Did women have a Renaissance?
Support your case with examples drawn from assigned readings and anything else that will help you make your case. You should take in to account possible geographic, class and religious differences in Early Modern Europe.
First things first, I don’t think there’s a single “right” answer to this question. When I’ve assigned this topic in the past, I’ve given A’s to “yes they did’s” and “no they didn’t’s”. Everything depends on how you define your terms and the quality of the evidence you present.
To help you gather that evidence, I’ll be posting a few primary text readings to Canvas, including a section of Castiglione’s Courtier that deals with his perfect female courtier, along with excerpts from Cristine de Pizan’s The City of Women and a letter of instructions from the Italian merchant Francesco Barbero to his wife, titled On Wifely Duties.
I’ve also given you a copy of Joan Kelly-Gadol’s well-known 1979 essay “ Download “Did Women Have a Renaissance? Download Did Women Have a Renaissance?” Download ”to help you think about this. Kelly-Gadol thinks women didn’t have a Renaissance, and makes a compelling case in support of her position. Having said that, there are compelling cases to be made that women did have a Renaissance. Here’s a thesis written by Julia Meyers-Mushkin, ” Download “The quality of women’s intelligence”: Female Humanists in Renaissance Italy Download The quality of women’s intelligence”: Female Humanists in Renaissance Italy”, that argues exactly that.
So, do some reading, do some thinking, and then it’s up to you to write up an answer to the question; did women have a Renaissance?
