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10.02.07, Cassidy-Welch/Sherlock, eds., Practices of Gender

10.02.07, Cassidy-Welch/Sherlock, eds., Practices of Gender


This collection of essays, proceeding from a symposium held in Melbourne, Australia, in 2004, offers a variety of approaches to the study of gender in the early modern world, drawing upon several different disciplines and types of sources. The breadth of approaches presented here are stimulating and intriguing, although not all the essays can be closely linked to one another. While the introduction announces the volume's intent is "to explore the idea of gender as an historical practice," (1) what is meant by "practice" is not fully explained in the introduction itself. The editors spend more space dwelling on the themes and purposes of the volume in the concluding essay, "Reflecting and Creating Gender in Late-Medieval and Early- Modern Europe." Together with the introduction, this essay provides a clearer sense of the goals and scope of the collection, clarifying that the title's invocation of "practice" is used in two primary ways: first, to refer to the gendered practices or customs of the past, and second, as a term for the scholarly approaches to gender, drawing upon Joan Scott's presentation of gender as a category of historical analysis. All of the essays touch upon key themes such as the fluidity of early modern experiences of gender and agency, particularly of women. The editors' comments also emphasize subjectivity and individuality, as reflected in several essays that are studies of individual lives, particular cases, or singular works of art.

There are many strong essays here, and the diversity of disciplines and approaches ensures that readers should find at least a few pieces that have bearing on their research. A particular highlight is Merry Wiesner-Hanks's opening essay, "Gender Theory and the Study of Early- Modern Europe," which is an excellent concise overview of the development of scholarship on women and gender in the early modern period. This essay should be a first resort for anyone seeking an introduction to the field, as its broad discussion and footnotes will point the way to both foundational and recent works in the area.

A number of the other articles fall loosely into pairs that deal with similar themes. In "Pushing the Boundaries: Argula von Grumbach as a Lutheran Laywoman," Peter Matheson places this early female advocate of Lutheranism in context, within both the creativity of the early Reformation and the period of repression following upon the Peasants' War. Matheson examines not only von Grumbach's relatively well known writing in favor of the reformers, but also her later patronage. Also dealing with early modern religion is Camilla Russell's "Convent Culture in Early-Modern Italy: Laywomen and Religious Subversiveness in a Neapolitan Convent," which examines the widowed Giulia Gonzaga's residence at a convent along with her involvement in the heterodox circles of Italian spirituali; Russell posits that Gonzaga and other women sought a "third space" in which spiritually creative ideas might flourish.

Both Matheson's and Russell's essays deal with women's agency in religious contexts, and two more essays revolve around women's agency in legal contexts, albeit on very different ends of the social scale. In "The Queen's Three Bodies," Rayne Allinson examines the trial and execution of Mary Stuart, finding in the accounts of Elizabeth's officials and in pro-Catholic propaganda contending interpretations of Mary as queen, criminal, and woman; she also discusses Mary's own attempts to reject the criminal identity required of her by the circumstances of the trial. In contrast, Elizabeth Kent's contribution, "Agency, Women, and Witchcraft in Early-Modern England: Rye, 1607-11," examines the accusations of witchcraft made by and against Susan Swapper, a poor sawyer's wife. Kent argues that previous analysis of the case has overlooked Swapper's efforts to control those around her, both neighbors and officials, by presenting stories that her audience found convincing.

Rosa Salzberg's and Carolyn James's essays also deal with agency, as expressed in very different sorts of letters. In "'The richest man in Italy': Aldo Manuzio and the Value of Male Friendships," Salzberg explores how Manuzio, a humanist and printer, navigated multiple discourses of masculinity. On the one hand, Manuzio used the dedicatory letters of the works he published to situate himself within the humanist notions of friendship, while, on the other, he lived the conventional family life of a successful businessman. In "A Woman's Path to Literacy: The Letters of Margherita Datini, 1384-1410," Carolyn James surveys Datini's 250 letters, mostly to her husband, which allowed this Italian merchant's wife to develop a forceful persona that her husband was not entirely comfortable with. Both these essays use individual cases in intriguing ways to comment upon larger cultural issues.

