This article examines how two texts by Marguerite de Navarre contest the tendency in courtly and ecclesiastical literature to reduce women to typologies based on sexuality, spirituality, and notions of virtue. In place of simplified typologies, Marguerite’s writings can be read as depicting women’s multidimensional personhood as they strive to live out a sincere Christian faith in a society that fixates on their sexuality. Ultimately, this study argues that when read together, La Comédie de Mont-de-Marsan and L’Heptaméron 10 and 42 suggest the need for women to develop a practical brand of Christian wisdom that will help them to reform both gender relations and patriarchal institutions, thereby replacing misogynistic discourses and behavioural patterns with respect for women’s humanity.

1. Renaissance and Reformation

Original publication: Brock, Theresa. "A Love That Reforms: Improving Gender Relations by Contesting Typologies of Women in La Comédie de Mont-de-Marsan and L’Heptaméron 10 and 42." Renaissance and Reformation 43 (1): 2020. 51-79. DOI: 10.33137/rr.v43i1.34079. This material has been re-published in an unmodified form on the Canadian HSS Commons with the permission of Iter Canada / Renaissance and Reformation. Copyright © the author(s). Their work is distributed by Renaissance and Reformation under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. For details, see https://creativecommons.org/licenses/.