Women Latin Poets : Language, Gender, and Authority, From Antiquity to the Eighteenth Century

## Abstract This book addresses women's relationship to culture between the 1st century BC and the 18th century by identifying women who wrote poetry in Latin. It also considers women's prose writing in Latin and their performance as Latin orators. The earlier chapters move forward through time up to the Renaissance, which is then treated on a country-by-country basis, followed by a second suite of chapters on the early modern era. It surveys the phenomenon of women who achieved a position in public life at a time when this was not open to women in general, and how the societies in which this occurred permitted this to happen. It is completed by a checklist of more than 300 women Latin poets, identifying where possible their names, place, milieu, and providing details of their work and a comprehensive finding guide listing manuscripts, editions, and translations.

women Latin Poets Addresses Women's Relationship To Culture Between The First Century B.c. And The Eighteenth Century A.d. By Studying Women's Poetry In Latin. Based Entirely On Original Archival Research In Twelve Countries, Stevenson Recovers An Aspect Of History Often Deemed Not To Exist: Women Who Achieved Public Recognition In Their Own Time, Sometimes To A Startling Extent. Presenting, Often For The First Time, The Work Of More Than Three Hundred Women Latin Poets, All Translated And Included In A Comprehensive Finding Guide, women Latin Poets Substantially Revises Received Opinion On Women's Participation In, And Relation To, Elite Culture. The Sheer Number Of Female Latin Poets Will Require Women's Historians To Completely Re-evaluate The Idea That All Women Had No Access To Education Before The Nineteenth Century.

Women Latin Poets addresses women's relationship to culture between the first century B.C. and the eighteenth century A.D. by studying women's poetry in Latin. Based entirely on original archival research in twelve countries, Stevenson recovers an aspect of history often deemed not to exist: women who achieved public recognition in their own time, sometimes to a startling extent. Presenting, often for the first time, the work of more than three hundred women Latin poets, all translated and included in a comprehensive finding guide, Women Latin Poets substantially revises received opinion on women's participation in, and relation to, élite culture. The sheer number of female Latin poets will require women's historians to completely re-evaluate the idea that all women had no access to education before the nineteenth century. "Presenting the work of more than three hundred women Latin poets, many for the first time, this study substantially revises received opinion on women's participation in, and relation to, elite culture. All verse quoted in the text is translated, and there is a comprehensive finding guide that lists manuscripts, editions, and translations."--BOOK JACKET. This investigation of educated women in pre-modern Europe, based entirely on original archival research in 12 countries, brings to light an unsuspected treasure trove of women's writings in Latin. It prompts a re-evaluation of women's access to education in that period. All texts are translated