Women's Writing from the Low Countries 1200-1875

Lia van Gemert is Professor of Historical Dutch Literature at the University of Amsterdam and director of the Amsterdam Centre for the study of the Golden Age.

• Preface and Acknowledgments, 1. Women’s Writing from the Low Countries 1200-1575, 2. Women’s Writing from the Low Countries 1575-1875, 3. Conclusion, Anthology, 1. The Daring Flight of a Soaring Bird, 2. The Agony and the Ecstasy of Divine Love, 3. Inspired and Resolute, 4. An Urban Anchoress, 5. ‘As Sister Souken was wont to say…’, 6. ‘Some say that this book was written by a woman named Christine’, 7. Recording Practical Experience for Posterity, 8. What Every Midwife Needs to Know, 9. ‘Just Like a Rose in Bloom’, 10. Word as Weapon in a Holy Mission, 11. Adamant Voices from Prison: Female Anabaptists, 12. The Gift of Beautiful Words, 13. A Blind Guide, 14. A Model of Godly Reformed Womanhood, 15. A Staunch Catholic, 16. Poetic Wit and Self-Deprecation, 17. The Truest of Friends, 18. Choosing the Better Part, 19. Obstinately Pursuing Her Own Course, 20. Uncommon Communal Songs from the Brussels Beguinage, 21. Anchoress and Autobiographer, 22. Contesting the Laurel Crown, 23. Opportunities for Women in the Chambers of Rhetoric, 24. A Life of Books, 25. Courageous and Broad-Minded, 26. Strong and Independent, 27. The Mystical Songs of an Ambitious ‘Spiritual Daughter’, 28. Unorthodox in Everything, 29. Victim of Distortive Editing, 30. A Pietist Autobiography, 31. Poet for the Love of Her Country, 32. The Epitome of an Enlightenment Woman, 33. At the Heart of a Student Poetry Society, 34. The Unknown International Bestselling Author, 35. Fast Friends, 36. Writing as a Way of Life, 37. Rural Idylls, 38. Love, Death and Suffering, 39. A Blind Beacon, 40. A Manly Spirit in a Sickly Body, 41. A Pioneer of Girls’ Education, 42. Good Cheer at the Beguinage in Lier, 43. The Dutch Joan of Arc, 44. An Everyday Patriot, 45. Female Psychology, 46. Social Criticism from the Belgian Beecher Stowe, 47. Competing with the Best, 48. A Versatile Pen, 49. A Witty Pioneer of Realism, 50. A Superb Duo, Bibliography, Index of Names and Subjects, Index of Titles and First Lines, Illustrations, Notes on the Editors, Contributors and Translators

This book provides a welcome English translation of a marvelous anthology of women’s religious and secular writing, stretching from the visions of the late medieval mystics through the prison testaments of sixteenth-century Anabaptist martyrs to the pamphleteers and novelists of the growing urban bourgeoisie. The fresh translations and engaging introductions demonstrate the ways that women in the Low Countries shaped the intellectual and cultural developments of their eras. Merry Wiesner-Hanks, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Societal support for women writers in the Low Countries ebbed and flowed with the political tides during the centuries represented in this work. Women's Writing from the Low Countries, 1200-1875 offers a new and important treasury of women's lves and writing to ensure that they are remembered. This collected canon may well inspire future writers. Mara M.J. Egherman, Feminist Collections Journal