Ruling Women, Volume 1: Government, Virtue, and the Female Prince in Seventeenth-Century France (Queenship and Power)

Ruling Women is the first study of its kind devoted to an analysis of the debate concerning government by women in seventeenth-century France. Drawing on a wide range of political, feminist and dramatic texts, Conroy sets out to demonstrate that the dominant discourse which upholds patriarchy at the time is frequently in conflict with alternative discourses which frame gynæcocracy as a feasible, and laudable reality, and which reconfigure (wittingly or unwittingly) the normative paradigm of male authority. Central to the argument is an analysis of how the discourse which constructs government as a male prerogative quite simply implodes when juxtaposed with the traditional political discourse of virtue ethics. In Government, Virtue, and the Female Prince in Seventeenth-Century France, the first volume of the two-volume study, the author examines the dominant discourse which excludes women from political authority before turning to the configuration of women and rulership in the pro-woman and egalitarian discourses of the period. Highly readable and engaging, Conroy's work will appeal to those interested in the history of women in political thought and the history of feminism, in addition to scholars of seventeenth-century literature and history of ideas. Ruling Women is the first study of its kind devoted to an analysis of the debate concerning government by women in seventeenth-century France. Drawing on a wide range of political, feminist and dramatic texts, Conroy sets out to demonstrate that the dominant discourse which upholds patriarchy at the time is frequently in conflict with alternative discourses which frame gynæcocracy as a feasible, and laudable reality, and which reconfigure (wittingly or unwittingly) the normative paradigm of male authority. Central to the argument is an analysis of how the discourse which constructs government as a male prerogative quite simply implodes when juxtaposed with the traditional political discourse of virtue ethics. In Government, Virtue, and the Female Prince in Seventeenth-Century France, the first volume of the two-volume study, the author examines the dominant discourse which excludes women from political authority before turning to the configuration of women and rulership in the pro-woman and egalitarian discourses of the period. Highly readable and engaging, Conroyâ#x80;#x99;s work will appeal to those interested in the history of women in political thought and the history of feminism, in addition to scholars of seventeenth-century literature and history of ideas "This book, the first of two volumes, is the first study of its kind devoted to an analysis of the debate concerning government by women in seventeenth-century France. Drawing on a wide range of political and feminist texts, it sets out to demonstrate that the dominant discourse which upholds patriarchy at the time is frequently in conflict with alternative discourses which frame gynaecocracy as a feasible, and laudable reality, and which reconfigure (wittingly or unwittingly) the normative paradigm of male authority. Central to the argument is an analysis of how the discourse which constructs government as a male prerogative quite simply implodes when juxtaposed with the traditional political discourse of virtue ethics. The study draws on the existing work concerning queenship but innovates in its focus on the literary, feminist, and philosophical representations of female governance in France"-- Provided by publisher about volume 1 Cover 1 Title 5 Copyright 6 Contents 8 Acknowledgments 9 Introduction 11 1 The Dynamics of Exclusion: “Salic Law” and Constructions of Masculine Monarchy 25 2 Government by Women in Early Modern “Galleries” of Women 55 3 Engendering Equality: Gynæcocracy in Gournay, Poulain de la Barre, and Suchon 92 Appendix: Biographical Notes on Women Rulers 128 Notes 132 Bibliography 200 Index 233 Front Matter....Pages i-xii Introduction....Pages 1-14 The Dynamics of Exclusion: “Salic Law” and Constructions of Masculine Monarchy....Pages 15-44 Government by Women in Early Modern “Galleries” of Women....Pages 45-81 Engendering Equality: Gynæcocracy in Gournay, Poulain de la Barre, and Suchon....Pages 83-118 Back Matter....Pages 119-229