstborn child, Cereta’s father desired an advantageous marriage for his daughter to a

wealthy and prominent figure. This marriage seemed to achieve this goal. 207 Furthermore,

chastity, marriage, and child rearing were important for a woman, so this marriage was the next

step. She was constantly torn between helping her father with his estate or performing her proper

duties as a wife. 208 This difficulty was short lived, though. Her husband died eighteen months

after their marriage, leaving her a widow before she was eighteen. A status she held for the rest

of her life. After her husband’s death, Cereta returned to her father’s house and continued in her

role of caregiver to her family.

However, she harbored a frustration with being a daughter, caregiver, and homemaker.

She clearly loathed the domestic tasks expected of her. It was a constant hinderance of her

learning and writing which she valued much more than her role within her family.209 Her

daytime duties were so time consuming that the only time available for study was at night,

leaving little time for sleep.210 Luckily, she was familiar with the practice of studying at night

from her time in the convent. The division of her time, however, caused Cereta to worry about

the quality of her writing. She admits her high intellect and talent while at other times she

harshly criticizes herself for lack of talent, learning, and writing skills. The conflicting aspects of

her life seemed to seep into her writing. Her frustration with the life of a house-runner clearly

presents itself in her work. In a treatise addressed tot Pietro Zecchi, she created an explicit anti-

marriage argument, warning him and anyone else who read it against the notion. 211

206
Robin, 5.
207
Gill, 1104.
208
Cereta, 31-32; Gill, 1102.
209
Isotta Nogarola. Complete Writings: Letterbook, Dialogue on Adam and Eve, Orations. Trans. by
Margaret L. King and Diana Robin (Chicago: University of Chicago Press: 2004) 24; Gill, 1101.
210
Cereta, 24; Gill, 1099.
211
Gill, 1105.

46
 Cereta clearly contradicts the treatises of male authors such as Bruni, Barbaro, and

Vergerio. She advocates for women’s education, autonomy within marriage, and rightful place in

society – all of which counter the male arguments. Her anti-marriage sentiments, such as the

letter sent to Zecchi, are one example of this. In this letter, she intentionally mimics popular

humanist writing on marriage, but makes differing points with the same information and stories.

In one of her most subversive works, she argues that marriage is beneficial for men and

detrimental for women.212 According to Cereta, married women debase themselves like “a dog

begging” and in the end all they earn is widowhood, poverty, and grief.213 This was the first

treatise against marriage written by a woman, but it proved a starting block for other women

writing after her.214 If it was necessary, she argued an ideal marriage should be an extraordinary

friendship and “partnership governed by reciprocal honor, respect honestly, and love.”215 Bruni

may agree with her that marriage is more than a form of procreation, but would never suggest

marriage was bad. Barbaro and Vergerio would completely disagree with both suggestions,

stating marriage and childbearing was the ultimate duty of women.

Her views on education contradicted those men as well. She championed female

education and participation in scholarship above all else. According to Bruni and Barbaro, a

woman’s education helped her be a better wife and mother but suggested “no virtuous woman

would seek to publish her work or express her views in public.”216 Even as supporters of

women’s basic education, they would never approve of Cereta’s chosen lifestyle or her

212
Robin, 65.
213
Cereta, 71-72.
214
Robin, 63-65; Gill, 1104-1105.
215
Gill, 1099.
216
Robin, 7.

47
arguments. Vergerio does not support women’s education at all, so her propositions seem

preposterous compared to his ideas.

Like Nogarola, Cereta received criticism for her work and position as a learned woman.

While not as explicit as Nogarola’s experience, she received much hostility from her

contemporaries.217 Some of the most severe condemnation Cereta received came from other

women who she calls “mindless” with “no interests of their own [except] occupying themselves

with keeping watch over other people’s business.”218 She has no tolerance for the “laziness”

which prevents such women from better occupying themselves.219 As a result of such criticism,

especially from other women, Cereta became somewhat isolated.220 However, she continuously

engaged with other intellectuals, both men and women, which are too numerous to list here but

offer a demonstration of her respected network and community.221 Her view of virtue provided

the resilience needed to withstand even the harshest critics. Virtue “is something that we

ourselves aquire” through “study, hard work, and vigilance” in their quest to obtain knowledge,

not something that is given freely to everyone.222

Despite the difficulties Cereta faced in her personal life and intellectual career, she

created a lasting legacy for herself, contradicting Bruni, Barbaro, and Vives at every turn and

obscuring Kelly’s argument. From the beginning of her career her work was circulated among

prominent scholars.223 Upon her death and funeral, the entire city was said to have mourned her

passing.224 Her influence did not end when she died, though. In fact, Giacomo Tomasini (1595-

