# data[].attributes.body
Music was an essential part of renaissance and it help create motets and other musical genres for the 1600s.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
The Met's Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Music was an essential part of civic, religious, and courtly life in the Renaissance. The rich interchange of ideas in Europe, as well as political, economic, and religious events in the period 1400-1600 led to major changes in styles of composing, methods of disseminating music, new musical genres, and the development of musical instruments. The most important music of the early Renaissance was composed for use by the church-polyphonic (made up of several simultaneous melodies) masses and motets in Latin for important churches and court chapels. By the end of the sixteenth century, however, patronage had broadened to include the Catholic Church, Protestant churches and courts, wealthy amateurs, and music printing-all were sources of income for composers.

The early fifteenth century was dominated initially by English and then Northern European composers. The Burgundian court was especially influential, and it attracted composers and musicians from all over Europe. The most important of these was Guillaume Du Fay (1397-1474), whose varied musical offerings included motets and masses for church and chapel services, many of whose large musical structures were based on existing Gregorian chant. His many small settings of French poetry display a sweet melodic lyricism unknown until his era. With his command of large-scale musical form, as well as his attention to secular text-setting, Du Fay set the stage for the next generations of Renaissance composers.

By about 1500, European art music was dominated by Franco-Flemish composers, the most prominent of whom was Josquin des Prez (ca. 1450-1521). Like many leading composers of his era, Josquin traveled widely throughout Europe, working for patrons in Aix-en-Provence, Paris, Milan, Rome, Ferrara, and Condé-sur-L'Escaut. The exchange of musical ideas among the Low Countries, France, and Italy led to what could be considered an international European style. On the one hand, polyphony or multivoiced music, with its horizontal contrapuntal style, continued to develop in complexity. At the same time, harmony based on a vertical arrangement of intervals, including thirds and sixths, was explored for its full textures and suitability for accompanying a vocal line. Josquin's music epitomized these trends, with Northern-style intricate polyphony using canons, preexisting melodies, and other compositional structures smoothly amalgamated with the Italian bent for artfully setting words with melodies that highlight the poetry rather than masking it with complexity. Josquin, like Du Fay, composed primarily Latin masses and motets, but in a seemingly endless variety of styles. His secular output included settings of courtly French poetry, like Du Fay, but also arrangements of French popular songs, instrumental music, and Italian frottole.

With the beginning of the sixteenth century, European music saw a number of momentous changes. In 1501, a Venetian printer named Ottaviano Petrucci published the first significant collection of polyphonic music, the Harmonice Musices Odhecaton A. Petrucci's success led eventually to music printing in France, Germany, England, and elsewhere. Prior to 1501, all music had to be copied by hand or learned by ear; music books were owned exclusively by religious establishments or extremely wealthy courts and households. After Petrucci, while these books were not inexpensive, it became possible for far greater numbers of people to own them and to learn to read music.

At about the same period, musical instrument technology led to the development of the viola da gamba, a fretted, bowed string instrument. Amateur European musicians of means eagerly took up the viol, as well as the lute, the recorder, the harpsichord (in various guises, including the spinet and virginal), the organ, and other instruments. The viola da gamba and recorder were played together in consorts or ensembles and often were produced in families or sets, with different sizes playing the different lines. Publications by Petrucci and others supplied these players for the first time with notated music (as opposed to the improvised music performed by professional instrumentalists). The sixteenth century saw the development of instrumental music such as the canzona, ricercare, fantasia, variations, and contrapuntal dance-inspired compositions, for both soloists and ensembles, as a truly distinct and independent genre with its own idioms separate from vocal forms and practical dance accompaniment.

The musical instruments depicted in the studiolo of Duke Federigo da Montefeltro of Urbino (ca. 1479-82; 39.153) represent both his personal interest in music and the role of music in the intellectual life of an educated Renaissance man. The musical instruments are placed alongside various scientific instruments, books, and weapons, and they include a portative organ, lutes, fiddle, and cornetti; a hunting horn; a pipe and tabor; a harp and jingle ring; a rebec; and a cittern.

From about 1520 through the end of the sixteenth century, composers throughout Europe employed the polyphonic language of Josquin's generation in exploring musical expression through the French chanson, the Italian madrigal, the German tenorlieder, the Spanish villancico, and the English song, as well as in sacred music. The Reformation and Counter-Reformation directly affected the sacred polyphony of these countries. The Protestant revolutions (mainly in Northern Europe) varied in their attitudes toward sacred music, bringing such musical changes as the introduction of relatively simple German-language hymns (or chorales) sung by the congregation in Lutheran services. Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525/26-1594), maestro di cappella at the Cappella Giulia at Saint Peter's in Rome, is seen by many as the iconic High Renaissance composer of Counter-Reformation sacred music, which features clear lines, a variety of textures, and a musically expressive reverence for its sacred texts. The English (and Catholic) composer William Byrd (1540-1623) straddled both worlds, composing Latin-texted works for the Catholic Church, as well as English-texted service music for use at Elizabeth I 's Chapel Royal.

Sixteenth-century humanists studied ancient Greek treatises on music, which discussed the close relationship between music and poetry and how music could stir the listener's emotions. Inspired by the classical world, Renaissance composers fit words and music together in an increasingly dramatic fashion, as seen in the development of the Italian madrigal and later the operatic works of Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643). The Renaissance adaptation of a musician singing and accompanying himself on a stringed instrument, a variation on the theme of Orpheus, appears in Renaissance artworks like Caravaggio's Musicians ( 52.81) and Titian's Venus and the Lute Player ( 36.29).

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Music in the Renaissance | Essay | The Metropolitan Museum of Art | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The rich interchange of ideas in Europe, as well as political, economic, and religious events in the period 1400-1600 led to major changes in styles of composing, methods of disseminating music, new musical genres, and the development of musical instruments.

# data[].attributes.headline
jousting-- kinda bad, but also so swag (HT)

# data[].attributes.subject
jousting-- kinda bad, but also so swag (HT)

# data[].attributes.body
During the Renaissance, men competed in jousting tournaments in order to raise marital status. This lead to many injuries and deaths.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Jousts and tournaments took the form of individual combat between armored knights, mounted or on foot, using lances, swords, axes and maces. Jousting was first practiced in the early Middle Ages. During these colorful public events, two knights fought to enhan…

# data[].attributes.body
Theater saw some changes and new forms during the renaissance. Improvisation was developed more and the opera came about.
MB

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Providing free and open textbooks in accessible, highlightable, responsive, and annotatable formats.

# data[].attributes.body
The Renaissance opened doors to all kinds of musical innovation. New instruments, new composition styles, new genres, and all kinds of new ways of creating and listening to music. TH

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
The Met's Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Music was an essential part of civic, religious, and courtly life in the Renaissance. The rich interchange of ideas in Europe, as well as political, economic, and religious events in the period 1400-1600 led to major changes in styles of composing, methods of disseminating music, new musical genres, and the development of musical instruments. The most important music of the early Renaissance was composed for use by the church-polyphonic (made up of several simultaneous melodies) masses and motets in Latin for important churches and court chapels. By the end of the sixteenth century, however, patronage had broadened to include the Catholic Church, Protestant churches and courts, wealthy amateurs, and music printing-all were sources of income for composers.

The early fifteenth century was dominated initially by English and then Northern European composers. The Burgundian court was especially influential, and it attracted composers and musicians from all over Europe. The most important of these was Guillaume Du Fay (1397-1474), whose varied musical offerings included motets and masses for church and chapel services, many of whose large musical structures were based on existing Gregorian chant. His many small settings of French poetry display a sweet melodic lyricism unknown until his era. With his command of large-scale musical form, as well as his attention to secular text-setting, Du Fay set the stage for the next generations of Renaissance composers.

By about 1500, European art music was dominated by Franco-Flemish composers, the most prominent of whom was Josquin des Prez (ca. 1450-1521). Like many leading composers of his era, Josquin traveled widely throughout Europe, working for patrons in Aix-en-Provence, Paris, Milan, Rome, Ferrara, and Condé-sur-L'Escaut. The exchange of musical ideas among the Low Countries, France, and Italy led to what could be considered an international European style. On the one hand, polyphony or multivoiced music, with its horizontal contrapuntal style, continued to develop in complexity. At the same time, harmony based on a vertical arrangement of intervals, including thirds and sixths, was explored for its full textures and suitability for accompanying a vocal line. Josquin's music epitomized these trends, with Northern-style intricate polyphony using canons, preexisting melodies, and other compositional structures smoothly amalgamated with the Italian bent for artfully setting words with melodies that highlight the poetry rather than masking it with complexity. Josquin, like Du Fay, composed primarily Latin masses and motets, but in a seemingly endless variety of styles. His secular output included settings of courtly French poetry, like Du Fay, but also arrangements of French popular songs, instrumental music, and Italian frottole.

With the beginning of the sixteenth century, European music saw a number of momentous changes. In 1501, a Venetian printer named Ottaviano Petrucci published the first significant collection of polyphonic music, the Harmonice Musices Odhecaton A. Petrucci's success led eventually to music printing in France, Germany, England, and elsewhere. Prior to 1501, all music had to be copied by hand or learned by ear; music books were owned exclusively by religious establishments or extremely wealthy courts and households. After Petrucci, while these books were not inexpensive, it became possible for far greater numbers of people to own them and to learn to read music.

At about the same period, musical instrument technology led to the development of the viola da gamba, a fretted, bowed string instrument. Amateur European musicians of means eagerly took up the viol, as well as the lute, the recorder, the harpsichord (in various guises, including the spinet and virginal), the organ, and other instruments. The viola da gamba and recorder were played together in consorts or ensembles and often were produced in families or sets, with different sizes playing the different lines. Publications by Petrucci and others supplied these players for the first time with notated music (as opposed to the improvised music performed by professional instrumentalists). The sixteenth century saw the development of instrumental music such as the canzona, ricercare, fantasia, variations, and contrapuntal dance-inspired compositions, for both soloists and ensembles, as a truly distinct and independent genre with its own idioms separate from vocal forms and practical dance accompaniment.

The musical instruments depicted in the studiolo of Duke Federigo da Montefeltro of Urbino (ca. 1479-82; 39.153) represent both his personal interest in music and the role of music in the intellectual life of an educated Renaissance man. The musical instruments are placed alongside various scientific instruments, books, and weapons, and they include a portative organ, lutes, fiddle, and cornetti; a hunting horn; a pipe and tabor; a harp and jingle ring; a rebec; and a cittern.

From about 1520 through the end of the sixteenth century, composers throughout Europe employed the polyphonic language of Josquin's generation in exploring musical expression through the French chanson, the Italian madrigal, the German tenorlieder, the Spanish villancico, and the English song, as well as in sacred music. The Reformation and Counter-Reformation directly affected the sacred polyphony of these countries. The Protestant revolutions (mainly in Northern Europe) varied in their attitudes toward sacred music, bringing such musical changes as the introduction of relatively simple German-language hymns (or chorales) sung by the congregation in Lutheran services. Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525/26-1594), maestro di cappella at the Cappella Giulia at Saint Peter's in Rome, is seen by many as the iconic High Renaissance composer of Counter-Reformation sacred music, which features clear lines, a variety of textures, and a musically expressive reverence for its sacred texts. The English (and Catholic) composer William Byrd (1540-1623) straddled both worlds, composing Latin-texted works for the Catholic Church, as well as English-texted service music for use at Elizabeth I 's Chapel Royal.

Sixteenth-century humanists studied ancient Greek treatises on music, which discussed the close relationship between music and poetry and how music could stir the listener's emotions. Inspired by the classical world, Renaissance composers fit words and music together in an increasingly dramatic fashion, as seen in the development of the Italian madrigal and later the operatic works of Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643). The Renaissance adaptation of a musician singing and accompanying himself on a stringed instrument, a variation on the theme of Orpheus, appears in Renaissance artworks like Caravaggio's Musicians ( 52.81) and Titian's Venus and the Lute Player ( 36.29).

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Music in the Renaissance | Essay | The Metropolitan Museum of Art | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The rich interchange of ideas in Europe, as well as political, economic, and religious events in the period 1400-1600 led to major changes in styles of composing, methods of disseminating music, new musical genres, and the development of musical instruments.

# data[].attributes.body
Women were expected to look beautiful constantly, as her looks were seen as a reflection of her husband. Pale faces and rosy cheeks were most popular, and many women used vinegar and other items to lighten their skin tone. CR

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Weird And Dangerous Beauty Standards Of Renaissance Italy

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Italian Renaissance is a period known for developing a culture that spread across Europe and marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity.

# data[].attributes.body
Italy during the Renaissance was a the hot spot to get sweet threads like silk and velvet and were purchased internationally (if you could afford them) -RG

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
The Met's Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
During the Renaissance, luxurious fabrics made of silk and precious metal threads counted among the most valuable items owned by both individuals and the Church. As an expression of power, wealth, and taste, specially woven fabrics incorporating a family coat-of-arms or other motifs associated with the family's reputation were particularly valuable. Such fabrics were used in secular dress, religious vestments, and interior furnishings. The precise meaning of some of the motifs that held special significance during the Renaissance has been lost over time. But the fact remains that these luxurious textiles were the most highly valued products of the talented silk weavers of the Italian peninsula, and were exported all over Europe, as well as to the Ottoman empire. The consumption of the most expensive fabric was confined to the upper classes who could afford them, but the production and marketing of the fabrics involved many more people at almost all levels of society. The period from about 1400 to 1600 was one in which the weavers of the Italian peninsula, as well as Spain, excelled at producing spectacular patterned velvet textiles.

What Is Velvet?
While linen fabrics with looped pile were first made thousands of years ago in Egypt, the technique of creating silk velvet is a more recent development. It probably originated in China, and appears to have been developed by at least the thirteenth century, if not earlier. The term velvet describes fabric with a pile made of silk thread; the structure of this fabric is created by warps that are drawn up over rods or wires to make the loops. This is part of the weaving process, and the looped pile is integral to the structure of the fabric. As the weaving progresses, the rods are removed. The resulting loops may be cut to form dense pile, or left uncut. As well as being very time consuming, this technique requires a larger quantity of thread in the warp than flat textiles.

Cut silk velvet has a wonderful sheen and depth of color, and the appearance changes as it drapes and folds and the light reflects off the various angles ( 46.156.133). Velvet woven with more than one colored warp enhances this effect ( 41.87), but the addition of glittering metal thread to contrast with the richness of the silk pile brought velvet textiles to the height of their technical and artistic refinement ( 46.156.72).

Today, the velvet design most frequently associated with this period is the so-called pomegranate pattern composed of bold stylized floral and vegetal motifs that often resembled ripe pomegranate fruits, artichokes, or thistle blossoms ( 46.156.120). These fabrics appear in contemporary painting in a number of contexts that reveal their symbolic importance in addition to their actual usage. For example, single lengths of "pomegranate" velvet are often used as a cloth of honor hanging behind a seated Virgin and Child; they were also used as ecclesiastical vestments. Smaller pieces of these velvets appear in secular portraits as part of fashionable dress, often made into sleeves or skirt panels. And painted imitations of these grand woven patterns, such as the one which appears on a cassone ( 14.39), act as a reference to the owner's valuable possessions.

Italian Centers of Production
Venice, Florence, and Genoa have traditionally been recognized as the most important Italian centers of high-quality velvet production. More recently, the importance of the Milanese silk industry, which began in the mid-fifteenth century under the patronage of the Visconti and Sforza dukes, has also been recognized. Venice and Genoa-seaports with easy access to both western European and Eastern markets-had ready customers both domestically and abroad for their luxurious velvets ( 12.49.8). During the sixteenth century, the superiority of Genoese black velvet was recognized even by their Venetian rivals. Florence was known for its production of velvets with looped metal bouclé nestled into thick silk pile (though this technique was practiced in all major centers) and for especially high-quality design. In addition to large stylized floral patterns, consumers could commission specific patterns reflecting family armorials or other associated motifs ( 46.156.70; 1995.7; 46.156.137). The Museum has a number of examples associated with the Medici of Florence, and it is likely that these textiles were made in that city ( 46.156.118). While local regulations often stipulated the color of the selvage stripes or the number of warp threads required, the markets for luxury textiles were extremely competitive and industrial espionage was common. Competitors often imitated their rivals' top-quality products. Milan's silk-weaving statutes even stated specifically that their industry should be modeled on the practices of previously established centers such as Florence. So while definitive identification of the place where a fabric was woven is difficult without documentary evidence, motifs associated with a regional family are often considered the best indicators of where a textile was made ( 51.139.2a,b).

Guilds and Raw Materials
The importance of silk textile production to the economy and society of Italy during the Renaissance was expressed by one sixteenth-century writer: "The silk craft is a very noble art, worthy of being plied by any true gentleman . . . It is a craft that exalts the rich and helps the poor; and great skills are needed to ply it since it involves an infinitude of operations; no one is to be found who is capable of doing on his own the many tasks that it involves."

These many tasks included: the cultivation of silkworms; the processing of the cocoons to remove the silk filaments; spinning of the thread; cleaning, dyeing, and reeling of the finished silk thread; mounting of the loom with the prepared thread; weaving; and finally presenting the finished cloth for inspection and sale. In addition, goldsmiths prepared fine silver and gilt-silver strips that were wound around silk thread to create the decorative brocading found on the most expensive velvets.

