This Ashgate Research Companion presents an authoritative review of the current research on women and gender in early modern Europe from a multi-disciplinary perspective. The authors examine women's lives, ideologies of gender, and the differences between ideology and reality through the recent research across many disciplines, including history. 'This is an excellent introduction to a fast-moving field. Uniting theoretical and practical approaches, a series of essays ranges across the mind, body and spirit of women in early modern Europe, illuminating differences of culture, religion, age and status. It provides an essential handbook for researchers in the field and a wonderful introduction to the range of women's experience.' Laura Gowing, King's College London, UK 'This multidisciplinary collection of essays brings together some of the most important recent scholarship on women and gender in early modern Europe... the collection makes a valuable contribution to the field of early modern history by offering readers access to current academic debates. Exhaustive bibliographies (primary and secondary) provide a useful resource for undergraduate, graduate, and scholarly research. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above.' Choice '... this book is an unprecedented achievement that we can all put to work immediately in teaching and in research.' Historians of Women Religious of Britain and Ireland 'Over all this is an informative and readable work of synthesis which will appeal to a broad readership, ranging from first-year undergraduates to specialists in the field... this collection also demonstrates how far the field of early modern women and gender studies has advanced in recent decades, and poses challenges for future research which it is to be hoped will inspire the next generation of scholars.' Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies 'The editors' introduction and the individual essays not only highlight the debt that the history of early modern European women and gender owes to the twentieth-century feminist movement and to early feminist scholars, but also engage with theories emergent in recent feminist scholarship ... Given the wide range of topics examined, the up-to-date and clear historiographical surveys presented, and the extensive bibliographies provid