The book, Women of the Renaissance, by Margaret King, deals specifically with the roles and lives of women in Renaissance culture. Her focus lies entirely on those women who lived between the years 1350 and 1650 in Western Europe as well as England. It is a period in which Europe is bustling with economic, social and intellectual activities. Due to far-reaching innovations, such as the printing press and new methods of teaching, literacy spread to sectors of society that did not have previous access to education. Because of this raised level of literacy, the Church began to lose its control over education and scientific knowledge. This liberalization allowed scholars to study the literary and philosophical works of the ancient Latin and Greek civilizations. These new conditions gave rise to humanism, an intellectual movements that brought about a cultural renewal, resulting in the advancement of arts, sciences and architecture throughout Europe.

Despite the progress made by Renaissance artists and thinkers, women still played a traditional role in society. Professor King defines this role as that of the child-bearer and caretaker under the strict control of the fam

Because of this long held belief, women in the Renaissance were primarily given the responsibilities of childbirth and caring for the newborn.. The main goal of a woman's existence in society was to have as many children as her physiological condition would allow. Though this was true among women of the lower classes, women of the nobility who did not have to breast feed their own children could produce offspring at an even quicker rate. As professor King points out: "The fertility of the rich women in France has been termed 'excessive,' in England, 'appallingly high.'" (p.2).

Being susceptible to all sorts of diseases, especially in their first years, the mortality rate among infants was extremely high. According to King's statistics and other documentary evidence, only 20 to 50 percent in Western Europe could hope to survive childhood. In today's modern world of well equipped and sanitized hospitals, these illnesses do no longer pose any threat. But while poverty and sickness caused many infant deaths, periods of food scarcity, anger and neglect possibly caused even more.

Infanticide was a widespread problem of the day. If a family was to poor to feed another child, it was not uncommon that parents would find ways to suffocate their offspring in bed, or simply fail to keep a sick baby alive. This practice was no limited to lower class families. Even families of higher social and economic rank would resort to infanticide in order to reduce the number of heirs, and thus avoid dividing the estate into smaller portions. In the case of girls, parents would also kill them, if they felt that they could not give them a proper dowry. In some parts of Europe, however, this crime was not considered a very serious offense. According to Professor King, "Court judgments of women, accused of infanti

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Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)