The skilled craftspeople, the thread dyers, metal thread makers, and the velvet weavers themselves were all members of different professional guilds. Members served apprenticeships of as many as seven or eight years before being accepted as independent professionals. The quality of the threads and the dyes and the final products were carefully controlled by these professional organizations, as well as by local law. If the quality of the final woven product was deemed inferior, the textile had to be destroyed, according to regulations.

The quality of the dyes used for the threads was so important that weavers were required to weave special selvages, or edges, to denote the quality and the density of the silk thread used. Merchants searched the globe for the most brilliant shades and were willing to pay a premium for reliable dyestuffs, which did not fade with time and exposure to light. Crimson red shades were perennially popular, followed by bright green and sapphire blue. Black and white velvet garments were fashionable, particularly in the fifteenth century. Only rare fragments of these fabrics survive, as the processes used to obtain deep black and bright white were corrosive to the silk fibers. All textile dye colors were derived from plants, minerals, or, in the case of the best red, insects. Nevertheless, a wide range of colors were produced from these natural substances by expert dyers.

The secrets of dyeing and weaving were carefully guarded, and the most skilled craftspeople were, at certain times, prohibited from leaving their native cities for fear they would share their expertise with rival manufacturers. The quality controls and strict oversight of the production of luxury textiles reflect their importance not only to their owners but to the entire society that contributed to their production.

Watt, Melinda. "Renaissance Velvet Textiles." In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000-. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/velv/hd_velv.htm (August 2011)

Bayer, Andrea, ed. Art and Love in Renaissance Italy. Exhibition catalogue. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2008. See on MetPublications

Buss, Chiara, ed. Silk Gold Crimson: Secrets and Technology at the Visconti and Sforza Courts. Cinisello Balsamo: Silvana, 2009.

Molà, Luca. The Silk Industry of Renaissance Venice. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000.

Monnas, Lisa. Merchants, Princes, and Painters: Silk Fabrics in Italian and Northern Paintings, 1300-1550. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008.

Phipps, Elena. "Cochineal Red: The Art History of a Color." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 67 (Winter 2010).

Watt, Melinda. "Nineteenth-Century European Textile Production." (October 2004)

Watt, Melinda. "Textile Production in Europe: Printed, 1600-1800." (October 2003)

Watt, Melinda. "Textile Production in Europe: Embroidery, 1600-1800." (October 2003)

Watt, Melinda. "Textile Production in Europe: Lace, 1600-1800." (October 2003)

Watt, Melinda. "English Embroidery of the Late Tudor and Stuart Eras." (May 2010)

Watt, Melinda. "Textile Production in Europe: Silk, 1600-1800." (October 2003)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Renaissance Velvet Textiles | Essay | The Metropolitan Museum of Art | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
During the Renaissance, luxurious fabrics made of silk and precious metal threads counted among the most valuable items owned by both individuals and the Church. As an expression of power, wealth, and taste, specially woven fabrics incorporating a family coat-of-arms or other motifs associated with the family's reputation were particularly valuable.

# data[].attributes.body
People of high class had access to nice fabrics and beautiful clothing. There were laws regarding who could wear what. The people of the renaissance may have had style, but the rich were gatekeeping these iconic looks 😤 LF

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Renaissance Outfit

"Is that thine codling or art thou glad to see me?" Anne Boleyn, to Duke Fabrizio of Bologna, apocryphal.

Due to laws prohibiting who was allowed to wear what, and the cost of materials, there was a vast difference in attire between the classes. Not only did materials vary, but styles as well, as the lower classes opted for practicality in their clothing by necessity. Lower classes, such as laborers and apprentices would wear linen, a light, cool fabric derived from the flax plant, wool, or sheepskin. Cotton had been in production since antiquity, but its import and manufacture was prohibited in Elizabethan England in order to protect the wool industry, one of England's chief exports. It was not until cotton farming in the new world and Eli Whitney's development of the cotton gin in 1793 that cotton become a favored fabric (Cotton).

An example of middle-class women's dress, c. 1570

Fabrics available to those in the upper classes included silk, satin, velvet, and brocade. As this was prior to the industrial revolution, all harvesting, weaving, and production of fabrics and clothing was done by hand, thus greatly influencing price. As with fabric choices, the lower classes were limited in the amount of clothing they could afford, and may only have one set of clothing. Liveries, uniforms worn by servants with their master's colors or emblems on them, were provided by the master to the servant. Liveries were exempt from many of the sumptuary restrictions, as they represented the upper class master, not the servant.

While the the materials and sumptuousness of clothing varied greatly between the classes, the basic elements of an outfit were much the same. As with today, styles went in and out of fashion, often rapidly.

Women

The styles of the gowns worn by women in Renaissance England changed from year to year, but the basic styles remained the same. Women wore gowns comprised of a tight-fitting bodice and a fuller skirt that would hang down to the ankles. Dresses cut to expose much of the neckline were acceptable and fashionable. Clothing of the upper classes was heavy and cumbersome, and restricted movement for the wearer. Women of the lower classes wore much less restrictive styles, both for freedom of movement, and because they did not have servants to help them dress. In dressing, a lower class women would wear a much looser corset, or none at all, and would possibly eschew other underpinnings such as bum rolls (crescent-shaped cushions worn around the hips) or farthingales (hoop skirts used to hold the skirts out) for added comfort.

All women's outfits started with a shift (a loose, linen smock worn to protect the gown), and stockings, which were normally knee-high. Petticoats were added both to fill out a gown and to keep the wearer warm.

Lady Jane Grey, c. 1545

Men

A man's outfit would start with a shirt, similar to today's dress shirt, but lacking the collar and cuffs we are familiar with, instead sometimes utilizing lace collars and cuffs. Over this would go a doublet, or fitted top, and finally over that a jerkin, a close-fitting jacket. Men of the working class like their female counterparts dressed for utility and might simply wear the shirt alone.

Instead of trousers as we are used to them today, men would wear hose on their legs. The upper hose were (often poufy) knee-length trousers which were met by the nether hose, or stockings, on the lower leg. In the reign of Henry VIII, doublets became shorter, creating a space between the upper hose and the doublet. In order to preserve modesty, the cod piece became popular again, having been around since the middle ages. The cod piece was originally a cloth or animal skin pocket in the from of hose or trouser, but were now made from various materials, and often padded or used for storage - Henry VIII used his codpiece to store money. Once more, these additions to the outfit would be more common in an upper class individual or person at court than the average Englishman (Kosir).

Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southhamptam

Children

Children in Renaissance England were considered simply small adults, and their dress reflected this. Children were dressed in clothing very similar to their parents, and both young boys and girls wore dresses during infancy and toddlerhood. For young boys, this aided the mother in toilet training and care giving. When boys were old enough (usually around the age of seven, when they could start helping their fathers) they were "breeched," or put into their first pair of breeches, or hose. This practice continued up until the 19th century in the Western World, and portraiture of young children is often difficult to gender without tell-tale props such as swords or hats.

An example of the daughter's clothing mirroring the mother's, c. 1580

The Sumptuary Statues

Which great abuses, tending both to so manifest a decay of the wealth of the realm and to the ruin of a multitude of serviceable young men and gentlemen and of many good families, the Queen's majesty hath of her own princely wisdom so considered as she hath of late with great charged to her council commanded the same to be presently and speedily remedied both in her own court and in all other places of her realm, according to the sundry good laws heretofore provided.

The term sumptuary refers to the sumptuousness, or the excesses clothing. Sumptuary restrictions were not new to the English monarchy or people. Henry VIII's first Parliament met in January 1510 and passed a sumptuary law which took a great deal from earlier acts in 1463 and 1483. The acts passed during the Elizabethan reign build further on her father's act, but share many qualities. Under Henry, colors and cloths were restricted by class, it allowed for the fining of offenders, and also concerned itself not just with men's apparel but women's as well. Henry and his parliament continued to amend and strengthen these laws, focusing on the penalties imposed, further restrictions on fabrics and fabric length, and continuing to allow the King to make special license for those he saw fit (Hooper 433). Elizabeth, upon taking the throne, further stipulated what could be worn and by whom. She first set orders to ensure the earlier acts were followed. A proclamation dated October 21 1559 put the responsibility of ensuring these laws were enforced in the hands of magistrates and men of power. A letter was then sent to the City corporation, urging the passing of this proclamation, and suggesting two watchers per parish be posted to carry out this task (437). Later, again in response to what Elizabeth I termed "the excess of apparel and the superfluity of unnecessary foreign wares" that were believed to cause serious problems for the realm, a series of statues were put into effect, including the largest on June 15, 1574 (Hooper 437). The final statue was the most detailed, and specifically listed fabrics, colors, and designs and very explicitly designated the wearing of them to particular nobles.

All these restrictions, from Henry VIII to Elizabeth I served several purposes, both overt and covert. The most explicit purpose was to address the problem of up and coming young gentlemen and nobles, who in the effort to look their best and wear the best materials available, would spend over their means. This was not only a problem for their families, but the monarchy, as this money could be better spent towards goods that were of better use to the nation. It was also vitally important in a strictly class-based and class-segregated society like Tudor England that people dressed according to the standards of their own class and gender. A class system does not work efficiently if one cannot tell to which class a person belongs, and blurring of class lines takes some of the meaning away from higher positions. This clear distinction between groups is also necessary to curb attempts at upward mobility by the emerging middle class of merchants, and to maintain social conformity and etiquette, which Elizabeth strongly favored. Additionally, these laws curbed the influx of unnecessary foreign goods, in an effort to support English commerce (436).

The punishment for violation of these statutes were fines and/or jail times amounting up to three months for the 1562 statute forbidding any person under the rank of Knighthood wearing silk trimming on hats and other sundries. During Henry's reign, the 1533 Act for Reformation of Excesse in Apparayle had a fine of 3 shillings and 4 pence for every day of the offense (435). This was not an astronomical fine, but it can be imagined it would be a strain on a member of the working classes. Those employing servants who had violated the restrictions could face a large fine as well for not releasing the servant from his employment or hiring him again. Penalties paid were fines, not fees, and person of lower status could not purchase the "rights" to a specific item or material (Secara).

In 1561 restrictions were put on the amount of fabric to be used in hose, and obliged tailors to enter into bonds to observe these provisions. Refusal meant imprisonment and loss of occupation. Searches were made regularly to ensure cooperation, and servants and apprentices were taught also to follow the law (440). On January 24, 1565 Richard Walweyn, a servant whose master had also been brought up on charges for an "outrageous great pair of hose," was detained until he could acquire more appropriate hose for himself. In another instance, merchant tailor Thomas Bradshaw was convicted of wearing unacceptable hose. The court ordered that all the stuffing and linings of one of his said hose shall be cut and pulled out presently, and he to be put in his doublet and hose, and so led home through the street to his Mrs. House, and there the lining and stuffing of the other to be likewise cut and pulled out (441)

Violators of higher office were dealt with more gently. In one instance, offenders described as "gentlemen" were fined 20 and ordered to correct their attire. Even with punishments, the statutes were difficult to enforce. There were appointed officers at court, and alderman were charged to monitor their wards. Elizabeth I set the responsibility of enforcing the restrictions on all clergy for their flock, masters for their servants, neighbors for one another (Secara). However, neighbors were not likely to turn one another in if they wished to violate the statues themselves. By 1566, Elizabeth issued precepts ordering guards at the gates of the city by seven in the morning to:
...having a diligent eye during all the said time to all and every such person & persons as they shall see there to enter into the City of London, or pass or repass at or by the same gate using or wearing any great and monstrous hosen, silk, velvet or weapons restrained and prohibited.

Offenders were taken to the magistrates at the Guildhall (443).

Despite the possible cost in fines to offenders, the best enforcement was public opinion. Public embarrassment was a very effective punishment. Wearing something that did not fit into society's view of the acceptable could be pointed at for ridicule (Secara). Ridicule at court or about town for a violation or inappropriate item would be more damaging, and public, than a fine, as in the case of tailor Thomas Bradshaw, for whom the major punishment was being marched through London to his home in his torn, illegal attire. The mention of his "Mrs." in the above account also implies that violators would also face censure at home.

The specific items restricted were detailed, and covered every aspect of the Elizabethan costume. Among the restrictions listed in Elizabeth I's 1574 statute were:

Purple silk and sable fur: Reserved strictly for the Queen, King, and their family members.

Velvet: The colors crimson and scarlet being reserved for only the highest nobility: dukes, marquises, and earls.

Tinseled cloth: Cloth that was woven with strands of gold and silver, that is, tinsel, was reserved for the nobility including viscounts and barons.

Gold, silver, or pearl embroidery: Reserved for dukes, marquises, earls (including the children of all three), viscounts, barons, and Knights of the Garter.

Lynx and civet cat fur: Restricted to the above ranks, and including the wives of men who can dispend 100 by the year.

Enameled buttons, chains, etc.: Restricted to the above nobility, and including wives of barons' sons, and wives of knights.

Silk, satin, and damask: Reserved for the above, and including knights' daughters.

The statues covered both men and women's clothing. These statues were specific to all ranks of the nobility, and dictated the allowances from the Queen down to knights. The only non-nobles permitted these types of materials and items were those who were in service to the Queen through diplomatic positions, the privy chamber, or other court office, or those men and women in service to nobles, who were permitted materials in their liveries.

There was not only concern in this period for men and women dressing above their status and means, but also, men and women testing gender boundaries by cross dressing. Just as sumptuary violations blurred class lines, so did Renaissance cross dressing blur gender lines. In a strictly gendered and homosocial environment, this was of great concern. The most public instance of cross dressing was in theatre. Women were not allowed onto the stage, and therefore young men and boys would play female roles, dressing completely for the part. This raised concerns about homoeroticism and feminization (Cressy 438). Instances of cross-dressing abound in Renaissance theatre, not only in males dressing for female roles, but female characters dressing as males. That is, a male actor would dress as a female character who in turn dresses as a male. A classic Shakespearean example is As You Like It, wherein the female charatcer Rosalind (played by a male actor) dresses as the male Ganymede.

Off-stage, women would cross-dress for a number of reasons, including to avoid rape, be able to travel alone, practice a profession, or simply to have adventures (Cressy 440). A notable example of female cross-dressing is Mary Firth, also known as Moll Cutpurse, awell-known character about London, who regularly dressed as a man, smoked, and appeared on stage (462). Thomas Middleton and Thomas Dekker's The Roaring Girl is based on Firth. She was forced to appear in court for her transgressions, although was treated lightly (462).

For the most part, off-stage cross dressing was viewed as a prank, or lark and punishments were often mild in the courts (461). Punishments, like for violating sumptuary statutes, were often focused on public embarrassment. One women in 1578 was required to ask her father's forgiveness before communion (460).

Above all, clothing violations, whether classed or gendered were enforced to keep conformity, preserve class distinctions, and with these, preserve social harmony as a gender- and class-segregated society. While the punishments were often light, the number of records of violations and the need of statutes implies the seriousness to which Tudor monarchs viewed the matter.

Sources

"Cotton's Story." Cotton's Journey: 2009: http://www.cottonsjourney.com/Storyofcotton/page2.asp

Cressy, David. "Gender Trouble and Cross-Dressing in Early Modern England." The Journal of British Studies, Vol. 35, No. 4 (Oct., 1996), pp. 438-465

Elizabeth I, "Statute Issued at Greenwich," 15 June 1574.

Hooper, Wilfrid. "The Tudor Sumptuary Laws," The English Historical Review. Vol. 30, No. 119. July 1915.

Kosir, Beth Marie. "Modesty to Majesty: The Development of the Codpiece." Richard III Society, American Branch: http://www.r3.org/life/articles/codpiece.html

Leed, Drea. "History of the Elizabethan Corset." Elizabethan Costume Page: 2008: http://www.elizabethancostume.net/corsets/history.html

Leed, Drea. "Overview of an Elizabethan Outfit," Elizabethan Costume Page: 2008: http://www.elizabethancostume.net/overview.html

Secara, Maggie. "Elizabethan Sumptuary Statutes." Elizabethan.Org: http://elizabethan.org/sumptuary/index.html Additional Links

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Renaissance Outfit "Is that thine codling or art thou glad to see me?" Anne Boleyn, to Duke Fabrizio of Bologna, apocryphal. Due to laws prohibiting who was allowed to wear what, and the cost of materials, there was a vast difference in attire between the classes.

# data[].attributes.headline
Musical instruments and elements of the renaissance 

# data[].attributes.subject
Musical instruments and elements of the renaissance 

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Renaissance Era Music Guide: A History of Renaissance Music - 2024 - MasterClass

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Renaissance era of classical music saw the growth of polyphonic music, the rise of new instruments, and a burst of new ideas regarding harmony, rhythm, and music notation.

# data[].attributes.body
The barbary pirates were involved in the ottoman empire, and were apparently were very brutal to coastal communities and enjoyed hijacking. LG

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
hijacking, also spelled highjacking, the illegal seizure of a land vehicle, aircraft, or other conveyance while it is in transit.

Although since the late 20th century hijacking most frequently involved the seizure of an airplane and its forcible diversion to destinations chosen by the air pirates, when the term was coined in the 1920s in the United States hijacking generally referred to in-transit thefts of truckloads of illegally manufactured liquor or to the similar seizure of rumrunners at sea. By the mid 1950s, use of the term had been broadened to encompass the hijacking of trucks carrying legitimate cargo, as well as the hijacking of legal ships.