217
Cox, 6; 12.
218
Cereta, 81.
219
Cereta, 82.
220
Cox, 35.
221
For a list of her prominent friends in scholarship see Robin, 5-7.
222
Cereta, 82.
223
Ross, 31.
224
Robin, 7.

48
1655) included Cereta in his list of ‘famous men.’225 Despite the restrictions placed on women’s

education demonstrated in Bruni and Barbaro’s texts, Cereta excelled in her endeavors.

Furthermore, she is a glowing contradiction to Kelly’s argument of the diminishing value placed

on women in the Renaissance. She not only participated in learned culture, she was revered for

her contributions.226 Her influential career left a lasting impression and the key feminist themes

that first surfaced in her work influenced later women both in writing and education.227

Two women that follow in the footsteps of Nogarola and Cereta are Marie le Jars de

Gournay (1565-1645) and Luisa de Carvajal y Mendoza (1566-1614). These elite and education

women are tremendous examples of females vehemently opposing the instructions given by their

male contemporaries, Vives and Erasmus. Erasmus specifically instructs elite men and states

women are simultaneously too small-minded for education and too dangerous to educate.228

Vives, though, dedicated a tremendous amount of time on his explicit Instruction of a Christian

Woman, strongly supporting a woman’s ability and right to be educated. Despite his support of

female education, he strongly affirms their roles as wives and mothers is most important. Both

Gournay and Carvajal were born about forty years after Vives’ first publication, in which time

his work was circulated across Europe.229 Neither woman married or had children and they lived

on their own, without reliance on a man, yet they were both from noble families. Their lives

contradicted his teaching and would likely have been impossible under Kelly’s idea of early

modern Europe.

225
Cox, 181. Eight of the seventy-two ‘famous men’ mentioned are women. Isotta Nogarola and Laura
Cereta are both included.
226
Ross, 31; Robin, 7.
227
Robin, 17-18. There are many examples of women from the Enlightenment that cite Cereta directly as
an inspiration. A few are Ann Finch (1661-1720), Joanna Baille (1762-1851), Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-99), Anna
Barbauld (1743-1825), Germaine de Staël (1766-1817), and more, as seen in Robin p.17-18.
228
Davis, 404.
229
Fantazzi, Education, 3.

49
 Marie le Jars de Gournay easily fell within Vives’ targeted audience. Her father held

various important offices in court during the reigns of French kings Charles IX and Henry III,

was a member of minor nobility, and later gained the rights to the Gournay-sur-Aronde estate

and thus the title that went with it. As previously discussed, lower aristocratic families would

often educate their children well as a way of solidifying their place among elites. Climbing the

social ladder was certainly the goal of her father and beginning his daughter’s education would

support this ambition. Given his accumulation of more property and title, he was largely

successful before his death in 1577.230

Her father’s early death left his widow and six children in a difficult position financially

and left their social standing vulnerable. A marriage to another prominent family would have

simultaneously accomplished this goal and raised the family’s social prowess, and as the oldest

child Marie was first in line. However, she had other ideas. Despite her mother’s wishes, she

continued her studies at home, determined to make a different life for herself.231 She taught

herself Latin and began translating classical works. Around the age of eighteen, when Marie

reached a suitable age for marriage, the writings of Michael de Montaigne “were fortuitously put

into [her] hands.”232 This finalized her life’s path as an unmarried intellectual. Gournay refused

to get married or have children, instead continuing to study and write.233

Gournay made a career as an “independent intellectual” and writer, living according to

her own ambitions and aspirations.234 It is clear she and her mother did not have a loving

relationship and Marie’s intellectual endeavors were of no interest to her either. Her immediate

230
Richard Hillman and Colette Quensel. Apology for the Woman Writing and Other Works, (Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 2002): 4.
231
Hillman and Quensel, 5-6.
232
Marie le Jars de Gournay. Preface to the Essays of Michel de Montaigne by His Adoptive Daughter,
Marie le Jars de Gournay, trans. Hillman, Quensel, and Rigolot. (Tempe, Arizona, 1998): 27.
233
Hillman and Quensel, 8-9.
234
Hillman and Quensel, 3.

