Les Femmes dans la société française de la renaissance by Evelyne Berriot-Salvadore (review)

L ’E sprit C réateur proclaiming the power of subsequent writings to revive and celebrate ancient existences, so that their names and essences can thereby resound for posterity, Tucker however still longs for something more from Du Bellay. Specifically, he is longing for the poetics of fulfill­ ment, apotheosis, and permanence, which he has argued Du Bellay was never able to achieve. Of course, it is just possible that this critically perceived final feeling of readerly nonfulfillment may be further evidence of the writerly success of Du Bellay’s failure. J e r r y C . N a s h University o f New Orleans Evelyne Berriot-Salvadore. L e s Fem m es d a n s l a s o c ié té f r a n ç a is e d e l a r e n a is s a n c e . Genève: Droz, 1991. Pp. 592. Fr.s. 120. “ La Renaissance est bien, pour l’histoire des femmes, une période de paradoxes et d’ambiguïtés.” Thus begins this finely nuanced and encyclopedic treatment of the condi­ tion of women in Renaissance France. Divided into four major parts entitled consecutively La fem m e "incapable, ” La fem m e “ménagère, ” La fem m e "secourable, ” and La fem m e "sçavante,” Evelyne Berriot-Salvadore’s work is organized around more detailed sub­ divisions that seek to encompass the rich complexity of its subject matter. Its wealth of information is culled principally from archival materials that include legal documents, memoirs, diaries, letters, livres de raison, as well as early printed books. This study stands to date as the most comprehensive survey on the status of women in early modern France. Beginning in Part One with the juridical view of the place of woman, Professor BerriotSalvadore examines the Renaissance valorization of the couple within marriage and the im­ portance placed on implementing the wife’s and mother’s roles through educational models. Berriot-Salvadore analyzes three approaches to female education that spanned the century. The Humanists argued that women’s ignorance was due to nurture, not nature, and that female education, however limited in actuality, was in the best social, political and economic interests of men. The Reformers educated wives and daughters so that the latter would be made useful to the advancement o f the Protestant cause. And the Counter Reformation attempted to contain the “ threat” inherent in women’s direct access to Scrip­ ture. This discussion of the educational practices of the century includes the formative role of the mother, the impact of the wetnurse industry on early modern notions of childhood, and the pedagogical theories of Flemish teachers of school girls. Parts Two and Three highlight the cultural, religious and professional roles assigned to women of different social milieux. In the majority of cases, the woman’s tasks are defined in relation to the life work or vocation of her male companion. Hence la fem m e “ménagère" takes on a variety of meanings ranging from the companionable, near­ equality that the Protestant noblewoman enjoyed with her consort, to the middle-class wife who, while manager of her home, generally shared little affective rapport with her hus­ band; from the m erchant’s wife who actively collaborated with her spouse in all areas of the business, to the lower-class working and peasant wives. Mme Berriot-Salvadore’s extensive use of archival materials allows for an admirable reconstruction of scenes from daily life in, for instance, the Protestant circles of the Coligny-Nassau clans. She highlights the emerg­ ence within these groups of a new modern conception of the family as an affective, closelyknit environment where the child is a privileged entity. Whereas Protestant noblemen found companionship with their wives, the spouses of lawyers and royal secretaries on the other hand lived in separate and complementary spheres, the wife in her ménage, the learned man in his study. Etienne Pasquier and Etienne Du Tronchet found elsewhere the pleasure of feminine conversation, the first in the salons of erudite women such as the 100 F a l l 1992 Book R eviews Dames des Roches...