Airplane hijacking is also known as skyjacking. The first reported case of such hijacking occurred in Peru in 1931. The first aerial hijacking in Asia occurred in 1948 on a flight bound from Macau to Hong Kong; all 25 people aboard were killed when the airplane crashed into the Pacific Ocean. During the next decade about 15 airplanes were hijacked, and in 1958-67 the number of such incidents increased dramatically to about 50.

The first aerial hijacking within the United States occurred on May 1, 1961, when a commercial airliner en route from Miami to Key West, Florida, was forced to detour to Cuba. By the end of 1961, four airplanes had been hijacked to Cuba, and many of the airplanes subsequently hijacked in the United States and elsewhere in the Western Hemisphere were flown to Cuba by either homesick Cubans or politically motivated leftists. Some of these hijackings were financially motivated, with the hijackers calling for huge ransom payments in exchange for ensuring the safety of the passengers and crew, though few were successful.

A more dangerous and destructive spate of hijackings occurred in Europe and the Middle East from 1968 onward. Between 1968 and 1970 alone there were nearly 200 hijackings. The participants often were politically motivated Palestinians or other Arabs who commandeered airplanes while in flight and threatened harm to the passengers and crew unless certain of their comrades were released from jail in Israel or some other location. Some of these hijackers also held the passengers and crew captive and demanded large ransom payments from the hostages' governments. The climax of this new form of terrorism occurred in September 1970, when an 11-day sequence of hijackings resulted in 300 passengers being held hostage for a week and the destruction of four jet aircraft (on the ground) worth a total of $50 million. Middle Eastern and leftist hijackers abducted, confined, and even occasionally murdered individuals traveling on airplanes that were diverted from scheduled routes.

Beginning as early as 1963, the United Nations urged member states to sign an international convention against hijackers. Seven years later 50 countries signed a convention for the suppression of unlawful seizure of aircraft, specifically designating that the unlawful seizure of an aircraft in flight through force, the threat of force, or intimidation was an extraditable offense in any extradition treaty between the signatories. A further international agreement to apprehend, extradite, and punish hijackers was difficult to obtain, however, because several governments, particularly those in the Middle East, were overtly or secretly involved in hijackings or regarded hijacking as a "political offense" and granted hijackers immunity from prosecution and extradition.

In 1973 the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration instituted systematic searches of airline passengers and hand luggage. A magnetometer, an electronic device that could detect metal objects, was used to check passengers for weapons. Carry-on baggage and other belongings of passengers were searched by hand or by low-pulse X-ray machines. Local armed guards were stationed at search points and other airport locations such as departure gates. Many other countries, mostly in Europe, adopted similar measures in their airports. Critical in deterring hijackers was the likelihood that countries targeted by terrorist groups would strike back, perhaps by launching commando raids to rescue hostages or by mounting direct assaults on the headquarters of the groups themselves. For example, in 1976, in an operation that became known as the Entebbe raid, Israel rescued 103 mostly Israeli hostages aboard a French aircraft that had been hijacked to Entebbe, Uganda.

In 1978, at a Group of Seven summit meeting in Bonn, West Germany, the United States, Italy, Canada, Japan, Great Britain, France, and West Germany pledged to institute sanctions against countries that gave sanctuary to hijackers. In that same year the European Community (EC) agreed to boycott the airline of any country that either harboured hijackers or refused to release hijacked aircraft. The threat of being denied landing rights in EC countries' airports proved effective, and several Middle Eastern countries that had previously provided sanctuary for hijackers and hijacked aircraft ceased to do so.

Hijackings have continued to occur sporadically since the late 1970s, though at a reduced frequency. One such notorious incident was the 17-day hijacking of a flight to Beirut airport by Hezbollah, a militant group associated with Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, in 1985. Nonaerial hijackings have included the commandeering of an Italian cruise ship by Palestinian terrorists in 1985 and the seizing of trains by South Moluccans in the Netherlands in 1975 and 1977.

The decline in hijackings was the result of a variety of factors, including heightened security and greater international cooperation. Some groups, such as the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)-which had applauded earlier hijackings-found that hijacking had outlived its usefulness. In addition, in the 1980s some militant groups turned to the far more devastating tactic of destroying airplanes in flight, usually by bombs. One infamous incident was the downing of an American airliner by Libyan intelligence agents over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988; the midair explosion killed 259 passengers and 11 people on the ground.

The deadliest act of air piracy to date occurred on September 11, 2001, when suicide terrorists simultaneously hijacked four airliners in the United States and flew two of them into the World Trade Center complex in New York City and one into the Pentagon near Washington, D.C. The fourth plane crashed outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, after passengers-apprised of their fate via cellular telephone-attempted to overtake their attackers. Overall, more than 3,000 people were killed in the September 11 attacks, and a new factor was introduced: the use of fuel-laden planes as flying bombs to kill large numbers of people and cause enormous property damage. However, the actions of the passengers on the fourth plane suggested that such a tactic would be difficult to repeat, as the prospect of certain death would give hostages little incentive to submit to hijackers' demands.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
hijacking, also spelled highjacking, the illegal seizure of a land vehicle, aircraft, or other conveyance while it is in transit. Although since the late 20th century hijacking most frequently involved the seizure of an airplane and its forcible diversion to destinations chosen by the air pirates, when the term was coined in the 1920s in the United States hijacking generally referred to in-transit thefts of truckloads of illegally manufactured liquor or to the similar seizure of rumrunners at sea.

# data[].attributes.headline
Good: The emergence of mathematics and different fields of science( Astronomy,  Physics, Chemistry Etc. ) 

# data[].attributes.subject
Good: The emergence of mathematics and different fields of science( Astronomy,  Physics, Chemistry Etc. ) 

# data[].attributes.body
The Renaissance was a time where many of the concepts and methods that paved the way for modern science began to appear. (OS)

# data[].attributes.body
This outlines the poor dental hygiene the people in the Renaissance had. When sugar was slowly being reintroduced to people due to the lowering of prices for sugar, it was brought into hygiene practices. While the people thought they were doing a good service for their teeth by using metal toothpicks and swishing sugar water in their mouths, decay and toothaches were beginning to occur more frequently. (TL)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Figure 1: A Venetian woman uses a toothpick at the dinner table. Detail from Paolo Veronese's (1563) The Wedding Feast at Cana. Oil on canvas. 6.77 m × 9.94 m (267 in × 391 in). Louvre Museum, Paris.

Claire Litt //

By the end of the 16th century sugar prices were within reach of the European middle class, and a dental crisis was upon them. The Portuguese colonized Brazil in 1516, establishing a sugar industry through the enslavement of African and Indigenous peoples. The effect was a dramatic fall in sugar prices in Europe. By the early 1500s sugar was already only 3 soldi per pound of sugar, a drop from the 20 soldi per pound it cost a century earlier (Shaw and Welch, 193). That sugar entered Europeans' diets in a substantial way is detectable through forensic analysis. The historian Suzanah Lipscomb's side-by-side comparison of the skulls of medieval and early-modern individuals reveals the nearly perfect dental health of the former, while the latter suffered several abscesses resulting in lost teeth (Lipscomb, "How Sugar Killed the Tudors"). Sugar was not, however, understood to be the scourge of teeth. Instead, sugar, along with pearls, dog's teeth, and bejewelled toothpicks - was at the centre of early moderns' dental hygiene practices.

Although the price of sugar dropped throughout the sixteenth century, it retained a place of high value in the medical world for its supposedly restorative and healthful qualities. Sugar was a primary ingredient in Acqua gli denti (water for teeth), a mouthwash that was meant to improve dental health and 'sweeten' the breath. The personal physician to the Grand Duke of Tuscany Francesco I de'Medici, Giovanni Nardi, had a recipe for Acqua gli denti that called for crushed rock alum (a white, transparent stone), tree resin, fine sugar, and rose water (water made of red roses and sugar), among other ingredients (BNCF Maglia. cl.XV.cod.142 Part 1.c.34v). The result would have been a pink sugary syrup that may have temporarily masked the stench of decay while contributing to its underlying cause.

Pulverized stones such as rock alum and crushed pearls were sometimes also rubbed directly onto the teeth in order to remove plaque. Not only did this practice give a literal meaning to the term 'pearly whites' but it also, unfortunately, removed tooth enamel. The use of white tooth-like minerals for this purpose was a type of 'sympathetic' medicine (or magic, if you prefer) that sought to use materials that visually corresponded to the affected body part. Sympathetic medicine was also at the core of a particularly gruesome practice suggested by a recipe that called for a tooth to treat a toothache. Dating, from the look of the almost illegible handwriting, to a century earlier in the 1400s, the instructions read: "For bad teeth" one should "take the tooth of a hungry dog" (BNCF, Maglia, cl.XV, v.79, c.2v).

Given the use of sugar and abrasive materials in daily hygienic practice, the prevalence of dental complaints amongst the sweet-toothed elites comes as no surprise. In one instance, the Grand Duke of Tuscany Ferdinand I wrote to his wife Christine of Lorraine to congratulate her on being "free forever" from a particularly bad toothache. Ferdinand I was not being hyperbolic in his choice of words. Rather, his language provides some insight into the extent to which dental maladies infringed on daily life.

If such attestations to dental complaints in surviving correspondence were not enough, a team of forensic radiologists set out to find the truth straight, as it were, from the Medici's mouths. The aim of the project was to "verify the efficacy of hygiene methods of the time" and was carried out on the remains of twelve Medici family members exhumed from the Chapel of the Princes (Colagrande, Stefano et al., 193). The study found that the Medici family's dental health was in crisis, even in comparison to the dental decay found on the remains of a contemporary ruling family in Naples, the Aragons. This could be due to the Medici's habitual consumption of sugar as a status symbol, which signalled both their immense wealth and the wondrous creativity of their artists and cooks who could turn sugar into almost anything . The wedding banquet of Maria de'Medici to Henry IV of France involved a number of almost life-sized sculptures made entirely of sugar: one of herself and her new husband Henry IV, and a second of Henry IV on horseback (Lawrence, 128). At any rate, the Acqua gli denti made by Francesco I de'Medici's doctor was clearly not effective. He appears to have lost six teeth during his lifetime (Colagrande, Stefano et al., 195).

The Medici's teeth also showed groove marks that confirm their frequent use of metal toothpicks. A detail of Paolo Veronese's The Wedding Feast at Cana (1563) shows a young Venetian woman engaging in this practice at the dinner table (Figure 1). Toothpicks were not only hygienic tools, but were also made into sumptuous pieces of jewellery that were worn as pendants around the neck. The Grand Duchess with the toothache, Christine of Lorraine, owned such a pendant herself. Her toothpick was in the form of a falcon, and was decorated with gold (ASF. MM. F.474 c.4v). Another particularly luxurious example survives in the collections of the British Museum (Figure 2). The pendant toothpick is in the form of a merman and is made of a baroque pearl, gemstones, colourful enamel, and gold. Covering the toothpick with jewels was perhaps a way of gilding an unsightly reality of personal hygiene in a way that made it appropriate for public view, similar to how sugar masked bad breath and pearls were rubbed into the teeth. Spoiled by sugar, elites' dental problems and practices were covered up by precious materials. Still, some saw through the facade. Giovanni Della Casa's Il Galateo, written in 1558, was a treatise on manners that vehemently argued "to weare a toothpicke, about your necke: of all fashions that is y e worst" (Della Casa, 109).

Works Cited:

Primary Sources:

Archivio di Stato Firenze (ASF). Miscellanea Medicea (MM). F.474, Insert 9, c.4v.

BIA: Medici Archive Project (MAP). Doc. ID# 29252, Vol. 5961, F.521. Dated June 1st 1598.

"Collection of Medical Secrets, Many of Which are Superstitious [...]" Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale Firenze (BNCF) Maglia. cl.XV, f.79, c.34v.

Della Casa, Giovanni. A Renaissance Courtesy-Book: Galateo of Manner and Behaviours Ed. Lewis Einstein. Grand Richards LTD. London. Accessed through Projet Gutenberg on une 3 2020. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/47993/47993-h/47993-h.htm#Page_ix.
Secondary Sources:
Colagrande, Stefano and Natale Villari, Felicita Pierleoni, Domizia Webr, Gio Fornaciari, Donatella Lippi. "Teeth of the Renaissance: A Paleopathological and Historic-medical study on the jaws of the Medici family." Journal of Forensic Radiology and Imaging Vol 1 Issue 4. October 2013, pp.193-200.

Lawrence, Cynthia M. Women and Art in Early Modern Europe: Patrons, Collectors, and Connoisseurs. University Park, Pa: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1997.

Lipscomb, Suzannah. How Sugar Killed The Tudors. YouTube, uploaded by Absolute History, 11 April 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpJI3fHOj78.

Shaw, James and Evelyn Welch Making and Marketing Medicine in Renaissance Florence. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2011.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Pearl of Oyster, Tooth of Dog, and Sugar: Dental Hygiene in Renaissance Italy - S Y N A P S I S

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Claire Litt // By the end of the 16th century sugar prices were within reach of the European middle class, and a dental crisis was upon them. The Portuguese colonized Brazil in 1516, establishing a sugar industry through the enslavement of African and Indigenous peoples. The effect was a dramatic fall in sugar prices in...

# data[].attributes.headline
women's role in the renaissance-- ugly (HT)

# data[].attributes.subject
women's role in the renaissance-- ugly (HT)

# data[].attributes.body
Women in the Renaissance had no place in the workforce. Women were expected to stay celibate until marriage and stay at home to learn and practice skills that could later be used in marriage.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Several questions arise when describing the condition of European women in the Renaissance: Did their social or economic condition improve? Did they gain greater access to power? Were they able to express themselves in different ways than in the Middle Ages? Finally, was there a Renaissance for women? These questions can be addressed by looking at women's lives in three settings: the family, religion, and elite culture (the lives of female rulers, artists, and thinkers).

Women in the family

Women played several roles in their families, depending on their age and marital status. First a woman was a daughter and then a wife, mother, or widow. In contrast, male roles were generally defined by social position or occupation-merchant, knight, priest, peasant, barrel maker, weaver, and so on. Female roles were more sharply defined in upper-class society than in peasant society. The main reason was economic. Upper-class daughters, wives, and widows had a share in the family estate, so they were regarded mainly as a way to hold onto or expand. Therefore their lives were strictly regulated and controlled. In contrast, peasant women generally had more freedom. Wives, daughters, and even widows were actively involved in helping to support the family by maintaining the household and working along with men on the farm or in the shop. Therefore it was not practical to regulate and control their lives.

Daughters

A daughter was called a "virgin," that is, one who has not engaged in sexual intercourse. Daughters were expected to remain virgins until they were married, or for their entire lives if they were not married. The ideal of virginity had roots in the Christian New Testament (the second part of the Bible), in Greek philosophy, and in writings of early Christian leaders. These works were based on the concept of the patriarchal family (a family headed by the father) as the foundation of society. A person's identity depended on his or her descent through the male line. During the eleventh century this ideal was strengthened by reform movements within the church. Around the twelfth century in western Europe the requirement of virginity for daughters received new emphasis, first in the households of the high nobility and then in the property-owning classes. Property was passed along almost entirely to male heirs. Therefore, the main purpose of daughters was to serve as brides who linked two family lines together. To assure the legitimacy of any male heirs resulting from a marriage, it was necessary that the bride's father be able to assure her future husband that she was a virgin.

Increasingly in the Renaissance era, the concept of honor also depended on virginity. The violation of a daughter's virginity brought dishonor not only on the girl, but also on all of her male kin. Therefore, a young woman was usually held responsible for being raped (forced to have sexual relations) because this assault meant she was no longer a virgin and she had thus dishonored her family. Even though the young women was the victim of the rape, she was the one who was punished. Punishment often varied with the social standing of the woman's male relatives. For example, the daughter of a nobleman was punished more severely than the daughter of a laborer because the nobleman had a more honored place in society. When some young girls lost their virginity through rape or seduction, they were then abandoned by their male kin and often turned to prostitution (having sexual intercourse in exchange for money), which was the only way they could support themselves.

Wives and managers

In addition to preserving their virginity, daughters were required to master skills that they would later use in marriage. Most important were textile crafts such as spinning, weaving, and embroidering, which were generally taught by the older women of the household. Young girls also learned to manage finances, to supervise servants, and to nurse ailing household members. Finally, girls were instructed in chastity (refraining from sexual intercourse), obedience, and silence, all qualities that were thought to prepare a daughter for her role as a wife.

Wives had many responsibilities as workers and as managers of a household. Peasant women performed numerous duties, from tending fowl and sheep and a vegetable garden to brewing beer and assisting with the harvest. Artisan wives did skilled craft work alongside their husbands, or did the work themselves during their husbands' absence. Sometimes women became members of craft guilds in this way. (A guild was an organization that trained apprentices for a craft or trade and set standards for quality.) Wives of merchants tended shops, helped keep accounts, or managed other business records. Among wealthier patrician and aristocratic families, women performed the textile work that women everywhere were expected to do, but they generally made luxury items such as gold-thread embroidery. Their primary role was the running of the household: seeing to the purchase, storage, and replenishment of supplies; entertaining their husbands' visitors; supervising the servants; and nursing the ill, whether servants or family members.

