Books in the The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe: The Toronto Series series

Veronica Franco was a 16th-century Venetian beauty, poet, and protofeminist. This collection presents the eroticism and eloquence that set her apart from the chaste, silent woman prescribed by Renaissance gender ideology.

Though most historians remember her as the mistress of Voltaire, Emilie Du Chatelet (1706-49) was an accomplished writer in her own right, who published multiple editions of her scientific writings during her lifetime. This book features a selection of key sections from Du Chatelet's works.

Marguerite de Navarre (1492-1549) was the sister and wife to kings and a pivotal influence in sixteenth-century France. This book contains sampling of Marguerite's varied works: from verse letters and fables to mythological-pastoral tales, from spiritual songs to a selection of novellas.

In 1401, Christine de Pizan wrote a letter to the provost of Lille criticizing the highly popular and widely read "Romance of the Rose" for its blatant and unwarranted misogynistic depictions of women. As a result a debate ensued. This book collects the letters, sermons, and excerpts from other works of Pizan - that give context to this debate.

"Christine de Pizan's Body Politic (1406-1407) is the first political treatise to have been written not just by a woman, but by a woman capable of holding her own in a normally male domain. It advises not just the prince, as was traditional, but also nobles, knights, and the common people, promoting the ideals of interdependence and social responsibility. Rooted in the mind-set of medieval Christendom, it heralds the humanism of the Renaissance, highlighting classical culture and Roman civic virtues. The Body Politic resounds still today, urging the need for probity in public life and the importance of responsibilities as well as rights"--