"Not by Nature but by Custom": Johan van Beverwijck's Van de wtnementheyt des vrouwelicken Geslachts
In 1639 and 1643, Johan van Beverwijck (Beverovicius, 1594-1647), an established physician in the Dutch town of Dordrecht and already the author of popular medical works, published Van de wtnementheyt des vrouwelicken Geslachts (Of the Excellence of the Female Gender). In it he argues for the superi...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Sixteenth Century Journal Publishers, Inc.
1994
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| In: |
The sixteenth century journal
Year: 1994, Volume: 25, Issue: 3, Pages: 633-651 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | In 1639 and 1643, Johan van Beverwijck (Beverovicius, 1594-1647), an established physician in the Dutch town of Dordrecht and already the author of popular medical works, published Van de wtnementheyt des vrouwelicken Geslachts (Of the Excellence of the Female Gender). In it he argues for the superiority of women, and describes a total of seven hundred women from the Bible and history who have shown this superiority by a canon of virtues which is markedly different from the traditional canon of his time. His work is unique in the querelle des femmes of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries because of its blend of medical argument and historical examples, its use of modern historical and traditional classical sources, its inclusion of contemporary women, especially Dutch ones, and its absence of any intimation of women's inferiority. This article describes these features, discusses them against the background of the Dutch higher bourgeoisie, and compares them with other authors in the Dutch Republic and Europe of that time. |
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| ISSN: | 2326-0726 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: The sixteenth century journal
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.2307/2542639 |