The dowry

In most regions of Europe, when a woman of the propertied classes got married, she was expected to bring to her new husband's household a portion of her father's wealth. Called a dowry, that portion usually represented the woman's claim on her inheritance. The function of the dowry was to remove a woman from her father's line so that she had no further claim on his property. Her share of her inheritance was to be as small as possible, to minimize the burden on the father's estate. At the same time, the dowry had to be large enough to attract-in effect, "purchase"-a husband with the highest social status. A marriage could reflect glory on the bride's kin, win them political allies and access to power, or increase the family's wealth. If a woman's family could not afford a high-status husband, she had to be satisfied with a lesser one who could be acquired with a smaller dowry. Even among the poorest ranks of the peasantry, a bride was expected to bring some goods to a marriage, if only a few pots or stools to furnish her new home.

The dowry technically remained the woman's property for life, but in fact it was managed by her husband. When the woman died the property was passed on to her heirs, female as well as male, if local laws permitted her to make a testament, or will, and name special gifts. In some regions of Europe, a wife might possess property in her own name in addition to the dowry. Sometimes that property was bestowed upon her by her father, who determined the value of the dowry. Again, depending on local custom, the woman might be able to pass the property along to her heirs when she died. Women were often entitled to use real estate (land), jewelry, and clothing that belonged to a male relative, who had the right to reclaim it as needed.

Rights for Jewish women

Unlike Christian women, Jewish women had some legal independence. Prior to the creation of ghettos that placed all Jews under the system of Roman law in Italy (see "Roman and Spanish Inquisitions" in Chapter 7), Jewish communities had their own laws. Women had the right to sign contracts, represent themselves in court, and initiate legal actions. A number of women were bankers and full members of partnerships. In Turin, Italy, a Jewish father's wealth was funneled directly into his daughter's dowry. The reasons for this practice were many, but mainly it was intended to protect family property. As a result, the woman holding the dowry occupied an enviable position. The middle-class status of most Italian Jews played a role in balancing power between men and women. Even the richest Jewish men could not acquire great wealth or elite social status because they were barred by society's restrictions on Jews. As a result of these restrictions, women had an opportunity to gain equal status with them.

Marriage

A woman had virtually no role in choosing her husband. In the propertied classes most marriages were arranged by a woman's male kin, perhaps in consultation with her mother. Many women married men they barely knew or had never met. In most parts of Europe peasants of both sexes married fairly late (in their twenties). Among the upper classes, however, a teenage girl often married an older man (perhaps in his late twenties or thirties) who was already established in commerce, government, or aristocratic society. Sometimes a young woman married a man who was even more advanced in age and who had already been married. In these circumstances, it is difficult to know whether love played a role in the marriage. Many upper-class wives and husbands led separate lives because of the disparity in their ages, their lack of acquaintance prior to marriage, and their very different daily occupations. For instance, the husband might be involved in his business or in political activities while the wife's life was focused on the home. Companionship seemed to be more possible in marriages among the lower classes. Often spouses were engaged in the same kind of occupation-for example, they were both skilled craftspeople, or they operated a tavern or a shop together.

Marital problems

Preachers, humanists, and other moral instructors promoted the ideal of a close relationship between wife and husband. They thundered against adultery (having sexual relations outside marriage), bigamy (having more than one spouse), desertion, and abuse. Adultery was consistently viewed as a wife's crime-not a husband's-and a very serious one. In many locations, a husband was excused for killing his wife if she was caught committing adultery. In some places, such a murder was not even designated a crime. Among the wives of European royalty, adultery was considered treason (a crime against the state) and generally punishable by execution. Meanwhile, men regularly engaged in adultery, sometimes with concubines or mistresses who lived in the family home. Wives were expected to raise children from these illicit relationships. Such arrangements were more typical of high-status families. Among the poorer classes, marital problems were more often expressed through bigamy or desertion. A man who found marriage unsatisfactory might leave his parish and marry again in a more remote location. A man left his wife if he felt burdened by her, in which case the woman had no legal rights and she was reduced to dire economic conditions.

Abuse could be found everywhere, and among all classes. Wife-beating was permissible, as was the physical punishment of children and servants. Some moralists urged moderation and others deplored the use of beatings altogether. Men might, furthermore, imprison, starve, and degrade their wives and other family members. Prior to the Protestant Reformation, divorce was not available as a solution for a broken marriage. Among the upper classes, annulment (declaring a marriage invalid) was a possibility on grounds that the marriage had not been consummated (the couple had not had sexual intercourse), the couple were closely related kin, or there had been some flaw in the marriage ritual. Some Protestant reformers argued for divorce in cases of adultery or hopeless incompatibility. Their arguments were fundamental to later legislation permitting civil divorce.

Acts of cruelty by Jewish men in domestic relations are mentioned in documents of the period. Among these acts were broken engagements, abandonment, nonsupport, physical and verbal abuse, and the refusal to acknowledge or support a child born out of wedlock. A woman might threaten to bring the child to the synagogue (Jewish house of worship) or to pressure lay leaders to come to her aid. The rabbis of Catholic Europe were much less willing than the rabbis of Islamic countries to force a man to divorce his wife. This reluctance was a reflection of the Catholic belief that a marriage could never be dissolved. It was also further evidence that during the Renaissance women had no opportunity to extricate themselves from bad marriages.

Motherhood

The primary responsibility of all wives was the conception, bearing, and rearing of children. Women of child-bearing age spent most of their lives being pregnant, giving birth, and caring for children. Birth control was strongly discouraged. For women who wanted to terminate a pregnancy, abortions were sometimes performed. The method involved herbal remedies, recommended by midwife-healers, that posed great risk to the mother. Lactation (production of milk in a woman's breasts for nursing babies) frequently resulted in a period of infertility and relief from pregnancy, but when it did not, women often conceived anew within weeks of giving birth. Such a pattern is seen in the high birthrates in certain social groups-twenty or twenty-five children from one mother were not uncommon-and indicate that a woman had an average of one child per year. Although wealthy people viewed frequent childbirth as desirable, the birth of a single child could be seen as excessive to a poor or unmarried woman who was unable to care for the baby. That situation often led to child abandonment or even infanticide (killing of babies).

During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the infant mortality (death) rate was high throughout Europe. From 20 to 50 percent of all infants died. A high mortality rate up to age twenty was also frequent. It was not unusual for a woman who had given birth to eight or ten children to see only one or two of them reach adulthood. Women also risked dying in childbirth. The chance of death in any single childbirth event was about 10 percent-much higher over a lifetime in which a woman experienced childbirth several times. Mortality in childbirth was a leading cause of death among women, a great number of whom predeceased their husbands, who might proceed to marry one or two other wives. Moralists therefore used the possibility of death in childbirth as one argument for a woman to remain virginal and not marry.

A woman's responsibility for her healthy newborn infant varied according to social class. Poor women generally nursed (breast-fed) their own infants for about two years, but women in the upper classes usually did not. In elite circles arrangements were made, often by fathers, to send a child to live with a wet nurse. A wet nurse was frequently a lower-class woman whose own baby had died or who had recently weaned her own infant from the breast (ended breast feeding). Sometimes wet nurses weaned their own babies early so they could be paid to breast-feed the baby of an upper-class couple. Infants spent about one or two years with their wet nurses (female infants were perhaps weaned sooner than males) before returning to their mothers. In the meantime, the mothers might have gotten pregnant once again.

A mother was responsible for a child from the time of birth until the child reached the age of six or seven. At that point it was believed a child was capable of rational thought. Young children were taught skills and moral values by their mothers, except in some wealthy families where servants were given these responsibilities. Girls were kept closely confined and supervised, trained in household skills, and taught chastity, silence, and obedience. Boys were prepared for further instruction under their fathers, either by a school or tutor, or in apprenticeship (training for a craft or trade). Peasants trained male and female children in agricultural skills. In the case of the very poor, both male and female children were often sent out of the home at age eight or nine to work as servants in upper-class households. Virtually the only education they received was the early childhood instruction offered by their mothers.

When a mother of young children died, her children were reared by their father and his female kin, his servants, or his new wife. When a father died, his male kin took responsibility for rearing children. In his will he may have invited his widow to remain in the household to tend her children, or she might be welcomed in that role by her late husband's brothers or cousins. But children were not understood to belong to their mother. If she did not, as a widow, remain in her deceased husband's household, she would relinquish the care of her children to her husband's family. Generally she would not be able to claim her offspring as her own.

Widowhood

Widowhood presented difficulties not only for the widows (women whose husbands have died) but also for society. These difficulties involved issues of kinship and morality: To whose household did a widow belong? How could the behavior of a sexually experienced woman be controlled? A widow was faced with several possible fates. Depending on where she lived, she might remain in her husband's household, especially if young children survived. She might return to her father's household or to that of other male kin. She might also marry again, enter a convent (a house for religious women) or other religious community, or live alone. Competing interests surrounded the woman as this decision was made, and usually she had little say in the matter. Her birth family might wish her to remarry or to return, with her dowry, to their household. Her husband's family might want her to stay with them so that her dowry could continue to support their household. Church officials and social leaders would urge chastity upon a widow and express anxiety about her moral supervision. In Catholic regions, she might be urged to join a convent or religious community. Elsewhere she might be advised to remarry. Living alone was risky for a woman because it might signify that she was impoverished and or had been abandoned by her kin. If she had property she might become the object of suspicion. The Dutch humanist Desiderius Erasmus (c. 1466-1536) argued that a self-sufficient widow could remain chaste and lead a productive life alone, but few people agreed with him at the time.

During the Middle Ages and the early part of the Renaissance, most European women were Catholics. Those who wished to devote their lives to the church entered convents. This situation changed after the Protestant Reformation in the sixteenth century. Women who converted to Protestantism expressed their religious commitment as wives and mothers or as activists in the new faith.

Catholic holy women

Catholic women entered convents for a variety of reasons. Some were adults drawn to the religious life; some were widows or refugees who sought a safe haven or were placed in safety by male kin; some were young girls placed by their kin permanently or temporarily in convents also for safekeeping, or as an alternative to marriage. Some of these women subsequently made permanent vows. Although some women lived in convents because of a sincere religious vocation, others were there to bide their time, or despite their own personal choice or interest. Most women who resided in convents for any of these motives came from propertied and even aristocratic families. Convents required an entrance fee termed a "dowry," just as in a marriage. During the Renaissance, in some areas (such as the wealthier Italian cities) the number of women entering convents because of their family's economic interests skyrocketed.

Benvenida Abravanel

Under Jewish law, women had many more rights than Christian women. Yet even Jewish women who had converted to Christianity (converted Jews were sometimes called New Christians) enjoyed more independence. An example is Benvenida Abravanel (born 1473), a Portuguese New Christian who settled in Italy and was a teacher to the daughter of the Spanish viceroy (royal governor). As a widow, Abravanel ran a loan-banking business, served the Medicis (the family of the dukes of Florence and Tuscany), contributed to charity, and was active in Christian causes. The Jewish playwright and poet Judah Sommo called Abravanel a "Princess."

In addition to those who sought to pursue a religious vocation in the convent there were others whose quest for holiness led them elsewhere. They joined communities of religious women that were not strictly cloistered, or separated from society. These women sought the less strict life because they preferred it or because their families did not provide the dowries necessary for admission to a convent. Nevertheless, they were supervised in some manner by members of the male clergy. A few others pursued saintly careers as single individuals. They followed strict routines of religious observance while living in the household of a male. Many were wives or widows who did charitable work with hospitals or religious orders. The Catholic Reformation greatly curtailed this kind of religious expression. Women seeking to follow religious vocations were largely limited to the single option of the convent. At the same time, they were placed under even stricter regulation by male clergy. Holy women were closely scrutinized for evidence of heresy, witchcraft, or for pretending to be sacred.

Protestant reformers

The hold of the patriarchal family on women increased under Protestantism. Both men and women followers of this faith were faced with a new set of beliefs and standards of moral behavior. For women, it meant the disappearance of convents, which had been disbanded in Protestant countries. Convents still provided alternative living situations for unmarried or widowed Catholic women. A Protestant woman, however, was expected to live with her own family or her husband's family, under the supervision of men for her whole life.

Teresa of Ávila

Teresa of Ávila (1515-1582) was one of the great holy women of the Catholic Church. The founder of the Reformed Discalced (Barefoot) Carmelite Convent of San Jose, Spain, she is famous today for her mystical writings. She was born Teresa de Ahumada on a farm near Ávila, Spain. After a life-threatening illness she entered the Carmelite Convent of the Encarnacion (Incarnation), where she became a nun in 1537 and took the name of Teresa de Jesus. In 1554 Teresa experienced the first of several visions during which she saw a statue of the wounded Christ. She continued having visions and began writing her autobiography, later titled Life. When Teresa finished her book, she was called before the Spanish Inquisition, a church court set up to apprehend and punish heretics. The inquisitors told her to expand the book because they wanted to know more about her visions. She completed the longer version of Life in 1559.

By 1560 Teresa had made a decision to reform the Carmelites. She had long been troubled by the lax standards at her convent, and she wanted to return the Carmelites to strict observance of the original rules of the order. After much opposition and struggle, in 1562 Pope Pius IV granted her permission to start the Discalced Carmelites. Before her death she produced numerous books, which are now considered classics in mystical literature. Teresa was instrumental in reforming not only Carmelite convents for women but also Carmelite monasteries for men. She is credited with reviving Catholicism at a time when Protestantism threatened to bring down the church.

Grumbach and Zell promote reform

A few opportunities for female leadership emerged in the earliest days of Protestantism. Some female advocates of reform circulated their views in writing. Among them was Argula von Grumbach, who was born into an aristocratic and well-educated family near Beratzhausen, Germany. She was orphaned in 1509 while being educated at court in Munich. In 1516 she married Friedrich von Grumbach, an administrator for the Bavarian dukes of the Franconian town of Diefurt. She was then drawn to Protestantism, probably by Paul Speratus, a scholar and cathedral preacher who was a champion of church reform. Inspired by the pamphlets of Protestant Reformation leader Martin Luther and other reformers, Grumbach immersed herself in reading Scripture (the text of the Bible). In 1523, after witnessing the mock trial of a student who was a follower of Lutheranism, she challenged Catholic theologians to a debate about their coercive conduct. When they refused to participate, she published a pamphlet that eventually went into fourteen editions. In six open letters to German princes and to officials in the cities of Ingolstadt and Regensburg, she outlined a reform program for society as well as the church. She also published a poem to defend herself against unfounded accusations that she had a sexual attraction to a man named Arsacius Seehofer. After 1524 Grumbach produced no more pamphlets, but she did exchange letters with Luther and the Lutheran theologian Andreas Osiander. She also promoted the Reformation locally. In 1533, three years after the death of her Roman Catholic husband, she married again, but she was widowed again in 1535. Grumbach's unpublished family papers give insights into such matters as early Protestant educational ideals and the legal and financial difficulties of widows.

A few Protestant women became lay (unordained) preachers. The best known was the German reformer Katharine Schütz Zell (c. 1497-1564), who worked toward religious tolerance as a writer, speaker, and adviser. In 1523 she created a controversy by marrying Matthäus Zell (1477-1548), a Catholic cathedral preacher and reformer. Katharine soon became known for her hospitality to reform leaders. She also took in refugees, attended to victims of the plague (an epidemic disease; see " Black Death" in Chapter 1), and visited sick people in jails. Zell kept in touch, by letter or in person, with many of the leading Protestant reformers such as Huldrych Zwingli (1484-1531) and Oecolampadius (also known as Johannes Huszgen; 1482-1531), who headed independent reform efforts. By the mid-1500s there were deep splits among Protestants because they could not reach agreement on a statement of faith. The Zells sided with radical groups (those who hold extreme views) that were pushing for the elimination of Catholic elements in Protestant doctrine (beliefs).

Between 1524 and 1558 Katharine published five works, including a defense of her husband. In 1557 she wrote an open letter to Ludwig Rabus, the Lutheran preacher in Ulm, who had criticized her radical views. In the letter she appealed to the common sense of the people of Strasbourg. She supported the efforts of radicals such as Zwingli and Kaspar Schwenckfeld von Ossig, both of whom had been guests in her home. Zell also expressed admiration for the Anabaptists (a Protestant group that advocated baptism of adults, not infants), whom she preferred to call Baptists. The Anabaptists were being persecuted as heretics by mainstream Protestants, however, and Zell was accused of heresy for supporting them.

Grumbach and Zell were members of the first generation of Protestant reformers. By the late sixteenth century women no longer participated as either critics or advocates of reform efforts and the movement was dominated by men. Many women among the persecuted sects, notably the Anabaptists, openly professed their faith and were executed by Protestant leaders. These women gained fame as martyrs.

Women in high culture

The role of women in "high" culture-the elite world of power, ideas, and artistic creation-was significantly expanded in the Renaissance era. A few women served as monarchs who were instrumental in shaping not only political events but also cultural developments. Cultivated women of the high middle class or aristocracy headed salons that spread new scientific and philosophical ideas and set standards of literary taste. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries women became increasingly active in the humanist movement, which was given impetus by salons. The participation of women in intellectual life represented a major advance: for two thousand years they had been excluded from such pursuits because they were denied access to formal education. The new humanist emphasis on the worth of the individual began breaking down traditional barriers. As a result, an unparalleled number of women became writers during the Renaissance era. There were hundreds and perhaps thousands of women authors, mainly in Italy, France, and England. After 1500 they were encouraged by the growth of the printing industry, which permitted women authors to deal directly with publishers and bypass male-dominated institutions such as universities.

