The Education of a Christian Woman

Last updated

The Education (or Instruction) of a Christian Woman was an early sixteenth-century book by Juan Luis Vives, written for the education of the future Mary I of England, precocious daughter of Henry VIII. [1] Written in 1523, the book was originally published in Latin with the title of De Institutione Feminae Christianae and was dedicated to Catherine of Aragon. The work was translated into English by Richard Hyrde around 1529 becoming then known by the title Instruction of a Christian Woman.

During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the work was popular in both the Catholic and Protestant communities. This treatise on female education is divided into three parts: Book I “Which Treats of Unmarried Young Women”, Book II “Which Treats of Married Women,” and Book III “On Widows.”

Praised by Erasmus and Thomas More, Vives advocated education for all women, regardless of social class and ability. From childhood through adolescence to marriage and widowhood, this manual offers practical advice as well as philosophical meditation and was recognized soon after publication in 1524 as the most authoritative pronouncement on the universal education of women. Arguing that women were intellectually equal if not superior to men, Vives stressed intellectual companionship in marriage over procreation, and moved beyond the private sphere to show how women's progress was essential for the good of society and state. [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Autobiography</span> Self-written biography

An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written biography of one's own life.

<i>A Vindication of the Rights of Woman</i> 1792 feminist essay by Mary Wollstonecraft

A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: with Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects (1792), written by British philosopher and women's rights advocate Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797), is one of the earliest works of feminist philosophy. In it, Wollstonecraft responds to those educational and political theorists of the eighteenth century who did not believe women should receive a rational education. She argues that women ought to have an education commensurate with their position in society, claiming that women are essential to the nation because they educate its children and because they could be "companions" to their husbands, rather than mere wives. Instead of viewing women as ornaments to society or property to be traded in marriage, Wollstonecraft maintains that they are human beings deserving of the same fundamental rights as men.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Erasmus</span> Dutch humanist (c.1469–1536)

Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus was a Dutch Christian humanist, Catholic theologian, educationalist, satirist and philosopher. Through his vast number of translations, books, essays, prayers and letters, he is considered one of the most influential thinkers of the Northern Renaissance and one of the major figures of Dutch and Western culture.

<i>The Book of the City of Ladies</i> 1405 book by Christine de Pizan

The Book of the City of Ladies, or Le Livre de la Cité des Dames, is a book written by Christine de Pizan believed to have been finished by 1405. Perhaps Pizan's most famous literary work, it is her second work of lengthy prose. Pizan uses the vernacular French language to compose the book, but she often uses Latin-style syntax and conventions within her French prose. The book serves as her formal response to Jean de Meun's popular Roman de la Rose. Pizan combats Meun's statements about women by creating an allegorical city of ladies. She defends women by collecting a wide array of famous women throughout history. These women are "housed" in the City of Ladies, which is actually the book. As Pizan builds her city, she uses each famous woman as a building block for not only the walls and houses of the city, but also as building blocks for her thesis. Each woman introduced to the city adds to Pizan's argument towards women as valued participants in society. She also advocates in favour of education for women.

Sex manuals are books which explain how to perform sexual practices; they also commonly feature advice on birth control, and sometimes on safe sex and sexual relationships.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Free love</span> Social movement that accepts all forms of love

Free love is a social movement that accepts all forms of love. The movement's initial goal was to separate the state from sexual and romantic matters such as marriage, birth control, and adultery. It stated that such issues were the concern of the people involved and no one else. The movement began during the 19th century and was advanced by hippies during the 1960s and early 70s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Juan Luis Vives</span> Spanish humanist scholar

Juan Luis Vives March was a Spanish (Valencian) scholar and Renaissance humanist who spent most of his adult life in the southern Hapsburg Netherlands. His beliefs on the soul, insight into early medical practice, and perspective on emotions, memory and learning earned him the title of the "father" of modern psychology. Vives was the first to shed light on some key ideas that established how psychology is perceived today.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Astell</span> English feminist philosopher and writer (1666–1731)

Mary Astell was an English protofeminist writer, philosopher, and rhetorician who advocated for equal educational opportunities for women. Astell is primarily remembered as one of England's inaugural advocates for women's rights and some commentators consider her to have been "the first English feminist."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steven Ozment</span> American historian (1939–2019)

Steven Edgar Ozment was an American historian of early modern and modern Germany, the European family, and the Protestant Reformation. From 1990 to 2015, he was the McLean Professor of Ancient and Modern History at Harvard University, and Professor Emeritus until his death on December 12, 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dhuoda</span>

Dhuoda was a Frankish writer, as well as Duchess consort of Septimania and Countess consort of Barcelona. She was the author of the Liber Manualis, a handbook written for her son.

