This Palgrave Pivot reveals how queens played a role in the creation and spread of literature written for, and about, women in late medieval and early modern Europe; they also fostered intellectual and cultural networks that linked courts, kingdoms, and languages. Bringing together works by writers such as Christine de Pizan, Giovanni Boccaccio, and in particular Juan Luis Vives, as well as their translators, this study also traces how literature about women's learning, power, and governance circulated between Western European kingdoms. At the center of these exchanges is Vives's De institutione foeminae Christianae (1524), one of the most influential books written for women in the sixteenth century; this seminal text’s translation into French helped extend conversations about women’s education across Europe.

Drawing on manuscripts, printed books, diplomatic correspondence, and visual culture, this volume demonstrates how queens were not merely recipients of advice literature but active participants in the production, adaptation, and dissemination of knowledge.

Darcy Kern is a historian of Western European intellectual history.