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From Protestantism to witches, King peers into the lives of women everywhere. We see that religion played a hefty role in women's lives - regardless of what belief they followed.
The last section of the book, "Virgo et Virago," looks at the women of the elite class. While this is by no means the largest section of the book, it is the most hopeful and the most pleasurable to read. This final chapter focuses on how women have moved away from the patriarchal society. King lists Christine de Pizan and Gaspara Stampa. In comparison, the previous sections are not as informative or enlightening because the do not have the same attention to detail.
Poor women were not lucky enough to receive an education. However, middle and upper-class women were "initiated in a particular female culture, however, in which they were taught to perform household functions" (164). Women from the elite classes received more of a traditional education, which could include learning French, music lessons, math, and "might go on to organize a fashionable salon for the discussion of new ideas" (168). On the life of Christine de Pizan, King writes, the "first woman of the Western tradition to make a living by her pen" (219). De Pizan was well-educated at the age of 25, de Pizan was a widow at the age of 25 and "established for herself in an unprecedented career for women" (219). She was able to support herself by writing. In doing so, she became a "master and not a victim of circumstance" (220). King goes into great detail regarding de Pizan's book, the City of Ladies, which is momumental in its style and structure - especially the significance of...
De Pizan wrote, among many things, that God, who created all things good, created woman as well and he did so not from dirt but from Adam's rib so she could be his equal. King maintains that no other writer for some three hundred years would not have the influence that de Pizan did. This section is by far the most interesting and inspiring of the entire book. It is with great pleasure that we finally read about the rise of women and their attempt to take from the world all that it can give them. It is a shame that this success was limited to the elite but all things but begin somewhere. From daring to teach to daring to be taught, women finally see a shift in attitude by the end of the Renaissance.
Women of the Renaissance is essential reading for any student of history or anyone interested in women's studies. While it would have been more enjoyable to see more detail in some sections, King organizes her work well and does not leave too much to question. Her work is meticulously noted and she cites many historians. The bibliography is extensive and impressive. The best section is the shortest, which deals with the seeds of triumph for women. This book cannot replace a history book but it would stand to be an excellent counterpart to a history book on the Renaissance. By looking into the lives of women scattered throughout the Renaissance, King does well not to leave any areas left uncovered. We would live better is we could see into these lives as they were instead of how we romanticize them. Women need to understand that these women - be them witches or nuns - are the ancestors of all women and their voices…
Works Cited
King, Margaret. Women of the Renaissance. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 1991
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