Katharina Schütz Zell was a Protestant reformer and writer during the Protestant Reformation. She was one of the first Protestant women to marry a clergyman. Katharina lived all of her life in Strasbourg. Strasbourg was incorporated within the Holy Roman Empire during this time period, but today is located in France close to the border of Germany.

Protofeminism is a concept that anticipates modern feminism in eras when the feminist concept as such was still unknown. This refers particularly to times before the 20th century, although the precise usage is disputed, as 18th-century feminism and 19th-century feminism are often subsumed into "feminism". The usefulness of the term protofeminist has been questioned by some modern scholars, as has the term postfeminist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women in Christianity</span> Women in Christianity

The roles of women in Christianity have varied since its founding. Women have played important roles in Christianity especially in marriage and in formal ministry positions within certain Christian denominations, and parachurch organizations. In 2016, it was estimated that 52–53 percent of the world's Christian population aged 20 years and over was female, with this figure falling to 51.6 percent in 2020. The Pew Research Center studied the effects of gender on religiosity throughout the world, finding that Christian women in 53 countries are generally more religious than Christian men, while Christians of both genders in African countries are equally likely to regularly attend services.

<i>Thoughts on the Education of Daughters</i> 1787 book by Mary Wollstonecraft

Thoughts on the education of daughters: with reflections on female conduct, in the more important duties of life is the first published work of the British feminist Mary Wollstonecraft. Published in 1787 by her friend Joseph Johnson, Thoughts is a conduct book that offers advice on female education to the emerging British middle class. Although dominated by considerations of morality and etiquette, the text also contains basic child-rearing instructions, such as how to care for an infant.

The Woman's Temperance Publishing Association (WTPA) was a non-commercial publisher of temperance literature. Established in 1879 in Indianapolis, Indiana during the national convention of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), it was a concept of Matilda Carse, an Irish-born American businesswoman, social reformer and leader of the temperance movement.

On the Writing of Letters was a popular Early Modern guide to the art of letter writing by Spanish humanist Juan Luis Vives. First published in 1534 in conjunction with Desiderius Erasmus' treatise of the same name, Vives's work attempts to teach letter writers how to engage a variety of audiences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Renaissance in Scotland</span> Cultural and artistic movement in Scotland dating from the 15th century to the early 17th century

The Renaissance in Scotland was a cultural, intellectual and artistic movement in Scotland, from the late fifteenth century to the beginning of the seventeenth century. It is associated with the pan-European Renaissance that is usually regarded as beginning in Italy in the late fourteenth century and reaching northern Europe as a Northern Renaissance in the fifteenth century. It involved an attempt to revive the principles of the classical era, including humanism, a spirit of scholarly enquiry, scepticism, and concepts of balance and proportion. Since the twentieth century, the uniqueness and unity of the Renaissance has been challenged by historians, but significant changes in Scotland can be seen to have taken place in education, intellectual life, literature, art, architecture, music, science and politics.

Lucrezia Marinella (1571-1653) was an Italian poet, author, philosopher, polemicist, and women's rights advocate. She is best known for her polemical treatise The Nobility and Excellence of Women and the Defects and Vices of Men (1600). Her works have been noted for bringing women into the philosophical and scientific community during the late Renaissance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women in early modern Scotland</span> Women in Scotland

Women in early modern Scotland, between the Renaissance of the early sixteenth century and the beginnings of industrialisation in the mid-eighteenth century, were part of a patriarchal society, though the enforcement of this social order was not absolute in all aspects. Women retained their family surnames at marriage and did not join their husband's kin groups. In higher social ranks, marriages were often political in nature and the subject of complex negotiations in which women as matchmakers or mothers could play a major part. Women were a major part of the workforce, with many unmarried women acting as farm servants and married women playing a part in all the major agricultural tasks, particularly during harvest. Widows could be found keeping schools, brewing ale and trading, but many at the bottom of society lived a marginal existence.

Plan of Study for Girls was an educational curriculum devised in the 16th century by Juan Luis Vives for the education of girls, primarily for Princess Mary, daughter and then-heiress of Henry VIII of England and his first wife, Catherine of Aragon.

References

  1. p.467, Historical Dictionary of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation, By Michael Mullett
  2. Vives, J.L.; Fantazzi, C. (2007). The Education of a Christian Woman: A Sixteenth-Century Manual. University of Chicago Press. ISBN   9780226858166 . Retrieved 2015-08-13.