Ruling Women, Volume 1

Derval Conroy is Lecturer at the School of Languages and Literatures at University College Dublin, Ireland.

'Ruling Women offers a comprehensive account of early modern debates in favor of and in opposition to gynaecocracy, illuminatingly connecting them with more general discussions of princely virtue. With impressive scholarship [...] it enriches our understanding of seventeenth-century debates and brings into focus important connections between the concepts of authority, power, and virtue, making an important addition to scholarly understanding of the history of gender equality.'-Karen Green, Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of Melbourne, Australia 'In this fascinating and original study, Conroy investigates the intellectual history of the exclusion of women from the French throne. She brilliantly shows how seventeenth-century feminist authors exposed the contradictions of their opponents and demonstrated that the intellectual and moral virtues required for governing were "of both sexes". A must-read for everyone interested in the politics of gender.'-Siep Stuurman, Professor Emeritus of the History of Ideas, Utrecht University, The Netherlands

• 1. The Dynamics of Exclusion: 'Salic Law' and Constructions of Masculine Monarchy2. Government by Women in Early Modern 'Galleries' of Women3. Engendering Equality: Gynæcocracy in Gournay, Poullain de la Barre, and Suchon