Still Kissing the Rod? Whither next?

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Although early modern women complained of their lack of access to education, it is clear that many of them did not function in intellectual or linguistic isolation. This article calls upon scholars of early modern women writers to widen their perspective and activities to include not only European writers of the period, but also other languages (such as Latin, Greek and French) and archival resources in other countries. Early modern culture was aware of the existence of a female international republic of letters. Femmes savantes like Anna Maria van Shurman, Elena Piscopia and Sophia Brenner were widely famed for their linguistic and literary abilities, and in France, Germany, Spain and Poland other learned women were recipients of royal and aristocratic patronage. Evidence suggests that there were networks and connections between these European women and their English counterparts. Scholarly exploration that includes a European perspective and polyglottal approach would allow a reassessment of the intellectual significance of seventeenth-century English women such as Lucy Hutchinson, Bathsua Makin, Dorothy Moore and Lady Ranelagh.