Twenty-Five Women Who Shaped the Early Modern Holy Roman Empire

Katrin Keller is Director of the Institute for Habsburg and Balkan Studies of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Austria.

• 1. Introduction The Sixteenth Century: Preachers, Nuns, and Dynastic Women2. Caritas Pirckheimer (1467–1532): The Learned Nun3. Katharina Zell (1497/98–1562): A Woman who Preached4. Maria of Hungary (1505–1558): On Behalf of the Dynasty5. Elisabeth of Brunswick-Calenberg (1510–1558): A Princess as Reformer6. Anna of Saxony (1532–1585): Of Princely Domains and Good Medicines7. Archduchess Maria of Inner Austria (1551–1608): How a Mother Shapes her ChildrenThe Seventeenth Century: Princesses, Businesswomen, and Artists8. Polyxena of Lobkowicz (1566–1642): Between Bohemia and Spain9. Anna of Brandenburg (1576–1625): How Prussia came to Brandenburg10. Maria Magdalena Haidenbucher (1576–1650): Abbess in Troubled Times11. Catharina Regina von Greiffenberg (1633–1694): The Poet in Exile12. Maria Sibylla Merian (1647–1717): Science and Painting13. Glikl bas Judah Leib (1647?–1724): The Experiences of a Jewish Businesswoman14. Empress Eleonora Magdalena (1655–1720): How to Care for Your Siblings15. Maria Aurora von Königsmarck (1662–1728): The Mistress in the Imperial AbbeyThe Eighteenth Century: Scientists, Writers, and Social Movers16. Erdmuthe Benigna of Reuß-Ebersdorf (1670–1732): Women and the Pietist Movement17. Maria Margaretha Kirch (1670–1720): The Arduous Journey to the Sciences18. Luise Adelgunde Gottsched (1713–1762): More than the Woman at his Side19. Dorothea Erxleben (1715–1762): A Medical Doctor Prevails20. Empress Maria Theresa (1717–1780): The Heiress21. Anna Dorothea Therbusch (1721–1782): From Innkeeper to Court Painter22. Anna Barbara Gignoux (1725–1796): How to Defend a Calico Manufactory23. Sophie von La Roche (1730–1807): A Life as a Female Author24. Amalie Gallitzin (1748–1806): Philosophy, Religion, and Conviviality25. Maria Theresia Paradis (1759–1824): The Blind Pianist26.Henriette Herz (1764–1847): A Salon in Berlin

"Through her well-chosen examples, Katrin Keller unlocks a multitude of previously hidden or partially obscured connections across the last three centuries of the vast Holy Roman Empire’s existence, revealing not only how this complex entity functioned, but the important contributions made by women to its artistic, cultural, dynastic, economic, medical, political, religious, and scientific history. Fascinating and absorbing."Peter H. Wilson, University of Oxford, UK"Twenty-Five Women Who Shaped the Early Modern Holy Roman Empire goes beyond women’s history. It provides a rethinking of European history as a whole by arguing that the past takes on a different form when viewed in its entirety, through the lives of women rather than through the sole actions of kings and generals. Keller’s book is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the early modern world, as it was recorded, but also as it was truly experienced."Edina Paleviq, GlobalEurope, ISSUE 1 | October 2025