Women writers contributed to the beginning stages of modern feminism (support of the equality of women with men), which gained momentum in the eighteenth century. Women also wrote poetry, romances, stories, novels, and plays, which they translated into other languages. A few women who were learned in Latin or Greek translated works of classical or humanist authors. In addition, they wrote diaries, family histories, and advice books. Women painters and illustrators also gained fame in the flourishing art world. Although women were prevented from entering the professions because of their lack of access to formal education, they did make contributions to the emerging field of medicine.

Women rulers, intellectuals, writers, and artists did not influence Renaissance culture so greatly as did their male colleagues. Nevertheless, women and their supporters were included in major social and political issues from the outset. Their participation contributed to changes in ideas about women's moral and intellectual capabilities, laying the foundation for the modern feminist movement. In this sense, there surely was a Renaissance for women.

Queens and queenship

During the Renaissance the question of whether women could or should be monarchs was a much-debated issue. Only a few women were actually reigning queens (those who occupy the throne), and those women became powerful rulers in spite of concerns about women monarchs. Even where laws limited women's right to inherit the throne, as in France and Aragon (a region of Spain), queens consort (wives of kings) still had considerable influence. Numerous regents, queen mothers, and kings' mistresses also performed a variety of official and unofficial duties. A regent was a queen consort who ruled in the absence of the king while he was on a mission to another country or in the place of a son who was too young to take the throne. A queen mother is the mother of a reigning king. A mistress was a woman who had an ongoing intimate, sexual relationship with a king who was married to another woman.

Reigning queens

Reigning queens had greater difficulties than male rulers. Every queen was expected to marry and produce male heirs to continue the dynasty (rulers in the same family line). The queen's selection of a spouse was especially controversial. It was difficult for members of a patriarchal society, in which husbands were heads of households, to distinguish between a woman's status as a private wife and as a public ruler. Some court officials feared civil war if she married one of her subjects, and others feared political problems if she wed a foreigner. Men dominated the royal bureaucracy as well as local offices. The general feeling was that a woman could not lead a government composed of men. For instance, in 1558 the Scottish Protestant reformer John Knox (1513-1572) asserted that a kingdom with a female ruler was like a monster with its feet where its head ought to be. Warfare created even more problems, for a woman did not fit into the traditional role of a military leader.

Two reigning queens, Isabella I of Castile (1451-1504; ruled 1474-1504) and Elizabeth I of England (1533-1603; ruled 1558-1603), responded to these difficulties in different ways. Isabella's marriage to King Ferdinand II of Aragon (1452-1516; ruled 1479-1516) in 1469 won acceptance because it led to the unification of their realms as the kingdom of Spain (see "Spain" in Chapter 3). Elizabeth lacked such a convenient choice. She succeeded her half-sister, Queen Mary I (1516-1558; ruled 1553-58), who had wed Philip II of Spain (1527-1598; ruled 1556-98) in 1554 (see "England" in Chapter 3). Elizabeth was aware of the discord that could result from a foreign marriage, so she was reluctant to choose a husband from another country. Political divisions among her advisers over the selection of a husband finally prevented her from marrying. The issue of a male heir to the throne therefore remained unresolved during her reign.

Elizabeth's status as a single woman did offer some advantages. Until the last years of her life she used the possibility of getting married as a bargaining tool in negotiations with other countries. As a queen married to a powerful king, though, Isabella had an easier time ruling a male-dominated system. In contrast, Elizabeth presented herself as both a male and a female monarch in public announcements and ceremonies. As she grew older, her subjects honored her with the image of the "Virgin Queen," which associated her with the Virgin Mary (mother of Jesus Christ). In warfare both queens assumed the role of warrior. Isabella accompanied the Spanish army on its campaigns to expel the Moors from Spain. In 1588, after Spain declared war on England, Elizabeth dressed in armor and gave a speech to her troops at Tilbury to inspire them to defeat the invading Spanish Armada (see "English defeat Spanish Armada" in Chapter 3).

Lower-ranking queens

Like other wives, queens consort had the responsibility of giving birth to a male heir. If they failed in this duty, their husbands might divorce them or even have them executed. An example was Anne Boleyn (c. 1507-1536), the wife of King Henry VIII of England (1491-1547; ruled 1509-47) and the mother of Elizabeth I. Henry ordered that Boleyn be beheaded when he discovered that she was having an affair. As consorts, they also had symbolic power, which was especially strong if they had been honored and blessed in a coronation ceremony. Without ruling authority, their influence depended on several factors. Foremost was the survival of their male children, for whom they might serve as regents. Queens consort also exerted control if they possessed strong personalities or came from royal lineage. The latter was especially true for a woman coming from a foreign dynasty who could advance the interests of her family at her husband's court.

Regents had some authority to govern, since they acted on behalf of rulers who were relatives. One example was Mary of Hungary (1505-1558; ruled 1531-55), who controlled the Netherlands for her brother, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (1500-1558; ruled 1519-56). Another was Catherine de Médicis (1519-1589), who ruled France for her minor sons (see "France" in Chapter 3). Regents with the least power were queens consort, who served for short durations during their husbands' absences. For instance, Katherine Parr (1512-48), the last wife of Henry VIII, was regent for three months in 1544 when the king was on a military campaign in France.

Queen mothers could provide much-needed stability during times of emergency. Louise of Savoy (1476-1531) ruled France for her son, King Francis I (1494-1547; ruled 1515-47), on two occasions. In 1515 she served as regent while Francis opened the second phase of the Italian Wars (1494-1559), a conflict between France and Spain over control of Italy (see " Italian Wars dominate Renaissance" in Chapter 2). She was regent again in 1525 after Francis was defeated at the Battle of Pavia in Italy and was held prisoner in Spain. Sometimes women who were not officially members of a royal family wielded power by manipulating the actions of their monarch lovers. An example was Diane de Poitiers (1499-1566), the mistress of King Henry II (1519-1559; ruled 1547-59) of France. (A mistress is a woman who has a continuing sexual relationship with a married man who is not her husband.) She influenced the decisions of the king, virtually replacing his wife, Catherine de Médicis, as queen.

Reigning queens, regents, and even kings' mistresses were in the position to patronize artists, musicians, humanists, and poets. One of the greatest patrons was Margaret of Austria (1480-1530), who served as regent of the Netherlands (1507-15; 1519-30) for her nephew, the future Emperor Charles V. She collected a fine library and supported outstanding artists and musicians. Women who married rulers of foreign realms also could introduce political and economic connections and new trends into their adopted lands. The activities of these women established their importance as political and cultural leaders. They remained influential in France, where they had helped to forge absolutism (absolute power invested in one or more leaders). Reigning queens made the greatest gains in England, but the increased power of Parliament (main ruling body of Great Britain) led to a weakening of royal control by the seventeenth century.

Salons

Women began making important contributions to Renaissance culture through their participation in salons. A salon was an intellectual and literary discussion that became popular in the 1600s. It was held at a royal or noble court and headed by an aristocratic or high-born woman called a salonnière. The terms "salon" and salonnière were introduced in the nineteenth century. During the Renaissance salons were known as ruelles (companies). Many women who headed and attended these gatherings exchanged ideas, then published their views in books and pamphlets.

Early forms of the salon could be found in northern Italy in the 1400s. Examples were literary gatherings in Brescia, where the humanist scholar Laura Cereta (1469-1499) presented her essays, and discussions headed by Marchioness Isabella d'Este (1474-1539) at her famous court in Mantua. Similar events were held in convents, where women could more easily express their views without the fear of ruining their reputations. Other pioneers of the Renaissance salon were French noblewomen Madeleine des Roches (c. 1520-1587) and Catherine des Roches (1542-1587) in the city of Poitiers. One of the first salons was the chambre bleue (blue room) established by the French hostess Madame de Rambouillet (also known as Catherine d'Angennes; 1588-1665) at her town-house in Paris in the 1630s. Devoted to literature and cultured conversation, Madame de Rambouillet's salon had a strong influence on the development of French literature. The salon became especially popular in Paris, but such gatherings were also found in Berlin, Germany; Vienna, Austria; and London, England.

Diane de Poitiers (pronounced deh pwah-tyay; 1499-1566) was a French noblewoman and mistress of King Henry II of France. She wielded considerable power during the king's reign, virtually replacing his wife, Catherine de Médicis, as queen. In 1514 Diane married Louis de Brézé, the grand sénéchal of Normandy, and had two daughters with him. Her exceptional beauty, which she maintained until late in life, gained her entry to the court of King Francis I. In 1530 she met Henry when he and his brother returned from serving as hostages in Spain for their father's ransom. After her husband's death in 1531, she became the love of Henry's life. Although she was twenty years older than Henry, he remained devoted to her until his death. She also maintained friendly relations with Catherine de Médicis.

When Henry became king in 1547, Diane received the title of the duchess of Valentinois; she also received the château (large country house) of Chenonceau. At court she was instrumental in manipulating the principal rivals for the king's favor, Anne de Montmorency (1493-1567; in this case Anne is a male name) and the family of Guise. She took the side of whichever party seemed to be most powerful at the moment. Diane also supported Henry's anti-Protestant policies. She extended patronage to the group of poets known as the Pléiade, who honored her with many laudatory poems. Her beauty and position also made her the subject of numerous artworks, including the famed Diana the Huntress attributed to the painter Jean Goujon (c. 1510-1568). The painting was placed in her second château, Anet, which had been reconstructed and was one of the highlights of mid-sixteenth-century French Renaissance culture. After Henry was killed in a jousting tournament (a game of combat with lances), Catherine de Médicis took Chenonceau away from Diane, who retired to Anet.

The salon was only one form of intellectual discussion attended by women. They were also welcomed at coffeehouses, academies, clubs, and masonic lodges (meeting places for the Free and Accepted Masons, a fraternal organization). The salon was different from these other social gatherings, however, in that it attracted a diverse range of participants and featured a varied program. It was also held in a more intimate setting, at the home of the salonnière. She presided over the conversation and set standards of etiquette (proper manners) to prevent disruptions and rivalries during the discussion. For the salonnière, the salon might serve as a means of education or a way to gain influence in society. The image of a salonnière was borrowed from such works as Il cortegiano, or The Book of the Courtier (1528), by Baldassare Castiglione (1478-1529), which defined proper manners for male and female members of the court (see "Life at court" in Chapter 11). Castiglione portrayed women as delicate, sensitive, beauteous, and selfless, and the salonnière was expected to possess these qualities. Nevertheless, the prominence of women afforded by salons was one of the most criticized aspects of these gatherings. The French writers Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) and Molière (also known as Jean-Baptiste Poqueline; 1622-1673) were the best-known critics. They lamented that placing salons in the hands of women threatened not only manly virtues but also the seriousness of intellectual work and the stability of society.

New ideas promoted

The salon was a place where writers might gain patronage for advancing their careers, either from the social elite with whom they mixed there or from the salonnière herself. Events held at a salon provided a forum for introducing new knowledge to a nonlearned audience. Authors read their writings aloud and commented on one another's work. Salons featured debates and dramatic performances and emphasized the art of conversation. Intellectual innovations and technical advances were worded in clear terms that were understandable to the nonlearned audience. This technique facilitated the transformation of new ideas into accepted ways of thinking.

The subject matter of salon discussions varied over time and from place to place. In seventeenth-century Paris, for instance, salon gatherings were devoted to refining the language and promoting style and clarity of expression. Typical topics of discussion were the nature of love, marriage, and patriarchal authority. Several literary genres originated or were developed in these social settings. Among them were the portrait, novel (a long prose story about human experiences), maxim (a wise saying), occasional verse (a poem composed for a specific occasion), and newsletter. A number of women who participated in seventeenth-century salons published their own writings, many of which incorporated themes and conversations common to salons. These authors included the poet and novelist Madeleine de Scudéry (often known as Sappho; 1607-1701) and the novelist Marie-Madeleine de La Fayette (1634-1693). Scudéry is best known for Artamène ou le Grand Cyrus (1649-53) and Clélie (1654-60). La Fayette's works included La Princesse de Montpensier (1662), Zayde (1670), and La Princesse de Clèves (1678). By the eighteenth century, however, topics pertaining to women became less popular and women engaged in intellectual discussions less frequently.

Feminists

The activities of Italian women humanists led to the beginning of the modern feminist movement. In the mid-sixteenth century feminists appeared in France. Among them was Louise Labé (c. 1524-1566), a poet who urged women to take up scholarly pursuits. Other notable feminists were Madeleine des Roches and Catherine des Roches, whose salon was known as the school of learning or academy of honor. The salon was attended by humanists who encouraged the Rocheses to pursue their studies and publish their work. Among the first feminists in England were Jane Anger, Ester Sowernam, Rachel Speght (born c. 1597), and Constantia Munda. Although these writers identified traditional spiritual virtues with women, they saw men as also being capable of such qualities. Such traditional virtues included modesty, gentleness, selflessness, and piety (holiness). Their work helped promote the concept of androgyny (having characteristics of both sexes). A number of women in London from the 1570s until the 1620s acted out their androgyny through cross-dressing (wearing men's clothes) and were often referred to as hermaphrodites (people who have both male and female reproductive organs). In January 1620 King James I (1566-1625; ruled 1603-25) ordered ministers to preach against cross-dressing in their sermons. The following month a treatise titled Hic mulier, or, The Man-Woman was published, reaffirming the idea that women have a fixed nature.

Similar radical stirrings were in the air in seventeenth-century France. Louise-Marguerite of Lorraine, princess of Conti established a salon-in-exile at her château at Eu. There she wrote her memoirs of the court of King Henry IV (1533-1610; ruled 1589-1610) and read them at her salon. She then handed the manuscript over to writers in her circle, asking them to rewrite it for publication as a novel. This practice became a pattern crucial to the early history of the French novel. The novels created at Eu used a historical setting to develop plots composed equally of political and amorous adventures. They were written by men and women alike, but a woman's name was attached to each.

In the 1620s, 1630s, and 1640s-a wartime period in France called the Fronde-the femme forte (strong woman) emerged in French literature. The femme forte was portrayed as a Christian Amazon (mythical woman warrior) fighting, hunting, shooting, and riding. She dressed like a man while engaging in these pursuits. During these years Madeleine de Scudéry published Artamène, ou le grand Cyrus, which was initially a political novel. As the Fronde ended, novels focused on intellectual matters through dialogue. The years 1653 through 1660 were important in establishing a change from the femme forte to the précieuse (woman lay intellectual). The novels of Scudéry and others chronicled the salon life of intellectual conversation.

Three Italian women also expressed strong feminist views. Lucrezia Marinella was the first female writer to confront male authorities directly. In La nobilità et l'eccellenza delle donne, co' diffetti e mancamenti de gli huomini (The nobility and excellence of women, with the defects and vices of men; 1600) she responded to I donneschi difetti (The defects of women; 1599) by Giuseppe Passi. Refuting Passi's charges that women are weak and depraved, or evil, by nature, Marinella gave examples to show that women are more virtuous than men. In a second edition of her work the following year, Marinella criticized the negative views of women portrayed by the Italian male writers Boccaccio, Sperone Speroni, Torquato Tasso, and Ercole Tasso. All of these men, she said, made assumptions about all women on the basis of the behavior of one woman. Another Italian woman writer, Moderata Fonte, published Il merito delle donne (The worth of women; 1600), in which she used the voices of seven noblewomen to document female inequality in Venice. Inequalities included no opportunities for education, mistreatment by men, and lack of access to dowries. A third Italian feminist writer was Arcangela Tarabotti (1604-1652), whose La tirannia paterna (Paternal tyranny) was published after her death as La semplicità ingannata (Innocence deceived; 1654).

In many of these texts women began to see themselves as actors who must shape their own destiny. Before the end of the seventeenth century European feminists had developed a consciousness of themselves as a group. In 1792 the English author Mary Wollstonecraft (later Mary Godwin; mother of author Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley; 1759-1797) wrote Vindication of the Rights of Woman, in which she called for equal rights and education for women. Historians note that Wollstonecraft's work would not have been possible without the efforts of her feminist forebears in the Renaissance.

Querelle des femmes

An important part of Renaissance feminism was the querelle des femmes. The phrase means "the woman question" and refers to the literary debate over the nature and status of women that began around 1500 and continued beyond the end of the Renaissance.

The German physician and philosopher Heinrich Agrippa of Nettesheim (1486-1535) brought the woman question to center stage with Declamatio de nobilitate et praecellentia foeminei sexus (Declamation on the nobility and preeminence of the female sex; 1529). He dedicated the work to Margaret of Austria, governor of the Netherlands. Since the declamation was soon translated into English, French, German, and Italian, Agrippa's ideas were repeated endlessly by a broad spectrum of writers. Arguing that women were better off in the ancient world, he reinterpreted biblical, Greek, and Roman texts to "prove" women superior to men. Agrippa reread the Bible to show, among other things, that men and women were created equal in soul and that the New Testament makes it clear that women not only prophesied (spoke as if divinely inspired) in public but also served as church leaders.

