A History of Women's Political Thought in Europe, 1400–1700
Cambridge University Press, 1/22/2009
EAN 9780521888172, ISBN10: 0521888174
Hardcover, 346 pages, 22.9 x 15.2 x 2.3 cm
Language: English
This ground-breaking book surveys the history of women's political thought in Europe from the late medieval period to the early modern era. The authors examine women's ideas about topics such as the basis of political authority, the best form of political organisation, justifications of obedience and resistance, and concepts of liberty, toleration, sociability, equality, and self-preservation. Women's ideas concerning relations between the sexes are discussed in tandem with their broader political outlooks; and the authors demonstrate that the development of a distinctively sexual politics is reflected in women's critiques of marriage, the double standard, and women's exclusion from government. Women writers are also shown to be indebted to the ancient idea of political virtue, and to be acutely aware of being part of a long tradition of female political commentary. This work will be of tremendous interest to political philosophers, historians of ideas, and feminist scholars alike.
Preface
Introduction
1. Christine de Pizan
2. Women of the Italian Renaissance
3. From Anne de Beaujeu to Marguerite de Navarre
4. Queen Elizabeth I of England
5. From the Reformation to Marie le Jars de Gournay
6. Women of the English Civil War era
7. Quaker women
8. The Fronde and Madeleine de Scudéry
9. Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle
10. Women of the Glorious Revolution
11. Women of late seventeenth-century France
12. Mary Astell
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index.