50
infatuation with Montaigne’s writing and subsequent introduction gave her a male authority to

advocate for her intellectual interests which opposed her mothers. After a few years of

correspondence, he visited the Gournay family for a few months during which he informally

adopted her as his student and intellectual daughter.235 This also allowed her to remain unmarried

under the direction of her “father,” a patriarchal authority who sponsor her interests against her

mother’s wishes.236 Montaigne helped jumpstart her career and after his death, Gournay began

honoring him by reissuing his works with exquisite editorial insight.

Gournay was reasonably successful in her quest for a career as an intellectual. She

remained single and lived alone in Paris, surviving through her literary endeavors.237 Apart from

Montaigne, whom she inherited literary property from, Gournay had several patrons over the

years. Queen Marguerite of France welcomed her in the literary salons held at court that

demanded sophisticated conversation only. Here, Gournay won the respect of several intellectual

men and women, even befriending some of them. Later she received patronage from King Louis

XIII of France as well, then Cardinal Richelieu after that. The pensions she received afforded her

a life in Paris studying, publishing, translating, and editing literature which she continued for the

rest of her life.

Toward the end of Gournay’s career, she moved the focus of her work from the classics

to her life-long battle to legitimize women writers and education.238 In this period of her life, she

produced her most popular publications: The Equality of Men and Women, The Ladies’

Complaint, and Apology for the Woman Writing. In these texts, she demonstrates her indignance

235
Hillman and Quensel, 7.
236
Marie le Jars de Gournay. Apology for the Woman Writing, in Marie le Jars de Gournay: Apology for
the Woman Writing and Other Works, Richard Hillman and Colette Quesnel, eds. and trans., 21-154 (University of
Chicago Press, 2002): 29; Hillman and Quensel, 7.
237
Anne R. Larsen. “A Women’s Republic of Letters: Anna Maria van Schurman, Marie de Gournay, and
Female Self-Representation in Relation to the Public Sphere.” (Early Modern Women, 3, 2008): 108.
238
Larsen, 107.

51
and frustration toward the female experience at the time. As a humanist, she frequently uses

classical heroines such as Hypatia, Camilla of the Aeneid, the Amazons, and Joan of Arc to

bolster her argument.239 All of these women excelled in male-dominated fields and epitomized

her goals to do the same. She vehemently opposed teachings such as Vives’ in both life and

work, using masculine materials and tools “to beat men at their own game.”240

Consequent to her chosen lifestyle, she knew as well as anyone how outrageous, and

often times hateful, expectations for women could be. One heartbreaking example in her own life

is the trickery that led her to write an autobiography. King James I of England created a ruse that

he wanted to read about her life.241 Despite such difficulties and criticism, she became a well-

known and respected humanist in her time, admired by many male prominent scholars.242

Furthermore, she inspired other women in Europe to create literary careers of their own.243

Gournay recognizes the misogyny and aspires to excel in her endeavors, despite the hurdles

faced because of her gender.

Vives and Erasmus would both be appalled with her chosen lifestyle. Both men, although

to varying degrees, see women’s rightful place as a wife and mother. Vives, who appears to

support women’s intellectual endeavors, does so with conditions. The purpose of a woman’s

education comes from her functions within the home which in turn benefit the state. A well-

rounded woman, according to Vives, makes a better spouse, homemaker, and mother, training

her children, particularly sons, well in virtue.244 Gournay does not fit within the mold Vives

239
Gournay, Apology, 71, 77, 83, 88, 92-93. Her references to powerful women of antiquity are many, this
is merely a few familiar examples for the modern reader.
240
Hillman and Quensel, 12.
241
Hillman and Quensel, 10.
242
Larsen, 107; Hillman and Quensel, 16-17.
243
Larsen, 108-109. Anna Marie van Schurman is great example of this among Gournay’s contemporaries.
The women even exchanged letters which demonstrate Schurman’s admiration for Gournay.
244
Vives, 55; Fantazzi, Companion, 66.

