Gender, Power and Privilege in Early Modern Europe : 1500 - 1700

Surveying court life and urban life, warfare, religion, and peace, this book provides a comprehensive history of how gender was experienced in early modern Europe. Gender, Power and Privilege in Early Modern Europe shows how definitions of sexuality and gender roles operated and more particularly, how such definitions--and the activities they generated and reflected--articulated concerns inside a given culture. This means that the volume embodies an interdisciplinary approach: literature as well as history, religious studies, economics, and gender studies form the basis of this cultural history of early modern Europe. There are new approaches to understanding famous figures, such as Elizabeth I, James VI and I and his wife Anna of Denmark; Francis I; St. Teresa of Avila. Other chapters investigate topics such as militarism and court culture, and wider groups, such as urban citizens and noble families. The collection also studies ways in which gender and sexual orientation were represented in literature, as well as examinations of the theoretical issues involved in studying history from the angle of gender. "Surveying court life and urban life, warfare, religion and peace, this book provides a comprehensive history of how gender was experienced in early modern Europe." "Gender, Power, and Privilege in Early Modern Europe shows how definitions of sexuality and gender roles operated and, more particularly, how such definitions - and the activities they generated and reflected - articulated concerns inside a given culture. This means that the volume embodies an interdisciplinary approach: literature as well as history, religious studies, economics and gender studies form the basis of this cultural history of early modern Europe."--Jacket Annotation Organized into four sections, Courtly Worlds, Religious Experience, Civic Worlds, and Literature and Gender, this original collection provides a contemporary map with which to understand the past. The essays reflect the current trend towards integrating the historical experience of women and men. They focus on key areas of contemporary interest and importance, and incorporate research and research methods that have evolved over the last twenty years