Anne of Brittany; the story of a duchess and twice-crowned queen. Sanborn, Helen J. (Helen Josephine), 1857-1917.
Anne,--of Brittany, Queen, consort of Louis XII, King of France,--1476-1514

Christine de Pisan (circa 1364--1430) was born in Italy and came to France at the age of four with her father. Arguably the first woman in Europe to earn a living as an author, she is widely regarded as an early feminist who spoke out for the rights of women and espoused female achievement. She wrote poems and prose texts that were often allegorical and philosophical and that reflected her own original and engaged personality. She prepared the books with the aid of copyists and illuminators and offered them to patron princes and kings. Le Livre de la Cité des dames (The book of the city of ladies) is perhaps the best expression of Christine's lucid and humanist feminism. An implied response to St. Augustine's City of God, and also inspired by the work of Boccaccio, the book was written as a dialogue between student and master. The allegorical figures of Reason, Justice, and Rectitude enter into a conversation with Christine and invite her to build a city for famous women of the past and virtuous women of all times in a world made for men. Among the approximately 30 known copies of the text, this well known and beautifully illustrated copy contains the signature of its owner, Jean de Berry (1340--1416), a great bibliophile of the House of Burgundy.

Complete digitized works of Geneviève Thiroux d'Arconville available on Gallica the digital library of the Bibliothèque nationale de France.

Heroines of French society in the court, the revolution, the empire and the restoration. Bearne, Catherine Mary Charlton, -1923.
Vigée-Lebrun, Louise-Elisabeth,--1755-1842
- Noailles, Anne-Paule-Dominique de,--marquise de Montagu,--1766-1839
- Tallien, Thérésia Cabarrus,--1773-1835
- Genlis, Stéphanie Félicité,--comtesse de,--1746-1830

Although published in England, these two tracts serve as an example of how female fashion trends in Europe at large can be seen to threaten the established order and elicit fierce condemnation from the status quo. These tracts circulated in early 17th-century England. The first addresses modest and "good" women and explains their duty to dress as women should, rather than to dress as men with short hair styles, "fancy" embroidered clothing (at that time reserved for men). The second tract, Haec Vir is written in response to Hic Mulier. It is written in the form of a dialogue between a "womanish man" and a "mannish woman" each of whom mistake the other for their opposite. In the end they both come to an agreement to strive to adopt more appropriate garb that more closely lines up with their gender. They both acknowledge to one another that "you have raised my eyelids up". Raises questions about the power of women's fashion, and who these tracts saw as an audience.

A survey of French society (in French) from the 16th-20th centuries written by Victor du Bled and published in 1808. Includes many prominent women in a section called L'Amour au XVIII siècle with Madame de Sévigné and Mimi Dancourt, mme de la Popelinière as well as salonnìere Jeanne Julie Éléonore de Lespinasse. [starts on image 234].

Article by Léon Bultingaire (in French) that discusses the drawings and work of Madeleine Basseporte. Illustrations.

Lettres de Madame de Sévigné : nouveau choix de ses lettres les plus remarquables sous le rapport du style et de la pensée

A slim book in English surveying the various editions of Madame Sévigné's famous "Letters". Written in 1881 by Anne Thackeray Ritchie, an English writer and eldest daughter of William Makepeace Thackeray.

Marie-Louise Victoire Girardin (1754-1794), ship's steward and cross-dresser, was born on 29 June 1754 in the parish of Saint-Louis, Versailles, France, daughter of Jean Girardin, a former royal gardener turned wine merchant, and his wife Angélique Benoise, née Hanet. Marie-Louise was one of nine children. [Edward Duyker, Australian Dictionary of Biography]

Nicolas de Condorcet's article arguing for women's suffrage in the new government. His article for Journal de la Société de 1789, De l'admission des femmes au droit de cité ("For the Admission to the Rights of Citizenship For Women") in 1790.

Bearne, Catherine Mary Charlton, -1923.
Jeanne de Bourbon,--Queen, consort of Charles V, King of France,--1335-1378
- Isabella,--Queen, consort of Charles VI, King of France,--1370-1435
- Anne,--of Brittany, Queen, consort of Louis XII, King of France,--1476-1514

The Renaissance was a period in European history which formed a bridge between the Middle Ages and the modern era. The Renaissance arrived at different countries at varying times- Italy was the first to experience this movement beginning in the 14th century while the it did not reach England until the sixteenth century. A general consensus among historians is that by the early 17th century, the Renaissance had come to an end. There are several important events which led to the emergence of the Renaissance. These include the fall of Constantinople in 1453 to the Ottoman Turks which marks the end of the Byzantine Empire; the discovery of the New World in 1492 ushering in the age of exploration; the Protestant Reformation; the invention of printing press by Johannes Gutenberg around 1440; and the revival of classical Greek learning first in Italy and then in Northern Europe.

Thiers.--Chateaubriand.--Laffitte.--Guizot.--Lamartine.--Soult.--Berryer.--De la Mennais.--Victor Hugo.--Dupin.--Béranger.--Odilon Barrot.--Arago.--George Sand (Madame Dudevant).--The Duke de Broglie.

The Women of the Marais (page 485 in the book, image 571). Detailed account of figures such as Marie de Sévigné,