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Article: Women
- Article from:
- Europe, 1450 to 1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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WOMEN
WOMEN.
As they have in all the world's cultures, women made up about half the population in early modern Europe, and their experiences were thus nearly as varied as those of men. Like those of men, women's experiences differed according to social class, geographic location, religious affiliation, ethnicity, and rural or urban setting. The life of Queen Elizabeth of England
—
probably the most powerful and famous woman from this period
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was far more like that of her male relatives than like that of a peasant woman in Poland or the Ottoman Empire, or even a peasant woman on one of Elizabeth's own estates. She was highly educated, spoke many languages, held legitimate ...