Christine de Pizan
about 1364 - about 1431Christine de Pizan was the author of the Book of the City of the Ladies, a fifteenth-century writer in France, and an early feminist.
Margery Kempe
about 1373 - about 1440Lay mystic and author of The Book of Margery Kempe, Margery Kempe and her husband John had 13 children; though her visions had caused her to seek a life of chastity, she, as a married woman, had to follow her husband's choice. In 1413 she took a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, visiting Venice, Jerusalem and Rome. On returning to England, she found her emotional worship denounced by the church.
Elisabeth von Nassau-Saarbrucken
1393 - 1456Elisabeth, of a noble family influential in France and Germany, wrote prose translations of French poems before she married a German count in 1412. they had three children before Elisabeth was widowed, serving as head of government until her son was of age, and she was married again from 1430-1441. She wrote novels about the Carolingians which were quite popular.
Laura Cereta
1469 - 1499Italian scholar and writer, Laura Cereta turned to writing when her husband died after less than two years of marriage. She met with other intellectuals in Brescia and Chiari, for which she was praised. When she published some essays in order to support herself, she met with opposition, perhaps because the subject matter urged women to improve their lives and develop their minds rather than focus on outward beauty and fashion.
Marguerite of Navarre (Marguerite of Angoulême)
April 11, 1492 - December 21, 1549A Renaissance writer, she was well educated, influenced a king of France (her brother), patronized religious reformers and humanists, and educated her daughter, Jeanne d'Albret, according to Renaissance standards.
Mirabai
1498-1547Mirabai was a Bhakti saint and poet who is famous both for her hundreds of devotional songs to Krishna, and for her breaking of traditional role expectations. Her life is known more through legend than through verifiable historical fact.
Teresa of Avila
March 28, 1515 - October 4, 1582One of two "Doctors of the Church" named in 1970, 16th century Spanish religious writer Teresa of Avila entered a convent early, and in her 40s founded her own convent in a spirit of reform, emphasizing prayer and poverty. She wrote rules for her order, works on mysticism, and an Autobiography. Because her grandfather was Jewish, the Inquisition was suspicious of her work, and she produced her theological writings to meet demands to show the holy foundations of her reforms.