Another pair of essays examine aspects of women's work, focusing on collective rather than individual stories. In "Women, Work, and Power in the Female Guilds of Rouen," Susan Broomhall examines the survival of female guilds in that city, in a period typically seen as one of growing marginalization of working women. The two guilds of linen drapers in Rouen survived through aggressive defense of their guild prerogatives, using legal mechanisms recognized by the men of the town. In "Textile Workers, Gender, and the Organization of Production in the Pre-Industrial Dutch Republic," however, Elise van Nederveen Meerkerk shows that the organization of work was strongly gendered. Dutch women even in more skilled forms of work, such as lace making, found their petitions to form guilds denied, while men who moved into traditionally female fields such as spinning successfully formed guilds.

Two essays deal with depictions of gender in the visual arts. In "Engendering Lust in Early-Modern Italy: Pisanello's Luxuria," Catherine Kovesi examines an unusual figural sketch of Pisanello's, positing that it is a representation of a Venus so carnal as to be androgynous; Kovesi's bold interpretation is well grounded, however, in a detailed examination of classical and medieval iconography of Venus, love, and lust. In "The Royal Art of Conjugal Discord: A Satirical Double Portrait of Francis I and Eleanor of Austria," Lisa Mansfield suggests that the portrait in question depicts another sort of lust, mocking Francis's performance of masculinity as well as his relationship with Eleanor. Mansfield offers an intriguing reading of the portrait, apparently commissioned by Henry VIII, but lack of information about the origins of the work at times make the essay seem speculative.

Peter Sherlock's "Patriarchal Memory: Monuments in Early-Modern England" also examines visual materials, in this case family funerary monuments. Sherlock explores the gendered depiction of men and women on such monuments. These generally display an expected division in which men were praised for their public activities, and women for their private virtues, but Sherlock also locates some interesting exceptions in which women were memorialized as dominant figures within their families. In addition to connecting to the other art history essays, Sherlock's work also links to "Commemorating a Mortal Goddess: Maria Salviati de' Medici and the Cultural Politics of Duke Cosimo I," in which Natalie Thomas explores how the memorialization of Duke Cosimo's mother in text as well as in art simultaneously drew upon northern Italian courtly practices and asserted Cosimo's links to Florence's republican past.

The remaining three essays do not fall as easily into related pairs. In "Charitable Bodies: Clothing as Charity in Early-Modern Rural England," Dolly MacKinnon explores bequests of clothing to the poor in several dimensions: as expressions of Protestant piety, as reflections of ideas about poverty and gender, and as efforts by testators to leave recognizable legacies. This is a stimulating analysis which addresses several of the themes of the work. Dianne Hall and Elizabeth Malcolm work to re-center women within the narrative of Irish history in "Gender, Hybridity, and Violence on the Frontiers of Late-Medieval and Early-Modern Ireland." This essay emphasizes the fluidity of both gender and frontier society as the authors explore the influential roles of women in bridging Irish-Gaelic and Anglo-Norman culture. Finally, Grantley MacDonald provides a detailed study of Cornelius Agrippa's theories of love in "Cornelius Agrippa's School of Love: Teaching Plato's Symposium at the Renaissance University." MacDonald examines Agrippa's treatment both of women and of male homosexuality in his exposition of Plato's text, offering a nuanced account of the complexities and apparent contradictions of Agrippa's thought.

As a whole, the collection succeeds in its expressed intent to explore gendered perspectives through a wide variety of empirical approaches. The themes of agency, fluidity, and subjectivity offer considerable breadth and scope for exploration. The Wiesner-Hanks essay is particularly useful as an introduction to the field of early modern gender, and would be a good entry point for graduate students. Most readers interested in gender studies will find much to stimulate thought here; readers interested in early modern religion, memorials, and work will also find multiple essays worth their attention. The editors, as well as the organizers of the original symposium, have collected a thought-provoking set of papers for consideration.