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"From meetings and conversation with men, love affairs arise. In the midst of pleasures, banquets, dances, laughter, and self-indulgence, Venus and her son Cupid reign supreme. . . . Poor young girl, if you emerge from these encounters a captive prey! How much better it would have been to remain at home or to have broken a leg of the body rather than of the mind!" So wrote the sixteenth-century Spanish humanist Juan Luis Vives in a famous work dedicated to Henry VIII's daughter, Princess Mary, but intended for a wider audience interested in the education of women.
Praised by Erasmus and Thomas More, Vives advocated education for all women, regardless of social class and ability. From childhood through adolescence to marriage and widowhood, this manual offers practical advice as well as philosophical meditation and was recognized soon after publication in 1524 as the most authoritative pronouncement on the universal education of women. Arguing that women were intellectually equal if not superior to men, Vives stressed intellectual companionship in marriage over procreation, and moved beyond the private sphere to show how women's progress was essential for the good of society and state.
Introduction to the Series Acknowledgments Key to Abbreviations Introduction: Prelude to the Other Voice in Vives A Note on the Text Preface to the Books "The Education of a Christian Woman"
Book I—Which Treats of Unmarried Young Women
I. On the Education of the Young Woman as a Child II. On the Later Years of Childhood III. On Her Early Training IV. On the Instruction of Young Girls V. Which Writers Are to Be Read and Which Not to Be Read VI. On Virginity VII. How the Young Woman Will Treat Her Body VIII. On Adornment IX. On the Solitude of the Virgin X. On the Virtues of a Woman and the Examples She Should Imitate XI. How She Will Behave in Public XII. On Dancing XIII. On Love Affairs XIV. On the Love Befitting a Virgin XV. On Seeking a Spouse
Book II—Which Treats of Married Women
I. What Thoughts Should Occupy the Mind of a Woman When She Marries II. Two Points of Greatest Importance for the Married Woman III. How She Should Behave toward Her Husband IV. On the Concord of Married Couples V. How She Will Conduct Herself Privately with Her Husband VI. On Jealousy VII. On Adornments VIII. On Behavior in Public IX. How She Should Behave at Home X. On Children and the Care That Must Be Taken of Them XI. On the Twice-Married and Stepmothers XII. How She Will Behave with Her Relatives and In-Laws XIII. How She Is to Behave with Her Married Son or Daughter,
with Her Son-in-Law and Daughter-in-Law XIV. On a Married Woman of Advanced Years
Book III—On Widows
I. On the Mourning of Widows II. On the Husband’s Funeral III. On the Memory of One’s Husband IV. On the Chastity and the Moral Rectitude of a Widow V. How They Should Conduct Themselves at Home VI. How She Should Behave in Public VII. On Second Marriages Appendix Index
Overview
"From meetings and conversation with men, love affairs arise. In the midst of pleasures, banquets, dances, laughter, and self-indulgence, Venus and her son Cupid reign supreme. . . . Poor young girl, if you emerge from these encounters a captive prey! How much better it would have been to remain at home or to have broken a leg of the body rather than of the mind!" So wrote the sixteenth-century Spanish humanist Juan Luis Vives in a famous work dedicated to Henry VIII's daughter, Princess Mary, but intended for a wider audience interested in the