Perhaps even more controversial was Agrippa's contention that the oppression of women was based not on their biological nature but instead on social tradition. Although he did not see women as being inferior by nature, he did not advocate an expanded social role for them. Castiglione also took up the woman question, in Book Three of Book of the Courtier. While acknowledging that male sovereignty places a limit on women's freedom, he never challenged the male right to this sovereignty. Much more pro-woman was the Italian poet Ludovico Ariosto (1474-1533), who wrote Orlando Furioso (Mad Roland; 1532), which is considered the greatest epic (long) poem of the Italian Renaissance. In this work of forty-six cantos (major divisions) he raised questions about whether women can be chaste (he answered "yes" in cantos 4 and 5), whether women are morally inferior to men ("no," cantos 27 to 29), and whether men have a greater potential for depravity than women ("yes," cantos 42 and 43). Ariosto urged women to write their own history instead of depending on men to do it for them, an idea picked up in Italy by Luigi Dardano and in France by François de Billon and Guillaume Postel.

Should women be rulers?

Discussion of the woman question in England was initially based on whether women should be rulers. In 1523 the Spanish humanist Juan Luis Vives (1492-1540) wrote De institutione foeminae christianae (Instruction of a Christian woman). At the request of the queen consort Catherine of Aragon (1485-1536), Vives's work was translated from Latin by Richard Hyrde in 1540 for the guidance of her daughter Mary Tudor (future Queen Mary I). On the basis of Vives's views it was concluded that Mary should not govern because women are weak, though Hyrde tried to put Vives's work in a more positive light. In Defence of Good Women (1540) the English humanist Thomas Elyot (c. 1490-1546) argued against Vives, saying that women can rule as well as men, though they should do so only under special circumstances.

In 1558 the Protestant reformer John Knox lashed out against women rulers in First Blast of the Trumpet against the Monstrous Regiment of Women. At the time Catholic women occupied the throne in three countries-Catherine de Médicis was queen consort in France, Mary of Guise (1515-1560; regent 1554-59) was regent in Scotland, and Mary I led England. Knox's work appeared, at the time, as a Protestant, Elizabeth I, became queen of England, but he made the issue a critical one thereafter. In 1559 John Aylmer (1521-1594) responded to Knox with Harborowe for Faithfull and Trewe Subjectes. Aylmer contended that Elizabeth ruled by divine intervention-that is, God had decreed that she become queen because she was an unusually gifted woman, who possessed more intelligence and skill than other women. However, since God had specially chosen Elizabeth to rule, her reign should not be used as evidence that women should be monarchs in the future. The poet Edmund Spenser (c. 1552-1599) introduced a version of the same argument in The Faerie Queene (1590, 1596), where Elizabeth is presented as being a unique person who was chosen by God (see "Literature" in Chapter 8).

By the end of the sixteenth century, writers had concluded that virtue was the same for both men and women. The question now became how to make this equality real, and during the seventeenth century the emphasis shifted to education. The Dutch humanist Anna Maria van Schurman (1607-1678) published a tract in the form of a logical discourse titled Dissertatio de ingenii muliebris ad doctrinam et meliores litteras aptitudine (Whether a Christian woman should be educated; 1638). As the first woman to study at a Dutch university, Schurman wrote that women who had leisure time could become scholars. Nevertheless, she did not see any role for women outside the home. At the end of her life she abandoned intellectual pursuits and became involved in the Protestant reform movement.

The French writer Marie de Gournay (1565-1645), who corresponded with Schurman, took a firmer stand. In Égalité des hommes et des femmes (The equality of men and women; 1622), Gournay argued for equality of mind between men and women and asserted that if women were educated as men are, they would excel to the same degree. In a later essay, Grief des dames (The ladies' grievance; 1626), she satirized the failure of men to take women seriously and to consider them as equals in conversation. Gournay won this last argument, for in the second half of the seventeenth century social conversation between men and women was generally accepted as morally appropriate and enjoyable. One of the best-known published dialogues of the querelle was De l'egalité des deux sexes (The equality of the two sexes; 1673) by François Poulain de la Barre. It consists of a conversation in which both women and men contribute much to the discussion.

Throughout the seventeenth century, however, insistence on the subordination of women in marriage remained firm. Indeed, a major argument for Queen Elizabeth's single status was that as a ruler she governed all men but if she were to marry she would be subordinate (as wife) to her husband. Neither men nor women who participated in the querelle were able to bridge the gulf between arguments for the equality of the sexes and the subordination of women to men in the political and social arena. The conclusions and problems of the querelle established the terms and arguments of the issue for the coming centuries.

Other women writers

Italian women writers continued to make contributions in the century after Christine de Pisan's death in about 1430. Among the most acclaimed was Vittoria Colonna (1492-1547), the "literary queen" of the Italian Renaissance, who was at the center of intellectual and political developments of her day. Widowed from an unhappy and childless marriage at the age of thirty-three, Colonna spent the remaining twenty-two years of her life traveling, writing, and attracting a wide and important circle of acquaintances. The most famous was the great Italian painter Michelangolo (1475-1564; see "Renaissance Art" in Chapter 8), with whom she shared a long and fruitful correspondence. Colonna's published works consisted of books of verse that explore love in its various forms. Laura Terracina (1519-c. 1577), a contemporary of Colonna, lived a solitary life in her native Naples. From 1548 through 1561 she published moral lamentations, poems of praise for her relatives and friends, and reminiscences of her early years as a member of the Neapolitan Academy of Incogniti (The Unknowns). Most importantly, she wrote a forty-two-canto poem titled Discorso sopra it principio di tutti i canti d' Orlando furioso (Interpretation of the first cantos of Orlando furioso; 1549). Another significant writer at the time was Moderata Fonte (1555-1592). Born into the Venetian nobility, she published religious poems and musical dramas in verse. She also wrote an important four-hundred-page prose work on women before her death at the age of thirty-seven.

Marriage for Fonte and other Italian Renaissance women proved somewhat stifling to their literary achievement. This problem did not apply to courtesans, who were freer to develop their intellectual and literary capabilities. (A courtesan was a prostitute, a woman who is paid to engage in sexual intercourse, whose clients were courtiers and other wealthy or upper-class men.) Veronica Franco (1546-1591) and Gaspara Stampa (c. 1523-1554) made major contributions to Renaissance love poetry. Tullia d'Aragona (c. 1510-1556), another upper-class courtesan, also established herself as a literary figure in her own right by publishing works of lyric poetry, epistolary sonnets, and the Dialogo della infinità di amore (Dialogue on the infinity of love; 1547).

In sixteenth-century France, love was also the theme of a few women who established themselves as writers. Margaret of Navarre (1492-1549), sister to the king of France, was an important Renaissance patron. She also wrote the great collection of stories known as the Heptaméron (1558). Women writers became especially prominent in England during the seventeenth century. Among them was Margaret Cavendish (1623-1673), who displayed great versatility and skill in her writings. The most famous writer of the late Renaissance period in England was Aphra Behn (1640- 1689). She earned an independent living by her plays, songs, translations, and an epistolatory novel, many of which were dedicated to female patrons.

"Mad Madge"

The English writer and intellectual Margaret Cavendish (1623-1673) wrote in the greatest variety of genres of any women, or even men, of the late Renaissance period. She sought fame through her works, but during her own lifetime she was a social outsider. Nicknamed "Mad Madge," she was ridiculed for her self-promotion, her willingness to debate famous male thinkers, and her strong feminist views.

Cavendish was born into a wealthy family from the Colchester area. In 1643, at age twenty, she joined Queen Henrietta Maria's court in Oxford. The following year, during the English Civil War (a conflict in which rebel forces overthrew the monarchy), she accompanied the queen into exile in Paris. By 1645 she had met and married William Cavendish. The couple remained in Paris until 1660, when the monarchy was restored in England. Margaret published Poems and Fancies, the first of many works, in 1653. She went on to write about natural philosophy (natural science; the study of such fields as physics, chemistry, and biology), two volumes of plays, fantasies, essays, letters, an autobiography, and a biography of her husband. She was criticized for her lack of training-she knew no foreign languages and did not have a classical or scholarly education-and her failure to produce polished works.

Cavendish was a complex figure. While she was a strong royalist (supporter of the monarchy), she published essays and letters critical of England's social hierarchy (class structure) and royal rule. She produced radical critiques of women's low social, political, intellectual, and legal standing, yet she often described women as weak, emotional creatures dependent on the goodness and competence of men. While others saw her as privileged, she often portrayed herself as an intellectual and social outcast. In the late twentieth century her works gained serious attention from literary scholars, historians of science, women's historians, and those studying women philosophers.

Jewish scholars and writers

Jewish women had to persevere against great odds to receive an education and be admitted into literary and spiritual circles. Rabbis (Jewish spiritual leaders) expressed significant ambivalence, or mixed feelings, toward Jewish women receiving education beyond the skills necessary for managing a household. They feared that additional learning would inflame the passions of women and therefore endanger their honor. During the sixteenth century, Jewish literature about the nature of women showed many similarities to the Christian querelles des femmes discussion of the status of women. Some Italian rabbis reacted strongly against giving women greater freedom and even advocated physical punishment of disobedient wives. Rabbi Azriel Dien (died 1536) expressed the view that "over his women, every man shall be ruler to his house and rebuke his wife" ( Sheelot u-teshuvot, no. 6), making it clear that men did not always have their way.

Nevertheless, a few scholarly Jewish women emerged in sixteenth-century Italy. Among them were Diana Rieti and her sister Fioretta (Bat Sheva) Rieti Modena, who both knew the Torah (books of Jewish wisdom and law), the Talmud (Jewish traditions), the midrash (explanations of early Scripture), the works of the Jewish philosopher Maimonides (also known as Moses ben Maimon), and Kabbalah (also cabala; Jewish mysticism). Late in life they set out to live in Safed, a community of mystics in Palestine (present-day Israel), the Jewish equivalent of entering a convent. Other Jewish women served as teachers of Italian and even Hebrew to young girls, at least in the fundamentals of reading. Some Jewish women were called Rabbanit, a title of distinction for a woman who had attained a significant level of learning. They joined in rabbinic discussions and participated in healing and birthing. Educated Jewish women in Italy found opportunities to work as scribes and printers, and their contributions are preserved in the colophons (statements of publication information) of many books.

Some educated Jewish women became writers. Debora Ascarelli of Rome and Venice gained recognition for her rhymed translations of liturgical poetry from Hebrew to Italian. These works were completed in about 1537 and published in Venice in 1601 and again in 1609. It was the first publication by a Jewish woman. Another writer was Sarra Copia Sullam. She was born to a prominent Italian Jewish family in Venice and received an education that included instruction in Italian and Spanish. She gathered around her a salon of men of letters in exchange for financial backing, intellectual conversation, and brilliant letters. After being accused of denying the immortality of the soul, she sat down and in two days wrote a strong defense of her views. It was published as The Manifesto of Sarra Copia Sulam, a Jewish woman, in which she refutes and disavows the opinion denying the immortality of the soul, falsely attributed to her by Signor Baldassare Bonifaccio.

Artists

During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, European women worked in virtually every artistic field. The most numerous women artists were nuns, though they were rarely identified because they created objects and images primarily to honor God's glory. Historical records show that an extensive art industry was conducted by nuns and that convents were often artists' workshops. Nuns were cloistered (lived inside walled convents), so they learned their craft with limited outside instruction. For instance, Marguerite (or Grietkin) Scheppers, a professional limner who was not a nun, taught her art to Sister Cornelie van Wulfskerke, a Carmelite nun of Notre Dame de Sion in present-day Switzerland. (A limner was an artist who made illuminated manuscripts, that is, painted the pages of books with brilliant colors). Sister Cornelie, in turn, taught and collaborated with Sister Marguerite van Rye in illuminating missals (prayer books) and small books of music.

Another group of women artists were the daughters of artists. They learned their craft and perfected their skills under the guidance of their fathers. Among them were Deanna Mantuana, the daughter of Giovanni Batista Mantuana, and Lavinia Fontana (1552-1614), the daughter of Prospero Fontana. Mantuana learned engraving by copying her father's drawings, then used her skills to promote the architectural career of her husband, Francesco da Volterra. In 1575 she was authorized by the pope to make and market prints. Fontana came the closest to achieving professional status equal to that of male artists. Despite pressure to limit herself to painting portraits, she painted biblical stories and mythological figures.

A third category of women artists belonged to the lesser nobility (lower rank of the aristocracy). Members of the nobility-men and women alike-were discouraged, and some cases legally barred, from becoming artists because such a career was considered a form labor for the lower classes. A striking exception was Sofonisba Anguissola (c. 1535-1625). The eldest of six children, Anguissola studied painting with the Italian artists Bernardino Campi (1522-c.1591) and Bernardino Gatti. Her father promoted her career, and in 1561 she became a lady-in-waiting (court attendant) to Queen Isabella I of Castile. In addition to producing portraits of the royal family and members of the court, she instructed the queen in the art of painting.

Women and science

During the Renaissance women participated in the background of the academic world of science. By the fourteenth century the university had become an important center for scientific learning, most notably the study of writings by the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle (384- 322 b.c.) and the pursuit of learned medicine. Scholasticism (a scholarly movement devoted to combining ancient philosophy with Christian theology) had made Latin the language in which all discussions of knowledge took place (see "Scholasticism" in Chapter 1). Women were prevented from receiving formal education in Latin, so they were excluded from traditional intellectual pursuits. In addition, while there was no specific rule barring women from universities, the assumption was that the purpose of higher education was to prepare men for careers in the church or for professions such as law and medicine. The development of humanistic education outside of universities created opportunities for a few women to participate in conversations about knowledge. In northern Italy especially, learned fathers occasionally educated their daughters in Latin and Greek. Some women courtiers had access to a kind of learning equivalent to that of the university. They also enjoyed the company of physicians, philosophers, mathematicians, and engineers who increasingly came to the Renaissance courts in search of patronage for their projects.

Access to knowledge is not the same as full participation, however. While there were successful women writers and artists by the sixteenth century, it is difficult to identify any women who were known independently for their science. More typically, wives, sisters, and daughters of prominent natural scientists (astronomers, physicists, and chemists) participated fully in a scientific household. For example, the Danish nobleman and astronomer (scientist who studies planets, stars, and other heavenly bodies) Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) was assisted by his sister Sophie in observing the nova (new star) of 1572 (see "Astronomy" in Chapter 10). She also shared the secret of his elixir (medicinal remedy) to ward off the plague (an epidemic disease) and generally involved herself in scientific conversations at the Danish court. The Italian naturalist (biologist) Ulisse Aldrovandi (1522-1605) married his second wife, Francesca Fontana, for her learning as well as her dowry. She participated actively in the maintenance of his expanding natural history collection and in the preparation of his encyclopedia of nature. The English mathematician and magus (magician) John Dee (1527-1608) at times made his wife, Jane Fromond, the object of his experimental imagination, recording her menstrual cycle and reproductive activities. In all of these instances, women facilitated the work of men as part of their household responsibilities.

Midwives compete with physicians

Medicine was the one field in which Renaissance women enjoyed a greater degree of independence. Although women were not allowed to practice as physicians and surgeons, many communities relied on women healers for medicinal and herbal knowledge. In some instances, prominent practitioners (unlicensed physicians) such as the French midwife (one who assists in childbirth) Louise Bourgeois (1563-1636) circulated pamphlets about their treatment methods. They demonstrated that their experience rivaled academic knowledge of the human body.

Throughout the Renaissance many women became successful and sought-after midwives. Midwifery was more often practiced as a skill than as a trade or profession, but it was also a form of community service, particularly in more rural areas. The primary attendant at a birth might be an experienced and skilled midwife who had served an apprenticeship under a senior midwife. She could also be a friend, neighbor, or family member with some experience in these matters. Records indicate that on the European continent from the fourteenth century onward, midwives were employed by some municipalities to ensure care for their female residents. Midwives often testified as expert witnesses in matters of rape, abortion, infanticide (killing of infants), and illegitimacy, and verified the pregnancy claims of female prisoners standing trial.

Midwifery was first licensed and regulated in the towns of southern-Germany during the fifteenth century. Examinations were administered by a committee of physicians or women of high social standing as part of the licensing process. The growing web of regulations reflected a greater concern with the moral, rather than technical, qualifications of the midwife. These regulations often defined the midwife's place in the medical profession. For example, midwives were banned from prescribing drugs or performing surgery, and they were required to call for a learned physician in difficult cases. The movement to limit the activities of midwives came at approximately the same time that prosecutions for witchcraft (the use of magic to control evil forces) were occurring in Europe (see " Malleus Maleficarum triggers witch hunts" in Chapter 7). Some historians believe that midwives came under suspicion because they possessed what some considered to be dangerous knowledge associated with witches, specifically the use of herbal remedies that inhibited conception (becoming pregnant) and induced abortion (expelling a fetus from the womb). Nevertheless, examinations of trial records have shown that midwives appeared more often as expert witnesses than victims in witchcraft trials.

