Customer Reviews

Women of the Renaissance (Women in Culture and Society)

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I was required to read this book for a History of the Renaissance 1300 course. Far from a dry text, I found this book to be an enlightening view into the roles of women in Renaissance society, the social mores and opinions that restricted them, and the many ways in which some circumvented society in order to express themselves (there is a lot more there than you think!). It is full of primary data, some of which is only available in Italian and other original languages, and translated for this book by the author. One who reads this book will come away with a more complete and well-rounded view of Renaissance women's lives, (at their best and their worst) and a greater respect for those who lived them. In response to the previous reviewer, and as a warning to those looking for an "easy read". This is an excellent source of fact-based material on the time period and its inhabiants, not a pre-digested, dime-tour of the Renaissance. But for those who are open to a little intellectual stimulation will find this a powerful, eye-opening experience worth their time.

I was overwhelmed by the volumes of historical information in this book, but not so impressed by its organization. It would have benefited from a more chronological organization or some other means of keeping track of who was who and when and where they lived. The book is packed full of information, historical interest and the "voices" of women of the Renaissance. It is a great source for research, but give yourself lots of time to read it. The chapters are over long and the flow is not exactly the "page-turning" variety. Still it is a must read for students of women's history or the history of the Renaissance.

It's a real treat to come away from being compelled to read a book feeling that you got more, much more, than you had expected. This was a required text for an upper division college course I took.

Margaret King knows her stuff. I've studied the Renaissance in other classes, so had touched upon gender issues already, but King's work filled in many empty spaces. Her thesis is that although socially women didn't gain much (or even lost ground), something important happened within women's minds during the Renaissance.

Options were limited for women during fourteenth through seventeenth centuries. Roles were generally defined by men or faith (ostensibly controlled by men); wife, mother, celibate religious, spinster, witch. But even these categories, King shows, were full of complexities. Women, other than nuns, shouldn't be taught to read, rather spin and sew. Women couldn't be trusted with too much knowledge. Even the Greek term for "womb," hysteros, gave a clue to a woman's basic "hysteria." Often, women bought into this paradigm and were their own worst enemies.

But King shows that the scene was more complex than that. Some fathers taught daughters Latin, Greek, philosophy. Heretic nuns wrote private treatises from within the shelter of their cells. Men marvelled at living Amazons, such as Joan of Arc who walked the thin line between deification and devilment. Before Joan burned, Christine de Pizan wrote about a "City of Ladies" where femininity would be protected, and no man could cause hurt.

This is a beautiful book and should be read by historians, feminists, and anyone who loves to see flowers grow through cracks in inhospitable terrain.