Combining historical, historiographical, museological, and touristic analysis, this title investigates how late medieval and early modern women of the Low Countries expressed themselves through texts, art, architecture and material objects, how they were represented by contemporaries, and how they have been interpreted in academica.
Employing an innovative range of materials from written sources to artworks, material objects, heritage sites and urban precincts, and combining historical, historiographical, museological, and touristic analysis, this study investigates how late medieval and early modern women of the Low Countries expressed themselves, how they were represented by contemporaries, and how they have been interpreted in modern academic and popular contexts.
Classified as 'Research Essential' by Baker & Taylor YBP Library Services A Yankee Book Peddler US Core Title for 2011 'Early Modern Women in the Low Countries adds a fundamental chapter to the history of women. This is the first time that such an extensive body of historical, literary and artistic sources on early modern women of the Low Countries has been surveyed. The interaction between different methodological approaches provides a stimulating discourse on the way narratives about women have been developed. An analysis stemming from the intertwined fields of museology and heritage studies reveals that modern female visitors to The Netherlands and Belgium are encouraged to feel part of a wider historical continuity. Susan Broomhall and Jennifer Spinks thus not only encounter women of the past as scholars but also as tourists and as women in their bold and innovative exploration of interpretations of the past and women's experiences within it.' Katlijne Van der Stighelen, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium '[This] book challenges historians to expand the materials they use to study women of the past, while challenging curators in the heritage sector to be alert to what they say about women in their own domains.' Renaissance Quarterly '... this willingness to approach gender history from a novel perspective has produced a book whose wide-ranging perspective forces historians to think again about how they can use problematic sources to uncover female lives, as well as demanding that curators take note of scholarly trends. This study is a cutting edge inquiry into the two-way dialogue that can exist between academic and tourist contexts to elucidate women's experiences.' Women's History Review 'This book is not so much about early modern Netherlandish women as it is about representations of them. In a series of discrete essays the authors examine a highly diverse array of sources and how they portray certain types of women in the Low Countries during the
