/r/EarlyModernEurope
This sub is for those interested in Early Modern European history.
This sub is for those interested in Early Modern European history. We welcome questions, informative posts, ramblings about your favorite things as long as they respect the rules.
We welcome both experts and enthusiasts!
/r/EarlyModernEurope
Since I began reading about the French Wars of Religion 3 years ago, I must have found dozens of battles that simply never made their way into English historiography and have barely penetrated the French one.
Engagements where hundreds or thousands of people die, involving armies led by figures so obscure that, in at least one case, we only know his name because we found his will (Written three days before he was KIA in a friendly fire incident).
It's a truly wild time period if you get beyond the screen of high politics.
I've been having trouble finding books/articles on the subject, any help would be appreciated.
Why did Western Europe develop faster than other continents from 1492 and onwards, and how has it changed the world for the better, and the worse?
Spoiler alert there were a lot of pirates involved.
In 1977, scholar Joan Kelly asked this question and answered her own query with a resounding no! Since then, modern scholarship has offered alternative interpretations that uncover the educational changes that women were experiencing.
Perhaps, central to the question is the "querelle des femmes " or the woman question. A three hundred year call and response literary debate that questioned women's roles as wife, mother, ruler, and warrior. The debate began prior to the Renaissance era, but what took it to the next level during the Renaissance was the print revolution. Giovanni Boccaccio's "De Mulieribus Claris, " or "On Famous Women, " is often considered the first of the querelle texts and set a standard of discussing women through the lens of decidedly atypical women known as "worthies."
Notable Italian women who were part of a handful of unmarried elites were granted access to a masculine humanist education in classical languages, oratory, history, and moral philosophy. Isotta Nogarola began an exchange with scholar Ludovico Foscarini concerning original sin. Arguing that Eve was less culpable than Adam because, as a woman, she was naturally more susceptible to temptation than Adam. I know this doesn't sound like a very vigorous defense of women; conceding the frailty of the archetypal woman, but it demonstrated a learned attack on traditional ideas about female inferiority that drew on her training in history, critical analysis, and application of the writings of ancient authorities.
In the north, we see Margaret More. The oldest daughter of Thomas More, she was educated by a private tutor in Latin, Greek, and the humanities. Much of her writing is lost, but her translation of Erasmus's "Precatio Dominica" earned her the distinction of having been published in her own lifetime.
The 16th century is often considered the "age of queens" that included Catherine de' Medici in France, Marie de Guise and her daughter Mary Stuart in Scotland, and of course, the Tudor sisters in England. This circumstance prompted alarmist reactions such as John Knox and his "First Blast of the trumpet against the monstrous regiment of women. "
So, did women have a Renaissance? I say yes and no. Things were getting better for women in terms of access to education, at least for the privileged, but there were many rivers yet to cross.
What do you think?
Hi everyone, I’ve recently completed a podcast on Matthew Hopkins and John Stearne, the two witch finders from 1645-1648 who operated in East Anglia. This might be of interest to some people: https://youtu.be/VW6f2spvObU
Would be so curious to hear what everyone thinks of Margaret. I really wonder if she wouldn’t be half as revered if she hadn’t produced 3 kings and a queen. Like, would we care?
The FASCINATING tale of St. Margaret’s Chapel, the oldest building in Edinburgh, Scotland!