Ashgate Research Companion to Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe

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.

'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 provid

• 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.