By Luz Santodomingo & Samuel Yelton Catherine of Aragon (Spain, 1485-England, 1536) Born December 16, 1485, she was the daughter of Isabella, Queen of Castile, and Ferdinand II of Aragon.[1] Catherine was the youngest of four daughters. Her sisters were Isabella, Queen of Portugal; Juana, Queen of Castile; and Maria, Queen of Portugal.[2] Compared to the traditional education…
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Mary of Ágreda
by Juliana Ossa Martinez Maria Coronel y Arena (1602-65) born in the village of Ágreda in northern Spain on April 2, 1602. She was the third child of Don Francisco Coronel and Catherine d’Arena.[1] Motivated by a divine revelation, her parents founded a convent in their own house on January 19, 1619.[2] Mary assumed the nun’s…
Jeanne d’Albret
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By Elizabeth Pearce Jeanne d’Albret (1528-72) Jeanne d’Albret, later Queen Jeanne of Navarre, was born on November 16, 1528, at St Germain-en-Laye, in France.[1] She was the daughter of Henri d’Albret, King of Navarre, and of Marguerite de Valois, Queen of Navarre, and niece to King Francis I of France. Little is known about…
Arete
by Eliana Greenberg and Koren Whipp Arete of Cyrene (late 5th or early 4th C. BCE)[1] Philosopher and teacher in Cyrene, Cyrene was founded around 630 BCE by Greek colonists from Thera, and it became an important cultural mecca known for academic pursuits, and home to the Cyrenaic school of philosophy, founded by Arete’s father, Aristippus.…
Aebbe the Younger
by Koren Whipp Æbbe the Younger (d. 870) Abbess of Coldingham, Ireland. The Abby was founded as a double separate monastery for men and women by S. Æbbe the Elder in 642; in 660 he also founded Ebchester, in County Durham. At the time both were in the Kingdom of Northumbria, united by Æbbe…
Aretaphila
by Koren Whipp Aretaphila of Cyrene (1st C BCE) lived in the reign of Mithridates VI, King of Pontus and Armenia Minor. She was the daughter of Aeglator and wife of Phᴂdimus, both noblemen.[1] Nicocrates, a tyrant who seized power of Cyrene c. 50 BCE, assassinated Phᴂdimus and forcibly married Aretaphila. The citizens of Cyrene…
Margaret Ascham
by Veronica Cassidy Margaret Ascham (16th C.), née Margaret How, married Roger Ascham in 1555. In 1570 she arranged the publication of two of his books, A Report and Discourse of the Affaires and State of Germany and The Schole-master, to which she attached an open letter dedicating the book to Sir William Cecil ,…
Mary Armyne
Mary Armine by Frederick Hendrik van Hove, after Unknown artist line engraving, published 1683 by Veronica Cassidy Lady Mary Armyne (née Talbot), England (1594-1676) Born into a prominent Protestant family, Lady Mary Armyne, or Armine, was known for her business acumen and pious charity. She studied French, Latin, history, and theology, and was well versed…
Jacqueline-Marie-Angélique Arnauld
by Gina Luria Walker Jacqueline-Marie-Angélique Arnauld, called La Mère Angélique 1591 – 1661, one of twenty children and five sisters, was given to the worldly convent of Port-Royal des Champs near Paris against her wishes, by her parents because they couldn’t afford her dowry. Abbess Johanna von Boulehart chose Angélique as her successor at the…
Laura Battiferri Ammannati
by Elizabeth A. Pallitto Laura Battiferri Ammannati (1523-1589) Born in Urbino, the illegitimate child of a nobleman, Giovanni Antonio Battiferri, and a concubine, Maddelena Coccapani of Capri, Laura was nonetheless given a decent education. She married Vittorio Sereni, then, after her died, remarried the Florentine sculptor Bartolomeo Ammannati. In 1560 she published Primo libro…
Wallada bint al-Mustakfi
Wallada bint al-Mustakfi (b. 1001 – d. 1080) The beautiful, free-spirited daughter of a caliph in Cordoba, Spain, Walladah wrote and inspired some of the greatest poetry of eleventh-century Andalusia. She was liberated and literary, hosting mixed-sex gatherings where she read her own bold work. Financially independent, Walladah had lovers but never married. She was…
al-Khansa
Tumadir bint Amru al-Harith bint al-Sharid (b. 575–d. 646), better known as ‘al-Khansa,’ was one of the major poets of pre-Islamic Arabia. Born into a powerful family in west Central Arabia, near Mecca and Medina, much of al-Khansa’s work was inspired by her two brothers, who died in tribal battles. Women poets of the…
Rabi’ah Al-Adadawiyyah
By Juliet Gentile Rabi’ah Al-Adadawiyyah (Rābiʻa al-ʻAdawiyya al-Qaysiyya or Rābiʿah al-Baṣrī) (d. 801) was as early Islamic saint, hailing from Basra, in today’s Iraq, an area known for its mystic women. She has been called “first among Sufis,” a “second spotless Mary,” and the “Crown of Men.”[1] Her life is seen as the apotheosis of…
Tullia d’Aragona
by Elizabeth Pallitto Tullia d’Aragona (c.1510-1556) was an Italian courtesan, author, and philosopher in Venice. Under her mother’s influence, Tullia had been initiated into the life of a courtesan when very young. She left us three books — her lyric Rime, her philosophical Dialogo, and her epic Il Meschino, and some urban legends. As an…
Isabella Andreini
by Koren Whipp Isabella Andreini 1562–1604, born Isabella Canali and also known as Isabella Da Padova, was an Italian actress, poet, musician and playwright. She was the first European actress to acquire social and cultural respectability and artistic fame.[1] She was a member of the Compagnia dei Comici Gelosi, an important touring theatre company that performed…
Mary Astell
By Penelope Whitworth Mary Astell (1666–1731), philosopher, rhetorician, and advocate for women’s education. She was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, to Peter Astell , a coal merchant, and his wife, Mary, daughter of George Errington, also a coal merchant in Newcastle.[1] Her paternal uncle, Ralph Astell, curate of St Nicholas’s, Newcastle upon Tyne, was…
Anne Askew
by Penelope Whitworth Anne Askew, [married name Kyme] (c. 1521–46), the second daughter of Sir William Askew (1489–1541) and his first wife, Elizabeth Wrottesley who was probably of the Reading Wrottesleys, though some sources say Wrottesley, Staffordshire.[1] Anne Askew is thought to have received a good education, possibly from tutors at home. She was married to…
Hertha Ayrton
by Gina Luria Walker Phoebe Sarah Mark/Hertha Ayrton (1854-1923) transformed herself into Hertha Ayrton despite opposition to her sex, religion, poverty, inferior education, and poor health from the male culture of modern Physics. Born to a struggling Jewish watchmaker from Poland and his wife in Portsea, Portsmouth, Sarah quickly gave evidence of unusual intelligence.…
