The Virgin and the Globe: The Cosmography of Sor María de Ágreda

• Published in: Early modern women Vol. 15; no. 2; pp. 29 - 56
• Main Author: Crowther, Kathleen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chicago Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies 01.03.2021; University of Chicago Press
• Subjects: Authorship; Early modern period; Natural history; Poetry; Women
• ISSN: 1933-0065; 2378-4776
• DOI: 10.1353/emw.2021.0022

In 1616, in a small village in northern Spain, a precociously brilliant teenage girl named Maria Coronel y Arana composed a text that she titled Tratado sobre la redondez de la tierra y de los kabitantes de ella, in which she described the earth and its inhabitants and the ten celestial spheres revolving around the earth. Her stated purpose in writing was to praise God for the wonders of His creation and to inspire others to praise Him as well. The Tratado sobre la redondez de la tierra is a rare example of a scientific text by an early modern woman. There is now a considerable body of work demonstrating that early modern women participated in scientific work, including natural history, natural philosophy, alchemy medicine, astronomy, and astrology. However, women were far less likely than men to write scientific texts, and when they did they were less likely to see their work published.