Debating Women, Politics, and Power in Early Modern Europe

The Sixteenth Century Was An Age Of Politically Powerful Women. Queens, Acting In Their Own Right, And Female Regents, Acting On Behalf Of Their Male Relatives, Governed Much Of Western Europe. Yet Even As Women Ruled - And Ruled Effectively - Their Right To Do So Was Hotly Contested. Men's Voices Have Long Dominated This Debate, But The Recovery Of Texts By Women Now Allows Their Voices, Long Silenced, To Be Heard Once Againches Debating Women, Politics, And Power In Early Modern Europe Is A Study Of Texts And Textual Production In The Construction Of Gender, Society, And Politics In The Early Modern Period. Jansen Explores The Gynecocracy Debate And The Larger Humanist Response To The Challenge Posed By Female Sovereignty. Introduction: An Age Of Queens -- Queens And Controversy : John Knox And The Monstrous Regiment Of Women -- The Gynecocracy Debate -- The Gynecocracy Debate In Context : Humanism And History -- The Gynecocracy Debate : Women's Voices -- Queens And Controversy In Early Modern Europe : The End Of An Era. Sharon L. Jansen. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [231]-246) And Index. Contents......Page 8 Preface......Page 10 Acknowledgments......Page 16 Introduction: An Age of Queens......Page 18 One: Queens and Controversy: John Knox and The Monstrous Regiment of Women......Page 28 Two: The Gynecocracy Debate......Page 52 Three: The Gynecocracy Debate in Context: Humanism and History......Page 80 Four: The Gynecocracy Debate: Women’s Voices......Page 132 Five: Queens and Controversy in Early Modern Europe: The End of an Era......Page 172 Epilogue......Page 188 Notes......Page 190 Select Bibliography......Page 248 A......Page 264 B......Page 265 C......Page 266 E......Page 267 F......Page 268 H......Page 269 J......Page 270 L......Page 271 M......Page 272 O......Page 273 R......Page 274 T......Page 275 V......Page 276 Z......Page 277 The sixteenth century was an age of politically powerful women. Queens, acting in their own right, and female regents, acting on behalf of their male relatives, governed much of Western Europe. Yet even as women ruled - and ruled effectively - their right to do so was hotly contested. Men s voices have long dominated this debate, but the recovery of texts by women now allows their voices, long silenced, to be heard once again. Debating Women, Politics, and Power in Early Modern Europe is a study of texts and textual production in the construction of gender, society, and politics in the early modern period. Jansen explores the "gynecocracy" debate and the larger humanist response to the challenge posed by female sovereignty.