The practice of midwifery began to decline in the sixteenth century, primarily because male physicians were trying to establish medicine as a legitimate profession for themselves. They wrote numerous books in which they attacked midwives as being ignorant and making "popular errors"-that is, practicing outside the academic community. By the seventeenth century physicians were replacing midwives as experts in the delivery of babies.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
women in the renaissance and reformationseveral questions arise when describing the condition of european women in the renaissance: did their social or economic condition improve? did they gain greater access to power? were they able to express themselves in different ways than in the middle ages? finally

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Women in the Renaissance and Reformation

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Women in the Renaissance and ReformationSeveral questions arise when describing the condition of European women in the Renaissance: Did their social or economic condition improve? Did they gain greater access to power? Were they able to express themselves in different ways than in the Middle Ages? Finally, was there a Renaissance for women?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
It has been happening to women since the dawn of time and yet during the Tudor age it was rarely spoken about. The monthly curse, flowering, coming of age, a period, a woman's menstruation goes by many names yet how did women during the Tudor age handle their cycles without the modern day use of sanitary napkins or in some cases pain killers? (And lots of chocolate!)

During this time in history a woman's period was considered to be a punishment from God for Eve's temptation in the Garden of Eden. In Leviticus in the Bible it states that a woman who has her menstruation is impure and unclean. As a result, the Church dictated that women were not allowed to take any form of pain killer during their period as they had to suffer the cramps and pain given to them by God. Despite this order from the Church, women of the time did use a variety of herbs to help relieve any pain they had associated with menstruation. These remedies were often passed down via word of mouth. The Church also dictated that women should refrain from taking the Holy Communion while they were menstruating.

There were also many wild and what we would consider nowadays to be quite ridiculous beliefs about menstrual blood. Some people of the age believed that a woman's menstrual blood was dangerous, even poisonous and that it could do a man's penis harm. Some also believed that if a child was born from having sexual intercourse while a woman was menstruating then the child would be born with red hair and could even be deformed. These beliefs were not held by everyone of the time and did not always put people off having sexual intercourse. What happened within the home was often different than what the Church dictated!

Yet what did people understand of menstruation during the Tudor age? A woman's reproductive cycle and genitals were seen to be imperfect versions of the male sexual organs. A woman's sexual organs were turned inwards, inside of their body. A woman's internal body was considered to be cold and wet while a man's was dry and hot and thus a woman needed the dry hot seed of a man to balance her. This of course could only come from her husband as sex outside of marriage was strictly forbidden by the Church. A woman's monthly bleeding, otherwise known as "courses", was believed to be the womb ridding itself of excess blood. If this did not happen the womb could become overrun with blood and could possibly drown the woman .While these ideas may seem quite preposterous nowadays one must keep in mind that we have hundreds of years of medical research and changing ideas of the roles of men and women that have educated us on all things to do with the female body. During the Tudor period, women were considered to be imperfect reflections of men and inferior to men.

The onset of menstruation for many young women during the age was considered to be the time in which a young girl transformed from a child into a woman. It is interesting to note that the age of consent for the time, approximately 12 - 14 years also coincided with the average onset of menstruation. Women who did not have regular periods or failed to have a period were considered to be too much like a man and there were several remedies used to help bring about a woman's period. These included hot baths, herbs placed up into the vagina or drinking herbs such as rue which was believed to bring on a woman's monthly menstruation. Katherine of Aragon, Henry VIII's first wife, suffered from irregular periods and this was believed to be due to her excessive fasting and religious dedication which affected her monthly cycles.

The age old question remains, how did women of the time cope with their monthly periods without the use of tampons or sanitary napkins? The most common form of sanitary item was the use of rags. These were pieces of cloth that were bundled together and placed between the legs up against the vagina. These of course would soak up the blood and hopefully stop any unforseen stains. Another form was the use of cotton or wool instead of cloth rags. Depending on a person's status and access to material these rags may have had to have been washed and reused. Unfortunately there is little evidence to suggest how these rags or pieces of wool were held in place, although it has been suggested that women of the age wore some form of girdle or rough underwear.

Another note that should be pointed out is that one of the primary functions of a woman during the time was to bear children. If a woman was pregnant regularly this would have reduced the amount of times she menstruated. For example, Thomas Boleyn, father of Anne Boleyn, wrote that "When I married I had only £50 [nearly £25 00] a year to live on for me and my wife, as long as my father lived, and yet she brought me every year a child" (Weir 2011, p. 11). Being pregnant for nine months out of every year would have meant that Elizabeth Boleyn would have experienced only a few "courses" each year.

Although menstruation was a taboo subject during the Tudor age it was an everyday and very common occurrence. All girls of the time expected to get their period and as such it was believed when they did that they had come of age and that they had the capability to conceive. A woman's ability to conceive was vital to the furtherment of a family line and thus, although often not spoken about, the menstrual cycle was a very important part of Tudor society.

You can also see a Claire Chats video on Menstruation in Tudor times - click here.
Sarah Bryson is the author of Mary Boleyn: In a Nutshell. She is a researcher, writer and educator who has a Bachelor of Early Childhood Education with Honours and currently works with children with disabilities. Sarah is passionate about Tudor history and has a deep interest in Mary Boleyn, Anne Boleyn, the reign of Henry VIII and the people of his court. Visiting England in 2009 furthered her passion and when she returned home she started a website, queentohistory.com, and Facebook page about Tudor history. Sarah lives in Australia, enjoys reading, writing, Tudor costume enactment and wishes to return to England one day.
Notes and Sources

Hindson, Bethan (2009) 'Attitudes towards menstruation and menstrual blood in Elizabethan England', Journal of Social History, http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Attitudes+towards+menstruation+and+menstrual+blood+in+Elizabethan...-a0209577950.

Licence, Amy (2012) To Bring on the Flowers: Medieval Women Menstruating, viewed 16th April 2014 http://authorherstorianparent.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/to-bring-on-flowers-medieval-women.html.

Medieval Lives: Birth, Marriage and Death 2013, BBC Scotland.

Weir, Alison (2008) Henry VIII King and Court, Vintage Books, London.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Menstruation in the Tudor period by Sarah Bryson - The Tudor Society

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
It has been happening to women since the dawn of time and yet during the Tudor age it was rarely spoken about. The monthly curse, flowering, coming of age, a period, a woman's menstruation goes by many names yet how did women during the Tudor age handle their cycles without the modern day use of sanitary napkins or in some cases pain killers?

# data[].attributes.body
The only recorded feminist of the renaissance period who believed women should be barons. Good to know at least someone was looking out for us!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Feminism Was Alive in Renaissance England, Researcher Says

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A newly transcribed text shows that some Renaissance women launched battles for equality, and sometimes won.

# data[].attributes.body
During the Renaissance, they were bathing in public, on the few occasions that they did bathe. They believed that bathing exposed the body to diseases, so it wasn't really common. They also still didn't have a means of discarding human waste, so you can imagine the smell. TH

# data[].attributes.body
Fashion represented someone's financial status, some lower class individuals were not allowed to wear certain things such as fur. The most wealthy woman would wear up to 5 layers of clothing, again as many articles of clothing you had on showed your wealth. Men and women fashion followed the idea "bigger is better".

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
Medieval and Renaissance Costumes, Clothing and Accessories

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
A Short Guide to Renaissance Style

Modern fashionistas might be obsessed with clothing labels and the clothes you wear do make a statement about your social class but this is no new phenomenon. Going back as far as the Renaissance period, Renaissance attire was an immediate indicator of your station in life. Much like today, the more opulent and adorned your clothing, the higher your social status.

When you are deciding what Renaissance attire to wear to your next festival, there are a few important points to remember to ensure that your clothing looks authentic.

Renaissance Style for Women

Because clothing was a reflection of wealth and social standing, wealthy women during the Renaissance wore elaborate outfits, often adorned with jewels. In some countries, including Italy and England, the upper class were allowed to wear just about anything they wished, while the lower classes were limited in the colors and materials they could wear; for example, peasant women were prohibited from wearing fur in Renaissance England.

The overall silhouette for womens fashion during the Renaissance period was long, flowing dresses with high waists, and long, puffy sleeves. Sleeve styles evolved during the period, with the funnel or trumpet-style sleeve (narrow at the top and wide at the bottom) becoming popular in some areas. Most women dressed in multiple layers, with the wealthiest women wearing as many as five layers of clothing. The top layer, the kirtle, was a tight bodice finished with a long, flowing skirt. Kirtles tended to be adorned with elaborate embroidery, often in silver or gold thread, and precious gems like sapphires and pearls.

Lower-class women wore less-elaborate dresses, in the same silhouette, but with fewer layers and less ornamentation. They also did not generally wear the restrictive collars preferred by upper-class women, and tended to wear simpler head coverings, including half-bonnets, berets, or veils.

Renaissance Style for Men

The overarching theme of mens fashion in the Renaissance period was bigger is better. Much like the women, elaborate Renaissance attire indicated a higher social status, and garments were designed to make men look bigger. That translated to puffy-shouldered shirts and jackets topped with capes and wide-hipped, knee-length pants worn over tights, with wide-toed shoes. A hat was a must, with most men choosing some type of brimmed cap. As far as adornments, feathers were the accessory of choice for men, with large plumes often festooned upon hats

Throughout the Renaissance period, hairstyles for men went in and out of favor. At times, long hair and a clean-shaven face was the fashionable choice, while at other times short hair and pointy beards were in style. Depending on which period youre trying to capture, your hairstyle choice can vary.

Specific Renaissance attire styles vary according to country and the specific period of the Renaissance era. With these general guidelines, though, you should be able to start looking for the perfect costume for your event.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Modern fashionistas might be obsessed with clothing labels and the clothes you wear do make a statement about your social class but this is no new phenomenon. Going back as far as the Renaissance period, Renaissance attire was an immediate indicator of your station in life.

# data[].attributes.body
While the Renaissance is regarded as a revolution of an era for all, the lives of women still have not changed much compared to Medieval times. Pretty much a woman’s only options were to be a lower class worker, attempt to influence politics or the arts as a wife, or receive some agency & education by becoming a nun -RG

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
When it came to the elite classes, women had more opportunities to attain a somewhat equal footing with men, even if only on an intellectual level. Lucrezia Borgia is a prime example of this and, perhaps, the most well-known woman of the Italian Renaissance thanks to contemporary media. She enjoyed a privileged status as an elite in a time of cultural revival under humanistic values. This article will not focus on a specific personality such as Lucrezia but instead will try to offer a general image of the role of women in the Italian Renaissance from the 14th to the 17th century. However, it will focus on women from all social classes, as intellectual equality was not the case for lower-class women whose roles didn't change that much compared to the medieval period.

The Role of Women in the Italian Renaissance

Even though the Renaissance is considered a period of universal rebirth, the role of women in the Italian Renaissance did not change too drastically compared with the Middle Ages. Oddly enough, the mentioned universal rebirth doesn't seem to touch the status of women that much, as their rights remained still few for contemporary standards.

The livelihood of women in the Italian Renaissance depended much on their social status. If they were peasants, they worked the fields together with their husbands and took care of the household. If they were the wives of middle-class merchants, they would run the business with their husbands and also take care of the house. Lastly, if they were of a higher status, their life would revolve solely around the household. They would fill their time with activities related to domestic life such as sewing, entertaining, and cooking. Despite their difference in status, all of these women depended on a certain household, a recurring theme throughout the Renaissance when it comes to the role of women.

Italian Renaissance: Changes and Exceptions

As with every historical period and context, change can happen little by little. Therefore, although there weren't many drastic changes in the role of women during this era, small steps towards gender equality enabled certain women to enjoy a new lifestyle.

What indeed changed to some extent during the Renaissance, especially in Italy, was the fact that women were able to distinguish themselves as art patrons, writers, orators, and generally women of intellect. However, this occurred only when a woman was given the circumstances and chances to do so. Thus, from this perspective, the role of women went beyond that related to the household.

Moreover, some influential wives influenced politics, the economy, and culture through their own interventions. Beyond marriage, women could become accomplished in an untraditional way: women could be nuns, receiving a humanistic education, or courtesans who would live a luxurious life involving a certain level of intellectualism. An interesting constant for the Italian Renaissance is that the intellect became a weapon for women who could use it to their advantage in various ways.

Marriage During the Italian Renaissance

Because of the political instability that engulfed most Italian city-states, marriage was often used as a political asset among influential families. While merchants and peasants were not necessarily constrained to marry into a certain family, the stakes were higher for aristocrats. Fathers would marry off their daughters in order to preserve property and lineage but also to gain favor or put an end to a conflict between families.

Most of the time, lineages were loosely defined, and the institution of marriage was influenced by political, demographic, and economic factors. However, because the Renaissance returned to the values of classical antiquity, society again turned to the Roman concept that defines the father of the family as patria potestas, emphasizing his power over the other members. Due to this context, the traditional role of women to bear children became weaponized in Renaissance Italy as it could determine the political power of an entire family lineage. For example, the Florentine Monte delle doti, established in 1425 as an investment fund, was a mechanism to assist families in affording to give large dowries while also functioning as a war fund against Milan. Thus, women and marriage were seen as a type of currency.

The Renaissance Perspective on Family

The Italian Renaissance perspective on the family was closely tied to its legal framework. However, Italy had a fragmented and inconsistent legal framework for marriage alongside the Roman common law ( Ius commune). This resulted in an unfavorable context for women as the legal framework failed to support or protect them properly due to its inconsistencies. Inside aristocratic and noble families, the primogeniture, or the firstborn son, was seen as the one to inherit everything, as women did not qualify and were therefore dependable to the male head of the family.

Reputation was a powerful concept in the Italian Renaissance, as it could bring down an entire house if it weren't favorable. Reputations often depended on the behavior of the women from a certain family, meaning that the male members of the family were seen as responsible for guarding the purity and innocence of the women, all to preserve the family's well being. This can be noticed even from the well-known portrait of Battista Sforza and his wife, where her manner and apparel show modesty and docility. The humanistic dialogues On The Family by Leon Battista Alberti and On Wifely Duties by Francesco Barbero indicate that family prevailed as a social institution in a time when political and social instability was common.

Women at Home, and Other Familial Perspectives

As previously mentioned, a woman's life was ultimately bound to the house, and the Renaissance household interiors came to reflect the fact that women spent most of their lives indoors. The interiors and the ways in which they functioned testify that the role of women didn't change drastically in the Renaissance. Today, this can be seen thanks to the Victoria and Albert Museum's 2006 exhibition, At Home in Renaissance Italy, which turned the focus on Renaissance interiors as a way to search the societal role of women in marriage and motherhood. The exhibition featured the cassone (a marriage chest) and the desca di parto (a birth tray to provide refreshments for new mothers) as a way to portray the women's domestic role that can be noticed through the furniture and its uses.

Another element that greatly influenced the fate of Italian women was the regional perspective on family. Fifteenth-century Sicilian nobility, for example, embraced consanguineous marriages (union between second cousins) to improve landholding, influence, and kinship ties, while Florentines preferred endogamous marriages (union within the same social or familial group) to protect "national" identity. A famous example of the endogamous Florentine preference is that of Cosimo de' Medici, who opted for a strategic marriage match in order to heal political rifts with the Bardi family but also to gain prestige and influence in Florence through the union.

Interestingly, after 1550, Italian favored patrilineality, the practice of endogamous marriages between elite families, and the exclusion of the daughters with dowries from the inheritance, all to favor agnatic kinship (tracing one's ancestors through males only). These different perspectives illustrate how a family's view can drastically affect the role of women inside both family and society, impacting their rights and personal lives through marriage.

The Role of Women in the Renaissance Courts

The rivalry between courts acted as a motor that pushed towards showcasing feminine culture and grace. This context placed value on the education of courtly women so they could become pawns in a race between competing dynasties. Due to the fragmentary state of Italy, it is hard to categorize the rivalries by region or rule. Still, a cultural and political rift between the northern towns and the southern ones is visible. In this way, Florentine and Venetian women seem to have been more modest than their neighbors, as they were literate only in the vernacular and could not write.

Courts played an important part as they pushed the role of women even further, making them masters of rhetoric, writing, and classical literacy skills, but also artistic skills in music and dance. The female protagonists of courts included prince consorts, noblewomen, ladies-in-waiting, young female intellectuals, and courtesans.

For example, the wife of a dynastic prince would receive a thorough humanistic education so she could rule by proxy if her military husband was absent or died and also potentially act as regent for their son. Another example is that of Battista da Montefeltro, an educated Urbino woman who was the first Italian woman to give a speech in Latin. Moreover, she supported politically her poorly-equipped husband and even became a diplomatic leader of Pesaro.

Opportunities For Women During the Italian Renaissance

There were three possible paths for the women of the Italian Renaissance: they could be either "nun, wife, or whore," as described by the courtesan Nanna, the protagonist of Ragionamento from Aretino's dialoghi puttaneschi (whore's dialogues). There existed two types of nuns: educated, dowried nuns ( professe) who wrote music, taught, wrote, made art and textiles, and servant nuns ( converse) who cooked, cleaned, and did manual work. Many of the educated nuns were of aristocratic origins as their families preferred to send them to convents instead of gathering large dowries that they couldn't afford.

As wealthy wives, women were able to influence the arts and become patrons. Even though there were few well-known female artists of the Italian Renaissance today, the most notable being Artemisia Gentileschi, women still commissioned paintings, statues, and buildings. However, this came with certain conditions. It was seen as ideologically inappropriate for women to commission public art, and art destined for courts and households had to be within gender expectations and respect court hierarchy.