52
creates, and she certainly does not fit within Erasmus’ framework. Furthermore, the existence

and success of Gournay staunchly contradicts Kelly’s argument. Thanks to the tutelage of

Montaigne and her staunch commitment to her career, she had more autonomy than Kelly deems

possible.245 Gournay’s life and career directly counter Vives’ teaching and Kelly’s argument that

women experienced no freedom or advancements during the Renaissance.

Luisa de Carvajal y Mendoza’s life and writing portray a unique perspective for this

study as well. Like Nogarola, Cereta, and Gournay, she lived outside the common instructions

given by male authorities and demonstrated her apathy of outside expectations in her writing.

However, she stands out from these three based largely on her motivations. Carvajal was a

devout Christian and just as she desired independence and control of her own path, she held

strong religious desires to achieve spiritual perfection, even sainthood.246

As a member of wealthy and powerful family, she certainly fell within the scope of

Vives’ audience.247 Her mother was the daughter of the Mendoza clan – one of the most

prominent and distinguished families in Spain.248 Additionally, her father served as magistrate in

Madrid and chief magistrate of León. He was the son of the bishop of Plascencia, a respected

theologian, and Council of Trent attendee. Furthermore, the Carvajal clan descended from the

Vargas family, owners of the fields of Madrid for centuries.249 These families had a powerful

network and influence, confirming Luisa’s access to tremendous resources even after her

parents’ deaths. 250 Orphaned at age six due to typhus, her aunt and uncle took her in. Her aunt

245
Kelly, 19; Coletti, 249-250.
246
James S. Amelang. “The Letters of Luisa de Carvajal y Mendoza,” (European Review of History, 20, no.
5, 2013, 910-912): 910.
247
Elizabeth Rhodes, The Tight Embrace. (Milwaukee: Marquette University Press, 2000): 1.
248
Helen Nader. The Mendoza Family in the Spanish Renaissance, 1350-1550. (New Brunswick, NJ:
Rutgers University Press, 1979).
249
Cruz, 18.
250
Cruz, 19.

53
was the governess for the crown prince and princess in Madrid which placed Luisa at and around

the Spanish court for the next four years.251 Later, she was taken in by a different uncle,

Francisco Mendoza, who had quite the political career. He was Marqués de Almazán, Philip II’s

ambassador to Germany (1570-1576), Viceroy of Navarre in 1579, President of the Council of

Orders, and member of the King’s War Council in 1586. It was under Francisco and his wife’s

care that Luisa received her outstanding education.252 There she learned to read, write, and do

arithmetic. Unsurprisingly, Carvajal enjoyed reading and studying more than playing with dolls,

allowing her to quickly increase her intellectual acumen.253

In each of these homes, she was also given thorough instruction on virtue. Her governess

and aunt held most of this responsibility, largely consisting of instruction in “chastity…

modesty” and all appropriate actions of a Christian lady.254 Both women were highly devout, as a

child Carvajal recalls tiring “of going to church with…so often” with them.255 Unfortunately, this

moral instruction often became extreme. She describes her governess leaving her arms “full of

bruises and great marks” and her aunt and uncle encouraging her to flagellate herself.256 It is

likely the severity of her training led to the persistent self-discipline she later utilized in her

career and writing.

Only after her aunt and uncle died that she saw herself as “free to follow, without

hindrance, in the scorn and abandonment of Christ which my soul so desired.”257 Her

commitment to their household ended with their deaths, which began her life as an independent

and impressive author. On this path, there were few ways to support herself, but that changed

251
Carvajal, 118; Rhodes, 1-2.
252
Carvajal, 125; Rhodes, 3.
253
Carvajal, 126.
254
Carvajal, 123.
255
Carvajal, 127.
256
Carvajal, 124; 132; 151.
257
Rhodes, 6.

54
with the inheritance of her substantial dowry. According to her, her father left “a large sum of

money” to her in his will.258 This is true, but her father stipulated the size of her dowry based on

marriage or joining a convent. 259 Since she did neither of those things, she had to take her

father’s executors to court to receive the sum set aside for her.260 She argued that since she had

not professed to a religious order, she was owed her entire dowry.261 She won.

