Yeager 1

Callie Yeager

Dr. Baron

HIST 215

October 2018

A Review of The Renaissance Notion of Women

Is biology destiny? Why is female space always sexualize space? Why is my history an

elective, and what has changed over time? These questions, that serve as the thematic principles

of our course, can be juxtaposed to the attitudes towards women during the Renaissance. In Dr.

Ian Maclean’s monograph, The Renaissance Notion of Woman: A study in the fortunes of

scholasticism and medical Science in European Life, he conducts a study of Renaissance era

writings, setting out to answer his own similar questions. Maclean, Professor of Renaissance

Studies at Oxford University, … published in 1980

In his book, The Renaissance Notion of Woman, Dr. Ian Maclean acknowledges that a

complete modern history of woman in Renaissance Europe has yet to be composed. However, he

explains that he does intend to achieve this with his study, as he not cover this topic in a way that

relates to the proper social and economic models. Dr. Maclean, rather, provides a comprehensive

study of the both scholarship, and scholarly texts in the Renaissance, to analyze attitudes towards

women at the time. He opens up by stating his intend to offer preliminary answers to the

questions “What is the notion of women to be found in Renaissance texts, and how does it

evolve? What is the relationship between the notion of woman and that of sex difference, and

how is sex difference related in turn to other differences” (Maclean 1). In response to this,

Maclean presents his central claim, that there is little change in the notion of woman throughout
 Yeager 2

the Renaissance. In addition, he claims, that there is a greater difference between social truths

and the current notion of woman at the end of the Renaissance.

Maclean’s study delegates the chapters of this book to examining the topics of Theology,

medicine, ethics, and law, in conjunction with scholarly texts. Within each subject he addresses

countless intellectuals, and their contributions to the male position as superior to female, during

this time. In the first chapter, which addresses Theology, Maclean . . .

Medicine, Anatomy, and Physiology.

Ethics, politics, social writings,

Law: addresses inheritance/ property, title, or kingdom succession

Maclean uses each of these categories to examine the different kinds of contexts that society uses

to define differences between men and women.

Maclean concludes his study by . . . he addresses the two main ‘causes for stasis in the

notion of women” (pg. 82) as a desire to foster/ preserve scholastic synthesis, and influence on

the thought of the institution of matrimony.

3 In order to give an accurate assessment of whether this book is an effective contribution

to scholarship, I will discuss and compare its strengths and weaknesses, while providing my own

critiques and reactions.

Argument/ thesis: On the very first page, Maclean frankly expresses what his book sets out to

accomplish, and that it will not be a comprehensive history of woman in Renaissance. He

establishes that this study will only ‘survey a narrow band of the spectrum’, and does not aim to

‘answer questions about society or demography.

Maclean Gives textual evidence of the notion of woman, and how men viewed the

differences between male and female, but omits the female side of the story. As we know, there
 Yeager 3

are little texts written by women in the Renaissance, especially not ones progressive enough to

address female inequality. However, Maclean still fails to address this or try to remedy this

essential gap in what defines the notion of women, women themselves.

While there is no reason to claim that the author was deliberately bias, however there is a

possibility that unintentional bias may have influenced his writing. My logic for assuming this

comes from first the fact that this is written from the male perspective, and second, it was

published in 1980. Nearly forty years later, the representation of women has undoubtedly

changed. I believe that it is due to the increased women’s rights, standard of education, and

awareness of inequality, that we have today, (and not to mention being a woman), that allows

me, and hopefully anyone else to acknowledge the oversights in this book, on behalf of females.

Criticism: To put it simply, this book was not what I expected. In search of writing that would

emulate the ideas we have discussed in class, “The Renaissance Notion of Woman” appeared to

be a suitable match. However, upon further investigation, I found that Dr. Maclean’s writing fell

short when it came to discussion, failing to offer the degree of insight I was looking for.

Dr. Maclean focused heavily on the analyzation of specific texts, often neglecting

relevant historical commentary. That is not to stay the arguments and evidence given in this

study lacks any validity, however, further explanation of Renaissance gender attitudes would

only strengthen Maclean’s argument.

- As an Oxford professor in Renaissance studies, Ian Maclean specializes in the fields of

“history of the book in the late Renaissance; history of law, medicine and theology in European

universities”. Given these topics are essentially the premise for the book, I can understand how

his writing style might be appropriate for his intended audience.

 Yeager 4

It is not necessarily imputing opinion or bias, that this book calls for, but rather greater emphasis

on the issues behind the male belief that females are inferior, as well as asking relevant questions

of the evidence. I would agree that Maclean provides sufficient support to accurately back his

claims, and he does so in a logical manner.

- In general, I did not find this book enjoyable to read. Its advanced and cryptic

vocabulary, and structure comparable to that of a dense outline, made it difficult to follow.

Despite finding this book hard to read, I did find it interesting to see primary accounts of male

attitudes towards women in the Renaissance, outside of those we discussed in class. However, as

I previously mentioned, I would have preferred it included some commentary to reiterate the

male incentive/ explanation behind each scholarly source.

-I’m not certain whether or not I would recommend this book to someone. It caters

toward a very specific individual, and proves a general conclusion about the Renaissance, per se,

more than it does provide a larger view of history. My primary reasoning for not recommending

this book is more about the fact that I found it hard to understand, and overall, strenuous to finish

reading.

My honest impression of this book would be that it resembles, ‘a scrapbook of Renaissance

scholars who mentioned women’, one with limited captions and no fun stickers

In Conclusion Dr. Ian Maclean’s, The Renaissance Notion of Women . . .

 Yeager 5

Bibliography
Maclean, Ian. The Renaissance Notion of Woman: a Study in the Fortunes of Scholasticism and

Medical Science in European Intellectual Life. Cambridge University Press, 1980.