Moreover, the role of women was expanded through writing, particularly amongst the upper classes. The Italian Renaissance saw several female writers emerge as a consequence of the humanistic education of girls; Vittoria Colonna, Marquess of Pescara, is a great example, as she achieved prominence in spiritual poetry that influenced the beliefs of the neighboring cities.

In sum, the role of some women during the Italian Renaissance seems to have developed and grown, but this was predominantly in elite groups where women were granted more opportunities thanks to their humanistic education. For many common women, their lives retained a more traditional and medieval look, without much improvement in their rights.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Role of Women During the Italian Renaissance

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Italian Renaissance brought a period of significant change to many aspects of philosophy, art, science, and daily life, including the role of women in Italian society.

# data[].attributes.body
Johannes Gutenberg wanted to be able to produce identical copies of books rather than being handwritten. Around 1430, he set up a space to create these. LG

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
At the turn of the 15th century printing was still an artisan's profession, making woodcarvings and manually transferring images onto textiles, parchment, or paper by hand. Document and records were copied by hand, even books were handwritten by scribes taking, a year or more to produce and, since even the most skilled of scribes made mistakes, no two texts were the same.

These publications, bibles mostly, were expensive, only a few of the wealthiest of the wealthy could afford such luxury.

Johannes Gutenberg was born into this era in 1400 A.D. in the German city of Mainz on the River Rhine, just north of Strasbourg. He had worked as a goldsmith in his youth, gaining an understanding of engraving and metallurgy, two ingredients he would use to invent modern typography.

Gutenberg wanted to do the impossible, print books, books identical to one another and to do this, not by hand but in volume by machine. Around 1430 A.D. he sold his idea to a group of venture capitalists, hired a few guild members and set up a workshop on an island on the Rhine, near Strasbourg far from prying eyes. Sound all too familiar doesn't it?

As a goldsmith, Johannes Gutenberg was skilled at both engraving and metallurgy. He developed a concoction of lead, tin and antimony to create an alloy that would melt at low temperatures then, casting from engraved masters, he created type characters that could be arranged freely in a chase to make printed pages. Gutenberg took his development of movable type integrating it with stable printing paper and new oil based inks to invent the first functioning printing press. The integration of these technologies made reproducing books in reasonable quantities affordable for their time. Thus the industry we know today; began on a small island on the Rhine River in 1439 A.D. with the printing of the Gutenberg Bible.

Gutenberg was a perfectionist and as such wanted his bible to be printed on velum, the premium substrate of the day. Logistics and economics would prevent this from happening, only a few of the books were printed in velum, the remaining of the run of 180 copies of the 1,200 page bible were printed on paper. It took two years to complete the press run. Amazingly, forty-eight of those books remain in existence today.

Gutenberg's printing process continues to be used today (the platen press), surpassed in historic importance only by the invention of the wheel. The printing press' influence on society is difficult to express. Gutenberg's Bible is the first mass produced product in history. In the fifty years following, twenty million books were printed, and libraries formed, Information and ideas were be printed and distributed around the world without dilution due to interpretation, democratizing education and advancing humanistic and scientific studies. The printing press gave birth to the renaissance period of history, a period of intellectual and creative innovation that shaped the modern world. Shakespeare, Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Columbus and Marco Polo are among many others that graced this period in history.

Bio: Stan Carmichael is a photographer by trade who found his way into the pre-press automation business from 1981 through 2005. During this time he directed Canadian sales and customer service efforts for a variety of pre-press technology manufacturers including Crosfield, Indigo, and Xeikon.

Stan remains active in the graphics industry providing sales mentoring and coaching to select individuals as well as sales and marketing consultation to technology suppliers.
Image Source: NYC Wanderer (Kevin Eng), CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
At the turn of the 15th century printing was still an artisan's profession, making woodcarvings and manually transferring images onto textiles, parchment, or paper by hand.

# data[].attributes.body
It seems to me like they ate pretty good during this time. Obviously the wealthy and upper classes had it better, but even the lower class was on track to eating better food than they had in the past. TH

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Lynn Dattler
New York, New York, United States

La Merienda. Luis Egidio Melendez (1716-1780).

The period of the Renaissance in Europe was a time of great upheavals, of changes in how people thought and acted, and after the return of Columbus' sailors from America, in how and what they ate. For most people, bread remained the food of choice. The upper classes preferred processed white bread made of flour, but lower class people ate brown bread made of wheat bran, sometimes with added rye, beans, and chestnuts. Rice was also eaten and was grown chiefly in Lombardy. In the south of Europe the people ate porridge and millet, used olive oil, and drank wine, often mixed with their water for fear of contracting disease. Northern Europeans preferred beer, ale, and cider; and used butter rather than olive oil. The lower classes consumed beans, cabbage, garlic, grains, vegetables, and onions. Peaches and melons were eaten mostly at court. Salads were also served, made with lettuce, watercress, radicchio, onions, raisins, and olives; also with artichokes, asparagus, broccoli, cabbage, spinach, carrots, cauliflower, eggplant, fava beans, and fennel.

For meat and milk people raised cows, goats, pigs, and sheep. They ate chickens, duck, and geese; hunted wild birds; and preserved pork by making ham and sausage so it could last all year round. Pork was often made with mustard, a condiment, or a sour sauce. Game meats, poultry, and fish were the standard meats. Peacocks were also used but eventually were replaced by turkey.

In the Baltic and Mediterranean regions, the people ate fish: sardines, cod, anchovies, salmon, and batargo (tuna belly). Porpoise and whale were delicacies. Parsley, dill, sage, oregano, and mustard were widely used by cooks, as were pepper, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and ginger. Sugar was considered a spice and was used mainly by the rich because it was costly. Many of these spices, such as chili peppers, were brought from America by Christopher Columbus, as were tomatoes, potatoes, corn (also called maize), chocolate, turkey, squash, and beans; also coffee, chocolate, and tea. Asparagus, carrots, and potatoes were the vegetables used the most during this time. Fruits were mostly used in marmalades. Sauces were made with fruit and plants and were thickened with bread, flour, almonds, or eggs. Tomatoes took centuries to catch on and were mostly used as a garnish.

During Lent, Christians often did not eat meat, butter, or eggs, but during the preceding carnival they would bend the rules and eat fish. Alcohol was consumed and used in cooking even though a sin. Mothers prepared ale for their children. Priests used wine during services.

The first cookbook during the Renaissance was On Right Pleasure, published in 1475. It was followed by the German Kuchenmeystery (1485), the English Boke of Cookery (1500), and the Italian Cookbook (1525). Another big seller was Opera Works, published in 1570 by Bartolomeo Scappi, chef to Pope Pius V. In 1549, a recipe book called Banquets was written by a family member of the House of Este of Ferrara, Italy, designed to be used at court.

After the fall of Constantinople to the Turks, many students and scholars moved to Italy and worked in the best publishing houses in Florence and Venice. There were also many other books dealing with food. Haly Abbas, a medieval Persian author, made a distinction between remedial food and pure food and considered that remedial food (lettuce, onion, garlic) could be beneficial. Ken Albala, author of Eating Right in the Renaissance, wrote that diet books had forbidden eating cakes and other sweets and were considered gluttonous. Onions, garlic, and leeks were also recommended, especially for journeymen and barbers.

At court the ruling families held sumptuous banquets. At the House of Este in Ferrara, they used two-tined forks and crystal glasses made in Murano, Venice. Dozens of courses were served, and saffron was used because of its golden color. Pastas such as spaghetti, tagliatelle, ravioli, tortellini, and agnollotti were the favorites, cooked in broth and served with butter, parmigiano cheese, and cinnamon. Usually two meals were prepared per day, the comestio and the prandium. At banquets given for the upper class the guests ate with their fingers, washing their hands in a basin before meals and using napkins to clean their hands. In between courses, people enjoyed concerts, dancing, and plays. The soups served at such banquets were rich and expensive, often with added sugar, pomegranate seeds, and aromatic herbs, and sometimes included mustard, hemp-seed, millet, and verjuice. The French were big soup eaters at that time and claimed to know seventy variations.

In some instances wheat gruel was added to the soups along with milk and eggs and called fromentee. Wheat, along with gravy from meat, was a base for soup. Barley soup was commonly consumed. The meat generally consumed at banquets was sirloin beef. The roast meat was boiled, then basted with orange juice, rosewater, sugar, and spices. The salads served were made of vegetables and herbs, with added liver and brains of poultry, often followed by fish, either fried or sometimes sliced with eggs. Sometimes, the fish and eggs were reduced to a pulp called carpee, sometimes boiled in water or wine and strong seasoning. Dishes of eggs prepared various ways were served as a side dish.

Some types of cheese were made from cream, and peasant women from Montreuil and Vicennes brought them to Paris in small wicker baskets sprinkled with sugar. Parmesan cheese became popular in France when Charles VIII returned from his military expedition to Naples in southern Italy.

For centuries to come, and ever to the present time, Italian and French fare have remained the dominant cuisines on the European continent.

References

1. Albala, Ken. Eating Right in the Renaissance. (2002). University of California Press.

2. Bramen, Lisa. "The History of Health Food, Part 2 Medieval and Renaissance Periods." (2009). https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/the-history-of-health-food-part-2-medieval-and-renaissance-periods-70192474/.

3. Costa, Leopoldo. "Stravaganza." (2012). https://stravaganzastravaganza.blogspot.com/

4. Lawrence, Alexandra. "Renaissance Mealtimes." (2015). http://exploreflorence.net/2015/10/renaissance-mealtimes/.

5. Lyons, Albert S. "The Renaissance" (2018). https://www.healthguidance.org/entry/6347/1/the-renaissance.html

6. Real, Nancy Delucia. "How to Eat Like a Renaissance Courtier." (2015). http://blogs.getty.edu/iris/how-to-eat-like-a-renaissance-courtier/.

7. Renaissance-spell.com. "Renaissance Food." (2011). http://exploreflorence.net/2015/10/renaissance-mealtimes/.

8. Witt, Victor Dane H. "The Renaissance Period and Renaissance Cuisine at Its Best." (2012). https://ccrenfaire.com/renaissance_food/.

LYNN DATTLER is an actress, contract worker, and recreational writer. She has worked for a financial firm, for fundraising events, and trade shows. Her poem "Time Passes" was displayed on the homepage of Poetrysoup.com in June 2018.

Summer 2018 | Sections | Food

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Eating and drinking during the Renaissance - Hektoen International

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Lynn Dattler New York, New York, United States La Merienda. Luis Egidio Melendez (1716-1780). The period of the Renaissance in Europe was a time of great upheavals, of changes in how people thought and acted, and after the return of Columbus' sailors from America, in how and what they a ...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
When Was Leonardo da Vinci Born?

Da Vinci was born in Anchiano, Tuscany (now Italy), in 1452, close to the town of Vinci that provided the surname we associate with him today. In his own time he was known just as Leonardo or as "Il Florentine," since he lived near Florence-and was famed as an artist, inventor and thinker.

Did you know? Leonardo da Vinci's father, an attorney and notary, and his peasant mother were never married to one another, and Leonardo was the only child they had together. With other partners, they had a total of 17 other children, da Vinci's half-siblings.

Da Vinci's parents weren't married, and his mother, Caterina, a peasant, wed another man while da Vinci was very young and began a new family. Beginning around age 5, he lived on the estate in Vinci that belonged to the family of his father, Ser Peiro, an attorney and notary. Da Vinci's uncle, who had a particular appreciation for nature that da Vinci grew to share, also helped raise him.

Early Career

Da Vinci received no formal education beyond basic reading, writing and math, but his father appreciated his artistic talent and apprenticed him at around age 15 to the noted sculptor and painter Andrea del Verrocchio of Florence. For about a decade, da Vinci refined his painting and sculpting techniques and trained in mechanical arts.

When he was 20, in 1472, the painters' guild of Florence offered da Vinci membership, but he remained with Verrocchio until he became an independent master in 1478. Around 1482, he began to paint his first commissioned work, The Adoration of the Magi, for Florence's San Donato, a Scopeto monastery.

However, da Vinci never completed that piece, because shortly thereafter he relocated to Milan to work for the ruling Sforza clan, serving as an engineer, painter, architect, designer of court festivals and, most notably, a sculptor.

The family asked da Vinci to create a magnificent 16-foot-tall equestrian statue, in bronze, to honor dynasty founder Francesco Sforza. Da Vinci worked on the project on and off for 12 years, and in 1493 a clay model was ready to display. Imminent war, however, meant repurposing the bronze earmarked for the sculpture into cannons, and the clay model was destroyed in the conflict after the ruling Sforza duke fell from power in 1499.

'The Last Supper'

Although relatively few of da Vinci's paintings and sculptures survive-in part because his total output was quite small-two of his extant works are among the world's most well-known and admired paintings.

The first is da Vinci's "The Last Supper," painted during his time in Milan, from about 1495 to 1498. A tempera and oil mural on plaster, "The Last Supper" was created for the refectory of the city's Monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie. Also known as "The Cenacle," this work measures about 15 by 29 feet and is the artist's only surviving fresco. It depicts the Passover dinner during which Jesus Christ addresses the Apostles and says, "One of you shall betray me."

One of the painting's stellar features is each Apostle's distinct emotive expression and body language. Its composition, in which Jesus is centered among yet isolated from the Apostles, has influenced generations of painters.

'Mona Lisa'

When Milan was invaded by the French in 1499 and the Sforza family fled, da Vinci escaped as well, possibly first to Venice and then to Florence. There, he painted a series of portraits that included "La Gioconda," a 21-by-31-inch work that's best known today as "Mona Lisa." Painted between approximately 1503 and 1506, the woman depicted-especially because of her mysterious slight smile-has been the subject of speculation for centuries.

In the past she was often thought to be Mona Lisa Gherardini, a courtesan, but current scholarship indicates that she was Lisa del Giocondo, wife of Florentine merchant Francisco del Giocondo. Today, the portrait-the only da Vinci portrait from this period that survives-is housed at the Louvre Museum in Paris, France, where it attracts millions of visitors each year.

Around 1506, da Vinci returned to Milan, along with a group of his students and disciples, including young aristocrat Francesco Melzi, who would be Leonardo's closest companion until the artist's death. Ironically, the victor over the Duke Ludovico Sforza, Gian Giacomo Trivulzio, commissioned da Vinci to sculpt his grand equestrian-statue tomb. It, too, was never completed (this time because Trivulzio scaled back his plan). Da Vinci spent seven years in Milan, followed by three more in Rome after Milan once again became inhospitable because of political strife.

Inventions and Philosophy

Da Vinci's interests ranged far beyond fine art. He studied nature, mechanics, anatomy, physics, architecture, weaponry and more, often creating accurate, workable designs for machines like the bicycle, helicopter, submarine and military tank that would not come to fruition for centuries. He was, wrote Sigmund Freud, "like a man who awoke too early in the darkness, while the others were all still asleep."

Several themes could be said to unite da Vinci's eclectic interests. Most notably, he believed that sight was mankind's most important sense and that "saper vedere" ("knowing how to see") was crucial to living all aspects of life fully. He saw science and art as complementary rather than distinct disciplines, and thought that ideas formulated in one realm could-and should-inform the other.

Probably because of his abundance of diverse interests, da Vinci failed to complete a significant number of his paintings and projects. He spent a great deal of time immersing himself in nature, testing scientific laws, dissecting bodies (human and animal) and thinking and writing about his observations.

Da Vinci's Notebooks

At some point in the early 1490s, da Vinci began filling notebooks related to four broad themes-painting, architecture, mechanics and human anatomy-creating thousands of pages of neatly drawn illustrations and densely penned commentary, some of which (thanks to left-handed "mirror script") was indecipherable to others.

The notebooks-often referred to as da Vinci's manuscripts and "codices"-are housed today in museum collections after having been scattered after his death. The Codex Atlanticus, for instance, includes a plan for a 65-foot mechanical bat, essentially a flying machine based on the physiology of the bat and on the principles of aeronautics and physics.

Other notebooks contained da Vinci's anatomical studies of the human skeleton, muscles, brain, and digestive and reproductive systems, which brought new understanding of the human body to a wider audience. However, because they weren't published in the 1500s, da Vinci's notebooks had little influence on scientific advancement in the Renaissance period.

How Did Leonardo da Vinci Die?

Da Vinci left Italy for good in 1516, when French ruler Francis I generously offered him the title of "Premier Painter and Engineer and Architect to the King," which afforded him the opportunity to paint and draw at his leisure while living in a country manor house, the Château of Cloux, near Amboise in France.

Although accompanied by Melzi, to whom he would leave his estate, the bitter tone in drafts of some of his correspondence from this period indicate that da Vinci's final years may not have been very happy ones. (Melzi would go on to marry and have a son, whose heirs, upon his death, sold da Vinci's estate.)

Da Vinci died at Cloux (now Clos-Lucé) in 1519 at age 67. He was buried nearby in the palace church of Saint-Florentin. The French Revolution nearly obliterated the church, and its remains were completely demolished in the early 1800s, making it impossible to identify da Vinci's exact gravesite.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Leonardo da Vinci: Facts, Paintings & Inventions - HISTORY

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Leonardo da Vinci-architect, inventor, scientist and painter of the 'Mona Lisa' and 'The Last Supper'-was a major figure of the Italian Renaissance.