Carvajal then funded her lifestyle independently which was an unparalleled privilege for

a woman at the time. She used her autonomy to write poems, an autobiography, and over one

hundred seventy letters in her career.262 Her autobiography falls into a popular trend among

religious circles at this time. During the Catholic reformation, many clergy members encouraged

devout people to detail their lives and virtue. This simultaneously supported fidelity in

Catholicism and proved the orthodoxy of all who participated.263 This was no different for

Carvajal. She was a very devout Catholic with extraordinarily powerful relatives, but as a woman

living outside of marriage or the convent, she received suspicion.264 She wrote her autobiography

at the request of her confessor, Michael Walpole, to “assume the level of spirituality…[of a]

religious woman” and “have…her efforts in writing.”265

Perhaps her most bold effort arose when she moved to London with the intention of

converting Protestants back to Catholicism.266 Carvajal was an unmarried and devout Catholic

woman living alone in Protestant London. During her time there, she defended Catholicism

258
Carvajal, 117.
259
Cruz, 13. There was a substantial difference. She would receive 20,000 ducats if she chose to marry, and
only 2,000 if she entered a convent.
260
Carvajal, 207.
261
Cruz, 13.
262
Romero-Diaz, 45; Amelang, 911.
263
Cruz, 9.
264
Cruz, 12-13. Carvajal was the granddaughter of a bishop, niece of a Spanish marquis, and niece of the
Cardinal of Toledo, Bernardo de Sandoval y Rojas, who became Inquisitor General in 1608.
265
Cruz, 14.
266
Rhodes, 7; Cruz, 1.

55
against Anglican “heresy,” supported victims of persecution, visited prisons, and collected relics

from English Catholic martyrs.267 She sought, above all to be virtuous and achieve religious and

spiritual fulfillment, particularly as a martyr.268 Her family’s prominence assured important

connections abroad, and her dowry supplied the funds.269

Clearly, Carvajal’s life differed from the instructions laid out for her by the male authors

in chapter one. Despite their similar goal of complete virtue and piety, Vives would have

disapproved Carvajal’s methods. Again, he supports woman’s education as it benefits the state

and ensures her children’s virtue, especially sons.270 He opposes any female participation in

public discourse, and certainly would not approve of a woman acting so boldly as to preach in

public, live independently, and become missionaries.271 Carvajal also harshly contradicts Kelly’s

argument. Her actions and responsibilities were in no way “determined by men” and she

certainly did not lose “all consciousness of [her] particular interest.”272 In fact, she rigorously

fought for what she considered her deepest aspirations and rights. Rights to her dowry,

aspirations of martyrdom, and a right to speak and engage with others in intellectual discourse.

She maintained this believe even after being jailed for speaking publicly about Catholicism in

London. When asked how she felt about the danger of imprisonment as a vocal woman, she

responded: “I thought nothing of it, for in exchange I enlighten them as best I could.”273 Carvajal

was one of the most controversial female figures in early modern Spain, yet she maintained great

success both in her writings and spiritual endeavors.274 Her life and success further demonstrates

267
Romero-Diaz, 44.
268
Carvajal, 191, 310; Cruz, 12, 17, 48, 54-59, 82, 97, 107.
269
Romero-Diaz, 43.
270
Vives, 55; Fantazzi, Companion, 66.
271
Vives, 55.
272
Kelly, 36.
273
Carvajal, 245; Romero-Diaz, 46-47.
274
Cruz, 1.

56
the disparity between male instructions and female experiences, and therefore disputing Kelly’s

argument of inescapable female inferiority.

All these women experienced different lives than those outlined by popular male authors

of their age. Each on provides a counterargument to the humanist instructional treatises that

followed centuries of biblical and Aristotelian “antiwoman sentiment” and patriarchal society.275

Not to mention their clash with Kelly’s argument against women’s agency during the early

modern period. They lived outside common gender roles and gained some respect from their

male contemporaries, as opposed to “the loss of public power” suggested by Kelly.276 Through

this research, it is clear elite women did not live the uniform lives described by the humanist

authors or Kelly. The conclusions of old scholarship are based on limited sources with a different

conception of gender. Through an examination of recent scholarship and women’s lives through

their own words, we can see the complexities involved with women’s advancements, public

engagement, and daily lives in their Renaissance.

