At State University of New York College at New Paltz, Carole Levin is Professor of History. Levin is also the author of The Heart and Stomach of a King: Elizabeth I and the Politics of Sex and Power; Heroic and Villainous Images of King John; as well as the coeditor of Ambiguous Realities: Women in the Middle Ages and Renaissance and Sexuality and Politics in Renaissance Drama. At State University of New York College at New Paltz, Patricia A. Sullivan is Assistant Professor of Communication.

"This book is the only one that I have seen on the topic of women in Renaissance politics. It adds a crucial piece to the puzzle of women's contributions to political decision-making throughout the centuries. This anthology shows women's power even in cultures and societies where women systematically were denied public authority. It will be a valuable book for anyone interested in women's history and women's rhetoric." — Helen M. Sterk, Marquette University

• List of Illustrations Acknowledgments 1. Politics, Women's Voices, and the Renaissance: Questions and ContextCarole Levin and Patricia A. Sullivan 2. Christine de Pizan's Cite des Dames and Tresor de la Cite: Toward a Feminist Scriptural PracticeDaniel Kempton 3. Conflicting Rhetoric about Tudor Women: The Example of Queen Anne BoleynRetha Warnicke 4. Elizabeth I—Always Her Own Free WomanIlona Bell 5. The Fictional Families of Elizabeth ILena Cowen Orlin 6. Dutifully Defending Elizabeth: Lord Henry Howard and the Question of QueenshipDennis Moore 7. The Blood-Stained Hands of Catherine de MedicisElaine Kruse 8. Expert Witnesses and Secret Subjects: Anne Askew's Examinations and Renaissance Self-IncriminationElizabeth Mazzola 9. Mary Baynton and Anne Burnell: Madness and Rhetoric in Two Tudor Family RomancesCarole Levin 10. Queenship in Shakespeare's Henry VIII: The Issue of Issue Jo Eldridge Carney 11. Reform or Rebellion?: The Limits of Female Authority in Elizabeth Cary's The History of the Life, Reign, and Death of Edward IIGwynne Kennedy 12. Wits, Whigs, and Women: Domestic Politics as Anti-Whig Rhetoric in Aphra Behn's Town ComediesArlen Feldwick 13. Queen Mary II: Image and Substance During the Glorious RevolutionW. M. Spellman 14. The Politics of Renaissance Rhetorical Theory by WomenJane Donawerth 15. Women and Political Communication: From the Margins to the CenterPatricia A. Sullivan and Carole Levin Notes on Contributors Index