About the Book
Over the past three decades scholars have transformed the study of women and gender in early modern Europe. This Ashgate Research Companion presents an authoritative review of the current research on women and gender in early modern Europe from a multi-disciplinary perspective. The authors examine women’s lives, ideologies of gender, and the differences between ideology and reality through the recent research across many disciplines, including history, literary studies, art history, musicology, history of science and medicine, and religious studies. The book is intended as a resource for scholars and students of Europe in the early modern period, for those who are just beginning to explore these issues and this time period, as well as for scholars learning about aspects of the field in which they are not yet an expert. The companion offers not only a comprehensive examination of the current research on women in early modern Europe, but will act as a spark for new research in the field.
Table of Contents:
Contents: Introduction, Allyson M. Poska, Jane Couchman and Katherine A. McIver; Part I Religion: The permeable cloister, Elizabeth A. Lehfeldt; Literature by women religious in early modern Catholic Europe and the New World, Alison Weber; Convent creativity, Marilynn Dunn; Convent music: an examination, Kimberlyn Montford; Lay patronage and religious art, Catherine E. King; Female religious communities beyond the convent, Susan E. Dinan; Protestant movements, Merry Wiesner-Hanks; Protestant women’s voices, Jane Couchman. Part II Embodied Lives: Maternity, Lianne McTavish; Upending patriarchy: rethinking marriage and family in early modern Europe, Allyson M. Poska; The economics and politics of marriage, Jutta Gisela Sperling; Before the law, Lyndan Warner; Permanent impermanence: continuity and rupture in early modern sexuality studies, Katherine Crawford; Women and work, Janine M. Lanza; Old women in early modern Europe: age as an analytical category, Lynn Botelho; Women on the margins, Elizabeth S. Cohen; Women and political power in early modern Europe, Carole Levin and Alicia Meyer. Part III Cultural Production: The Querelle des femmes, Julie D. Campbell; Intellectual women in early modern Europe, Diana Robin; Women in science and medicine, 1400-1800, Alisha Rankin; Early modern women artists, Sheila ffolliott; Beyond Isabella and beyond: secular women patrons of art in early modern Europe, Sheryl E. Reiss; Material culture: consumption, collecting and domestic goods, Katherine A. McIver; Images of women, Andrea Pearson; Women, gender, and music, Linda Phyllis Austern; Index.
About the Author :
Allyson M. Poska is Professor of History at the University of Mary Washington, USA and co-editor of Ashgate's 'Women and Gender in the Early Modern World' book series. Jane Couchman is Professor Emerita of French Studies, Women's Studies and Humanities at Glendon College, York University, Toronto, Canada. Katherine A. McIver is Professor Emerita of Art History at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA. Allyson M. Poska, Jane Couchman, Katherine A. McIver, Elizabeth A. Lehfeldt, Alison Weber, Kimberlyn Montford, Catherine E. King, Susan E. Dinan, Merry Wiesner-Hanks, Lianne McTavish, Jutta Gisela Sperling, Lyndan Warner, Katherine Crawford, Janine M. Lanza,, Lynn Botelho, Elizabeth S. Cohen, Carole Levin, Alicia Meyer, Julie D. Campbell, Diana Robin, Alisha Rankin, Sheila ffolliott, Sheryl E. Reiss, Andrea Pearson, Linda Phyllis Austern.
Review :
'This is an excellent introduction to a fast-moving field. Uniting theoretical and practical approaches, a series of essays ranges across the mind, body and spirit of women in early modern Europe, illuminating differences of culture, religion, age and status. It provides an essential handbook for researchers in the field and a wonderful introduction to the range of women's experience.' Laura Gowing, King's College London, UK 'This multidisciplinary collection of essays brings together some of the most important recent scholarship on women and gender in early modern Europe... the collection makes a valuable contribution to the field of early modern history by offering readers access to current academic debates. Exhaustive bibliographies (primary and secondary) provide a useful resource for undergraduate, graduate, and scholarly research. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above.' Choice '... this book is an unprecedented achievement that we can all put to work immediately in teaching and in research.' Historians of Women Religious of Britain and Ireland 'Over all this is an informative and readable work of synthesis which will appeal to a broad readership, ranging from first-year undergraduates to specialists in the field... this collection also demonstrates how far the field of early modern women and gender studies has advanced in recent decades, and poses challenges for future research which it is to be hoped will inspire the next generation of scholars.' Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies 'The editors' introduction and the individual essays not only highlight the debt that the history of early modern European women and gender owes to the twentieth-century feminist movement and to early feminist scholars, but also engage with theories emergent in recent feminist scholarship ... Given the wide range of topics examined, the up-to-date and clear historiographical surveys presented, and the extensive bibliographies provided, The Ashgate Research Companion to Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe will be of use to students, teachers, and scholars alike.' Vanessa McCarthy, University of Toronto, Canada '... The Ashgate Research Companion to Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe is indispensable for anyone interested in gender. Each essay challenges and refines ideas that were current before the impact of modern feminist scholarship and brings them up to date with the latest studies. The stress on diversity and complexity adds to our understanding of many aspects of the early modern era, in addition to women and gender.' Renaissance Quarterly 'The delight of such a collection of essays is that you discover all sorts of things you didn't know you didn't know... it is extremely useful, and should be on library shelves...' Baptist Quarterly '...this is a well-written, well-edited and thoughtful book which contains much stimulus for further reading. The book bears such witness to the vitality and importance of the field that it should be on the shelf of every early modernist.' Journal of European Studies 'The Companion provides a truly inter-disciplinary review of historiography pertaining to the study of early modern women in Western Europe, which will be of interest to both students and scholars ...[It is] thought-provoking, as it challenges the reader to contemplate the history of women and gender in new ways and provides further directions for both established and aspiring scholars to widen our understanding of women's lives and experiences.' Reviews in History 'As the chapters ... persuasively demonstrate, women were actively involved in all aspects of life in the period. Gender should therefore form part of every historian's research agenda when working on the early modern period.' German History '... this volume is chock full of useful essays by some of the leading scholars of women and gender in early modern Europe. ... the Companion is a most useful and well-written state of the field, which I will consult regularly. It deserves a place in all libraries and should be read by any scholar and graduate student studying early modern women.' Early Modern Women