275
Ross, 5.
276
Kelly, 47.

57
 CHAPTER 4. CONCLUSION

Kelly challenged historians to consider the “conceptions of historical periods” and how

they framed the study of certain groups and cultures.277 I extend that challenge to include our

conceptions of gender, contemplating the ways in which modern feminist conceptions frame our

understanding of women in the past. She correctly pointed to the flaws in the modern idea of

equality in the Renaissance, but there are many other flaws within the modern view of female

treatment in the Renaissance. Prominent humanist scholars such as Bruni, Barbaro, Vergerio,

Vives, and Erasmus constructed treatises to lead their audiences to virtue. While they presented

different opinions, each one restricted women in some capacity. Based on these texts, Kelly’s

assessment seems plausible.

However, the context does not end there. Thanks to recent scholarship such as The Other

Voice Series, documents written by women are now widely available. By examining women’s

lives through their own experiences, it is clear the topic is more nuanced than is seen in those

treatises and Kelly’s argument. Regardless of a person’s date of birth, she is unique. Elite

women’s lives in the early modern period were diverse and complex. Despite their best efforts,

the generalizations made by the male authors of the fifteenth and sixteenth century were not

applicable to every woman. Furthermore, women had agency of their own to go against those

expectations, as seen in the experiences of Nogarola, Cereta, Gournay, and Carvajal. Each of

these women championed their lives with varying degrees of autonomy. They chose their own

lifestyle and aimed for virtue based not on definitions given to them by men, but on a path they

forged themselves through their studies.

277
Davis, 249-250.

58
 Kelly was right to say women did not experience equality during the Renaissance,

however, the “virtuous woman” was not a uniform designation. Some did experience freedoms

that would have been considered unconventional or even morally corrupt. The benefits and

detriments of the Renaissance were different for each woman’s experience. Of all the women

mentioned here, not one had the same experience. A multitude of potential outcomes and

examples that differ between each woman means this discussion cannot be restricted to a simple

yes or no answer.

So, did women have a Renaissance in early modern Europe? Well, that depends. As

Kelly demonstrates, they did not achieve equality with men. However, advances occurred in

some social areas such as education.278 They did not experience the same authority as men, but

many were respected for their intellectual and cultural contributions. In fact, female prodigies

bolstered a family or tutor’s reputation because many thought it was impressive that a woman

could do such a thing.279 Thus, answering this question, “did women have a renaissance?”,

becomes quite complicated. Let us then reframe the question. All periods and changes

throughout history affected the “lives of women in some way, although often differently from

how it affected the lives of men of the same class or social group.”280 So, instead of analyzing

women’s lives based on the experiences and terms given to us by men – such as widespread

influence in art, literature, music, and scholarship – we should analyze their lives based on their

experiences and their terms. The question, then, is not “did women have a renaissance?” It is: did

women have new opportunities or interest in areas that pushed the boundaries of gender

expectations? To which the answer is an emphatic “yes!” Women began engaging in scholarship

278
Cox, Women’s Writing, xxii.
279
Ross, 52.
280
Wiesner-Hanks, 2.

59
more and more, they were respected as academics, and some were even seen as intellectual

equals with men. And this is just a sliver of women in the early modern world of early modern.

Women participated in many other disciplines such as art, theater, music, and politics. This

question provides a new framework for researching and understanding women, which can be

used to examine all fields and spheres of their lives.

60
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 VITA

TARYN SHELNUTT-BEAM

Education: M.A. History, East Tennessee State University, Johnson

City, Tennessee, 2024

B.A. History, Johnson University, Knoxville, Tennessee, 2024

George Walton Academy, Monroe, Georgia 2019

Professional Experience: Tuition Scholar, East Tennessee State University, College of

Arts and Sciences, 2022-2024

Teaching Assistant, Johnson University, Knoxville, Tennessee

2020-2022

Presentations: Shelnutt-Beam, Taryn “Power and the Early Modern Widow: A

Cultural Analysis of English Women, 1480-1520.” Presented at:

Graduate Research Conference, East Tennessee State

University, November 29, 2022

Phi Alpha Theta Conference, East Tennessee State

University, April 1, 2023

Shelnutt-Beam, Taryn “The Women’s Renaissance:

An Analysis of Gender Expectations and Experiences in

Early Modern Europe:” Presented at:

The Appalachian Premodernists Highlight on the

Premodern World, East Tennessee State University, March

1, 2024

67