Gender and Civic Harmony in Erasmus’ Senatulus (The Council of Women)

Abstract

Abstract The colloquy Senatulus (The Council of Women, 1529) depicts a group of women assembled in imitation of the female senate conducted by the mother of the emperor Heliogabalus. While the proclaimed goal is to correct gender inequality, they spend a disproportionate amount of time on seemingly trivial procedures of speaking and on matters of dress and etiquette. The colloquy seems another example of Erasmus’ ambiguous views on women, oscillating between clichés on female inferiority and advocacy for women’s education. This essay revisits this elusive question of Erasmus and gender. First, a comparison with Erasmus’ discussion of Heliogabalus’ female senate in Lingua (1525) and a reflection on the gender-blurring figure of Heliogabalus reveal how Erasmus challenges deceptively simple gender biases (female speaking as garrulous and excessive concern with appearance and decorum). Next, I show that by exploiting the dialogical strategies of speaking together in a political or social body and by rethinking the regulation of dress and etiquette accordingly, Erasmus reframes the woman’s role in the social fabric to account for a gender diversity that benefits a well-functioning polis while avoiding excesses that threaten civic harmony.