𝗔 𝗚𝗘𝗡𝗜𝗨𝗦 𝗕𝗬 𝗕𝗜𝗥𝗧𝗛

𝗔 𝗚𝗘𝗡𝗜𝗨𝗦 𝗕𝗬 𝗕𝗜𝗥𝗧𝗛

The most learned woman of the 17th century was undoubtedly Anna van Schurman, a polymath who spent her life arguing that women should receive an education as long as it did not interfere with their domestic duties. Other scholars called her the 'Star of Utrecht', the 'Dutch Minerva', the 'Tenth Muse', 'a miracle of the gentler sex', the 'Incomparable Virgin', the 'Oracle of Utrecht' and the 'Jewel of Learned Women', all of which sounds pretty outstanding for a time when the vast majority of women were thought to be intellectually inferior to men. 

But then she was different, a prodigy whose brain could not be contained.

A Dutch Calvinist, she was born in Cologne in 1607. Her family was wealthy, pious, educated, well-connected and modern, as her father broke the conventions of the time by teaching her along with his sons.

He may have had no choice, for Anna was so curious and clever that she could read by the age of three. By the age of eleven she had  read Seneca in Latin and was fluent in German, English, Italian, Spanish and French, as well as being proficient in mathematics, astronomy and geography. 

She was also artistic, creating intricate lace-like paper cut-outs at the age of six, detailed embroidery at ten, and a wax self-portrait at eleven so lifelike that her friend pricked one of the jewels to see if it was real. During this period she also taught herself calligraphy and glass engraving, all of which merged into a passion for wood engraving that she later developed by studying with the daughter of a renowned engraver and publisher. Her work was so good that she became an honorary member of the Painter's Guild.

 

The family settled in Utrecht when she was nineteen, following the death of her father. Her neighbour was a professor of theology and Eastern languages at the city's main university, and he was soon taken with her linguistic and intellectual abilities. He introduced her to two other professors, who in turn introduced her to the city's poets and philosophers. 

Her living room became a meeting place where intellectuals discussed all sorts of issues. Some fell in love and proposed to her, writing poems to convince her, but she could afford to be celibate and chose to remain independent.

She would have liked to further her academic interests by studying at university, but women were excluded on the basis of three fundamental beliefs: that they lacked the natural ability to study, that it was unseemly for a Christian woman to do so, and that it would be a waste of time as women could not hold public office. 

So when she was asked to write a Latin poem in honour of the University of Utrecht, she decided to use the opportunity to complain about the exclusion of women. The university authorities listened and allowed her to attend lectures behind a curtain so as not to distract the male students. 

She became the first Dutch woman to enter such a prestigious institution and used it to gain a law degree, while also learning Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic, Arabic, Syriac, Samaritan Hebrew, Persian and Ethiopian, which enabled her to read the ancient texts in the original language, including the Bible and the commentaries of the Fathers of the Church. 

Emboldened, she wrote a dissertation in Latin arguing for the education of women. It was printed and distributed throughout Europe, and soon she was receiving letters from all the learned women of her time as well as from important cultural figures such as René Descartes, Marin Mersenne and Constantin Huygens.

Towards the end of her life, she became involved with a contemplative religious sect founded by the Jesuit Jean de Labadie. Labadism was a mystical offshoot of Catholicism that preached the importance of communal property, an austere lifestyle and daily communal Bible study, which allowed her to pursue her theosophical interests.  Crucially, Labadie also believed in the equality of all believers, including women, who were allowed to hold leadership positions within the movement and were encouraged to participate in all religious activities.  

Her intellectual peers were shocked and opposed her, but she stood by her new faith and eventually renounced the Reformed Church through a public pamphlet arguing for another reformation. She gave up all her possessions and became co-leader of the group. They eventually founded a Labadist community on the outskirts of Amsterdam, where she continued to correspond with a variety of people on theosophical subjects until her death.

Through her radical ideas and linguistic skills, she successfully challenged the prescribed roles of women in 17th century Europe and planted the seeds for our equality, access and inclusion.

Self-portrait, 1633, Museum Martena, Netherlands