Welcome to Feminist Histories

Feminist Histories is a monthly(ish) newsletter that tells the stories of women who wielded all sorts of power across Early Modern Europe.

Women were patrons, politicians, business leaders, advisors, spies, diplomats, and everything in between. Of course they were - women have always been everywhere, doing everything, whether chroniclers and historians credited them or not. But by reading their letters, we scratch the surface of their own perspectives and lived realities: how they spent their time, what they valued, how they gained power, and how they used it. Most of all, Feminist Histories seeks to unpack how early modern women viewed themselves and worked with each other in a patriarchal world - to uncover an early modern female political consciousness.

These are long-form, non-fiction narratives founded upon years of archival and historical research conducted by the author, Natalie Donnell (PhD).

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