The Education of a Christian Woman

by Vives, Juan Luis

• ISBN13: 9780226858142
• ISBN10: 0226858146
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-03-15
• Publisher: Univ of Chicago Pr

Summary

"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.

Table of Contents

Introduction to the Series	ix
Acknowledgments	xxix
Key to Abbreviations	xxx
Introduction: Prelude to the Other Voice in Vives	4	(39)
A Note on the Text	43	(2)
Preface to the Books on the Education of a Christian Woman	45	(8)
Book I Which Treats of Unmarried Young Women
On the Education of the Young Woman as a Child	53	(2)
On the Latter Years of Childhood	55	(3)
On Her Early Training	58	(5)
On the Instruction of Young Girls	63	(10)
Which Writers Are to Be Read and Which Not to Be Read	73	(7)
On Virginity	80	(7)
How the Young Woman Will Treat Her Body	87	(7)
On Addornment	94	(16)
On the Solitude of the Virgin	110	(6)
On the Virtues of a Woman and the Examples She Should Imitate	116	(9)
How She Will Behave in Public	125	(14)
On Dancing	139	(5)
On Love Affairs	144	(9)
On the Love Befitting a Virgin	153	(2)
On Seeking a Spouse	155	(20)
Book II Which Treats of Married Women
What Thoughts Should Occupy the Mind of a Woman When She Marries	175	(5)
Two Points of Greatest Importance for the Married Woman	180	(6)
How She Should Behave toward Her Husband	186	(24)
On the Concord of Married Couples	210	(13)
How She Will Conduct Herself Privately with Her Husband	223	(7)
On Jealousy	230	(6)
On Adornments	236	(7)
On Behavior in Public	243	(11)
How She Shoud Behave at Home	254	(11)
On Children and the Care That Must Be Taken of Them	265	(18)
On the Twice-Married and Stepmothers	283	(4)
How She Will Behave with Her Relatives and In-Laws	287	(4)
How She Is to Behave with Her Married Son or Daughter, with Her Son-in-Law and Daughter-in-Law	291	(3)
On a Married Woman of Advanced Years	294	(5)
Book III On Widows
On the Mourning of widows	299	(6)
On the Husband's Funeral	305	(4)
On the Memory of One's Husband	309	(2)
On the Chastity and Moral Rectitude of a widow	311	(4)
How They Should Conduct Themselves at Home	315	(3)
How She Should Behave in Public	318	(4)
On Second Marriages	322	(5)
Appendix	327	(4)
Biblical References Index	331	(4)
General Index	335